Quick first-day impressions _ but no Curry

The biggest piece of news from Mike D'Antoni's first day of training camp as Knicks' coach:

Jerome James ran. A lot. At what passes for almost full speed for the Big Lad.

That makes it 1-of-4 camps as a Knick that he has either practiced at all or not got hurt during the first practice.

However, we didn't have a monitor on his heart rate, in which the over-under while he was going up and down in 3-on-2 drills was probably in the mid-100s.

Filling in for Jerome, though, on the "big guy desperately in need of training camp misses first workout" role was Eddy Curry, who developed what the team called a "bacterial infection" and "high fever" late Monday and thus didn't work out Tuesday morning.  He probably won't return until the end of the week _ but every day he misses, of course, doesn't help what D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh have said isn't a player in prime condition.

Allan Houston, meanwhile, shut it down early during the Tuesday night session, something he and D'Antoni agreed he can do when necessary and is no cause for a red flag about his ability to make it through camp.

"We'll talk every day, see how it goes," D'Antoni said. And when asked how long a look Houston will get, pending Houston himself begging out, the coach answered, "Definitely all of October."

Then there was Danilo Gallinari, who spent much of both practices on the Jerome James Honorary Stationary Bike with what Walsh said he was told was originally a bulging disk in the rookie's back, not the sciatica as one writer speculated in his Tuesday story.

Whatever. Most fans would probably rather see Gallinari running and Jerome biking, but that's the way it was. And, FYI, Jerome has no intention of retiring because of his knee issues, thus exiting the Knicks' roster and eventually their salary cap.

"I am going to retire some day," he said, "but when I'm finished, I want to be able to say I did my thing in New York. I want New York to say, 'Jerome James, that cat could play.' I don't want to sit out and take my money."

As for all the running in general that D'Antoni promised and his players expected, it was what one player called "smart running," not the seemingly mindless sprints that most coaches run. Byron Scott, for instance, his first day as Nets coach, tried to emulate his mentor Pat Riley, and was so proud when several of his players lost their lunches.

D'Antoni's running, meanwhile, comes in the context of basketball activity, drills and such. When reporters were let in the gym Tuesday morning, his players were running up and down in a 3-on-2 drill and then a three-man weave-like drill without a defense, not quite at full speed, but rather quickly, and kept going for more than a half-hour.

"I hated [them] when I was a player," D'Antoni said of the mindless sprints.

Thus, unless they did it out of sight of reporters, nobody lost their lunch at D'Antoni's first workout.

His second, Tuesday evening, was to feature more scrimmaging, plus the first indication of what he might be thinking in terms of a starting five, although he said not to put much stock in the units he runs out.

He did say Stephon Marbury, who was swarmed by area reporters, but basically ignored by all but one or two New York-area writers, spent some time at point and shooting guard. Marbury also didn't seem much different than any of his teammates during the portion of the workout reporters were able to watch, chatting with teammates and doing whatever the others did _ although at one point, Nate Robinson danced around him, almost close enough to give him a kiss, without saying anything.

The night practice, meanwhile, was open to reporters, a departure from the team's long-held practice of no access the second workout of the day. What a concept ... openness.

At least in that regard, it's a new era, and when D'Antoni spoke of it in terms of the attention he got from his players, he admitted he could've told them to jump off the top of the bleachers and they would've done it, so happy are they to hear a different voice preaching a different way to play.

"They're ready to change and they're ready to play well," he said, "ready to try something different. ... They want hope."

One final observation: Every single drill the Knicks allowed reporters to watch had some kind of shooting component. One drill Tuesday night even featured a shot clock set to eight seconds.

"Every drill has something to do with shooting," Jamal Crawford confirmed. "Every single one."

Comments

[Sal from LI]

I feel like I am in the very small minority of people that want to see Jerome James succeed.

[Matt]

Good info. What a shame that Gallinari will miss his first training camp.