GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - Even though his days as a starter in New York seem gone for good, Eddy Curry still believes he can be an important piece of Mike D'Antoni's rotation.
Two days after D'Antoni benched him for an exhibition game and then criticized his work ethic afterward, Curry was back on the practice floor Thursday, still hoping to find a role with the Knicks.Curry was hospitalized with a bacterial infection and missed the Knicks' entire training camp in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. That put him well behind his teammates, and D'Antoni doesn't feel he's done enough to catch up.
"I feel like I was working hard already honestly," Curry said. "There's nothing I can do. I can't get those days back, I can't get those practices back. All I can do is try to come out here and play hard here in practice and do extra stuff after practice and get back that way."
Curry has been the Knicks' starting center since arriving in a trade from Chicago before the 2005-06 season, but the 285-pounder doesn't fit well in D'Antoni's uptempo system.
Still, Curry was surprised when D'Antoni didn't use him at all Tuesday in a home loss to Boston, even though Curry's size could have been useful against the Celtics' frontline that was punishing the Knicks.
"I was kind of caught off guard by it. I went into the last game same way I do every game, with the same approach, preparing myself mentally and getting ready for a game," Curry said. "I didn't have any kind of warning or nothing.
"Not playing last game did kind of open my eyes a little bit, but it's the hand I was dealt so I've just got to make the best of it, keep working and we'll see what happens."
D'Antoni said Curry had a good practice Thursday, but added, "It didn't take one day to get out of the rotation, not going to take one day to get in, either."
The Knicks play their final preseason game Friday against New Jersey. Forward Wilson Chandler is expected to miss the game with a sprained left knee, so that could lead to minutes for Curry.
"Like anybody else, you've got to have your breaks, you've got to play hard every day, you've got to come and want it every day and then you hope you're good enough to play," D'Antoni said. "I think the two weeks that he was out hurt him. Let's just go forward and what have we got, eight months left? Make it eight straight months of good days and something good will happen. Always does."
Curry hopes it happens with the Knicks. He'd be disappointed if he's not a part of D'Antoni's rotation, but wasn't sure if he'd be frustrated enough to want out.
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Curry said. "Obviously I love playing here in New York. I want to have an opportunity to win here and I hope it doesn't go in that direction."
