http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/sports/basketball/11knicks.html?oref=login


Knicks End Training Camp With a Few Good Questions
By HOWARD BECK

Published: October 11, 2004


HARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 10 - The Knicks left here much as they arrived - with their lineup unsettled, their mix of talent questionable and their star shooting guard spending more time polishing his rhetoric than his game.

And to hear them tell it, the Knicks have never felt better about their potential.

Six days after arriving, and after a final team breakfast and late-morning practice on Sunday, the Knicks broke training camp, feeling uncommonly upbeat about their progress.

"I like what we have, and it has been a positive camp," Isiah Thomas, the team president, said. "It was the way a camp should be. Our guys are committed to doing it right; they're committed to winning."

Little was clarified in six days, least of all who will be Coach Lenny Wilkens's starting five on opening night, Nov. 3. There is plenty of time, yet, to set a rotation, and perhaps that will begin to sort itself out over the eight preseason games.

Wilkens's thoughts on a starting lineup are more closely guarded than a presidential motorcade, but it is a given that Allan Houston will not be in it when the Knicks play the Nets on Thursday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Houston, their former go-to scorer, was still more spectator than participant Sunday, and he was as reluctant as ever to predict when he would be ready for full-speed activities. Houston has spent much of the past seven months rehabilitating his knees.

"Making progress, and it feels good," he said. "But right now I'm still at the point where I just don't want to go all out."

That means the newcomer Jamal Crawford will probably get the nod at shooting guard as the preseason schedule begins, and Penny Hardaway will get ample opportunity to show he has recaptured his old form.

The least enviable contest - for the right to wrestle Shaquille O'Neal four times this season - is continuing, though based on early returns, Nazr Mohammed has the edge over Vin Baker to start at center.

Both returned to the Knicks in better shape - Baker lighter and healthier after a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat, Mohammed stronger and quicker - but it could come down to whose skills are more valued.

Mohammed is a better rebounder and defender, and he is stronger around the basket, in Wilkens's view. Baker is a better shooter and more versatile scorer, and he is vastly more experienced. Mohammed has not been an everyday starter since the 2001-2 season, when he started 73 times for Atlanta.

That could mean an unseasoned frontcourt, if the blooming prospect Mike Sweetney overtakes the incumbent Kurt Thomas at power forward. By all accounts, Sweetney is pushing Thomas hard.

And by Kurt Thomas's assessment, this was not his best six days of work. Only a week ago, he scoffed at the suggestion that his job was up for grabs with a declaration, "Bring it on." He left sounding slightly less confident.

"I don't feel I had that great of a camp," said Thomas, who was frustrated with his shooting. "But Sweetney's been playing great. We'll see."

Despite the battle for jobs and the higher expectations, the Knicks spent their time in the so-called low country lobbing high praise on one another. Players got together for every breakfast and every dinner, and in between they pushed each other to improve on the court.

"It's still a lot of new faces, a lot of young guys," Kurt Thomas said. "But we seem to all be picking each other up, patting each other on the back. And I think that's the most important thing, is we're coming together as a team."

REBOUNDS

The Knicks will open their practice to the public at noon on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Tickets are free and available at Knicks.com. ... Team officials are leaning toward returning to Charleston, S.C., for training camp next year.