No, not Jerome James. Curry is finally practicing with the team again.
Hopefully he can get in shape so we can get him out of here. :crossfingers:
http://blogs.trb.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2009/03/guess_whos_back.htmlThe line from the opening bars of Slick Rick's "Hey Young World" is certainly appropriate on an occasion like this.
So I'm covering practice for the King Fixer today and who do I see out on the court as soon as we were let in to watch the last 20 or so minutes? I had to rub my eyes to make sure there wasn't any film on my contact lenses fogging things up.
Perhaps inspired by this post from your regular bloghost, Eddy Curry returned to practice today. Yes, The Eddy Curry, the guy who's almost never spotted around the team anymore. It's the first time Curry, who's battled knee problems as well as a laundry list of things off the court including this week's
newest development, has practiced in full in nearly two months. The last time he practiced and had contact was Jan. 9 in Houston for those keeping score at home.
He's got a long way to go and his conditioning is going to be the biggest hurdle he has to clear if he plans on getting some playing time. Curry was clearly gassed after scrimmaging with the team and that's the way it's going go to be for him until he can string together multiple practices.
Coach Mike D'Antoni couldn't even venture a guess as to how many practices in a row he's need to see Curry in before thinking about giving him some PT. But one thing is for sure: with the Knicks still pushing for a playoff, D'Antoni made it known that he won't compromise that to simply get Curry some minutes -- unless it's garbage time.
"It was really nice to see him out there running around today," David Lee said. "He looked like he's moving well. We're just happy to have him back. Now, we're able to get full practices in and hopefully he'll be ready to roll soon and step on the real floor to help us out."
So how did Curry feel afterward? That's the million dollar question and we don't know the answer because Curry didn't talk to the media once he was finished. He ducked out of a side door to the locker room to get treatment and declined to come back out.
Hopefully he can get in shape so we can get him out of here. :crossfingers: