SKY
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Joined: 6/30/2004
Member: #687 USA
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NY Post
By MARC BERMAN
October 6, 2004 -- KNICK NOTES
CHARLESTON — In a groundbreaking move, Knicks president Isiah Thomas has hired Dr. Lisa Callahan, who diagnosed Vin Baker's irregular heartbeat, to be the club's No. 1 medical decision-maker, The Post has learned.
Callahan, who served two years with the football Giants, joined the Knicks last week as the team's director of player care, responsible for all aspects of players' health, a team source said.
Callahan will oversee issues from minor dental work to the messy complexities of Allan Houston's knee rehab and, of course, Baker's heart condition. No other NBA team has created such a high-ranking medical position. Dr. Norman Scott remains as the club's orthopedist, but Dr. Callahan, who's here with the team, is in charge of recommending all courses of action.
Callahan's hiring is said to be unrelated to her discovery of Baker's life-threatening irregular heartbeat — which went undetected, Baker believes, for nine years. The Player's Association used Callahan last spring to examine Baker during his hearing against the Celtics, and she recommended heart surgery.
"She got into it and found out what was going on," Baker told The Post. "I feel totally different. The energy is there. The energy level is back up high. My weight is down. It's neat to feel your body changing, especially at my age of 33. The first day, I felt like the bionic man."
PF Kurt Thomas is in a snarly mood regarding Lenny Wilkens' edict that starting jobs are up for grabs. Michael Sweetney is in contention.
"We'll see how long it lasts," Thomas said, predicting he'll have the job sewn up in five days. Asked if he'd be shocked if he lost his starting job, Thomas snapped, "You would be, too." On Wilkens' saying last April that the club could use a more athletic power forward, Thomas said, "I'm just as athletic as any big man out here. And I can outshoot them, too. Hands down."
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