I believe one article quoted D’Antoni as saying “could be better, could be worse,” with regard to Eddy Curry’s off-season conditioning coming into Knicks training camp 2008.
This was the summer Eddy was supposed to give 110% towards being in great shape. If Mike D’Antoni can’t motivate Curry to put in the hard work, nothing except a contract year will (that goes for Jerome James as well).
Can a coach with a lot of heart ever instill fire and desire in a player with questionable heart? It must come from within.
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update on gallinari and it isn’t good:
http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/knicks/archives/2008/09/gallinari_to_si.html#comments
The news on Gallinari is horrible. The only saving grace is that D’Antoni may find some time for Patrick Ewing, Jr. in that slot.
Even if Gallinari is 100% by the first game of the season, D’Antoni will not run him in his system without him taking time to get into condition because he can risk further injury the way MD requires his players to run.
And as you guys know, it is very hard to work yourself into NBA condition during the season when the travel schedule is prohibitive. He will need to do a lot of work on his own, but this is not good given the need for him to adjust to NBA ball, the length of the NBA schedule, the travel and the culture. Back problems bring all other problems to the forefront.