Eddy Curry's latest injury and the uncertainty surrounding Darko Milicic and rookie Jordan Hill means David Lee could spend as much time manning the middle at the outset of this season (and perhaps beyond) as he did last season.
That wasn't exactly the initial game plan, which would have returned Lee to power forward if one of the center stepped up.
We have a story about some of this in Thursday's Record (www.northjersey.com), but here are some of the issues.
The biggest is that Lee in the middle doesn't necessarily mean the Knicks will start "small" from the 1 to 5 spots. Tuesday night during a scrimmage, for instance, Mike D'Antoni trotted out what could be his opening night lineup: Lee, Al Harrington, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Chris Duhon.
Harrington is kind of a 3 1/2, part power forward, part small forward, and Chandler a 2 1/2 or beyond. He could end up guarding a 4 on defense.
Dont' forget also that Jared Jeffries entered camp last year as the projected starting center, before he broke his leg. He's also an option in the middle.
"We're going to play our best five guys," MD'A said. "And if somebody comes in, I can move David over to the floor, I can move Al to the 3. the great thing about our team is the versatility of it."
Which fits his system.
Still, to keep Lee from duking it out with the likes of Dwight Howard and Shaquille O'Neal too often (although that means they have to defend him, as well), it would be nice if Curry or Milicic could step up.
The Knicks insist Curry is simply day-to-day with his strained right calf, but we've seen this movie before, including last season, when he played just 12 minutes in three games. Do not count on him as a signficant opening night contributor at this point.
Milicic, to use a word used frequently about him so far, is "intriguing," a European-bred high-post center who seems best suited for D'Antoni's system, not those he played while becoming the poster child for the word "flop" at his first three NBA stops.
Yet on first glance, he seems a little stiff and rudimentary in his movement, probably because he's one of the few projected regulars unfamiliar with the system. He could be a fit as a poor man's Arvydas Sabonis, distributing the ball at the high post and making 15-footers.
He also may be more settled now that he has a family and because he's beginning his seventh season in the league since the Pistons drafted him second overall in 2003 after LeBron and before Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
Still, don't count on him quite yet, nor Hill, who's undergoing the standard rookie adjustment to a game going quite a bit faster than he was used to in college.
Which means unless either steps up, don't count on much more shot-blockiing than the last-in-the-league Knicks produced the last couple of seasons, not exactly a good sign for their supposed increased emphasis on defense.
***
Also Wednesday:
- MD'A insisted the Knicks' second first-round pick, Toney Douglas, is vastly improved from his tepid summer league showing and already plays at NBA speed. At first glance, however, his shot looks awkward, a slightly refined version of the heave long-ago three-point specialist Michael Adams used to launch. Except, Adams made plenty. Douglas hasn't, so far.
- MD'A still thought that Curry could see some minutes in Sunday's preseason opener. Don't hold your breath, for the earliest he gets back on the floor is Thursday, when only one practice is scheduled before two-a-days Friday and Saturday.
- The Knicks and MSG announced their television schedule Wednesday and it's pretty simple. All seven preseason games, plus all 82 during the regular season, will be on MSG, even those scheduled for ESPN and NBA TV, because those outlets don't have exclusive rights as TNT (which has no Knicks this season) does.
A strained calf is a strained calf. IS there really a need to make it in to a major issue? Curry has tried all summer to do the right thing. He is heavy enough without a bunch of you guys on his back
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