Hold on a Sec, this aint done yet

[Soxbadger]

There are a lot of problems here for Curry.

 

1) He will not be able to sue his agent. In the end an agent would have to do something that his principal did not want to incur liability on himself. So far there is no indication that Curry wanted to accept the Bulls offer, told his Agent to accept the offer, and then the agent went and did not accept the offer. Agency law is pretty simple and generally agents are not liable for their actions if they are doing what the principal told them.

 

Curry is the principal by the way.

 

2) Arbitration. This will be a very very sticky subject. If Curry tries to go to arbitration he could very easily be forced to take a DNA test. The Bulls are going to present it in the following fashion:

 

We like Curry, we want Curry, but we are not going to let Curry play if there is a substantial risk of him being severely injured.

 

They are going to say that it would be bad policy to allow players to play with out having to go through rigorous medical exam's, especially after the player has already had a serious condition.

 

3) What will the NBA do?

 

If the NBA or Bulls allow Curry to play with out a DNA test or with out a Dr clearing him, they could possibly incur liability. This is why things will get very complicated. The NBA, Bulls, etc are on notice that Curry has a potentially serious condition. The NBA, Bulls, as employers have a duty to keep Curry safe. By allowing Curry to play with out proper clearance, you could argue that they were negligent.

 

The NBA, Bulls should force Curry to sign a waiver if he wants to play with out a DNA test. The pertinent sections should say that both the NBA and Bulls did not want to let Curry play with out proper medical exams, and that the only reason they are allowing Curry to play is because it is his own health he is putting in jeapordy. Also include that the NBA and Bulls will have no liability should anything occur and that Curry and his estate will get 0.

 

When placed in such a corner, that he can have a $5mil contract with 0 guarantee, versus the $200k-$400k per year for 20-40, it will be hard to turn down the guaranteed money.

 

This will be a very hard and complicated issue because it has large ramifications for sports in general. QB's with concussions could be in the same boat, where they want to play, but there are Dr's saying that there is a substantial risk of injury.

 

SB

[jackie hayes]

The NBA, Bulls should force Curry to sign a waiver if he wants to play with out a DNA test. The pertinent sections should say that both the NBA and Bulls did not want to let Curry play with out proper medical exams, and that the only reason they are allowing Curry to play is because it is his own health he is putting in jeapordy. Also include that the NBA and Bulls will have no liability should anything occur and that Curry and his estate will get 0.

 

When placed in such a corner, that he can have a $5mil contract with 0 guarantee, versus the $200k-$400k per year for 20-40, it will be hard to turn down the guaranteed money.

It sounds like Curry would happily sign such a waiver, though. It sounds as if he wants the guaranteed contract, not that his family wants to be in a position to sue the Bulls or the NBA. And that doesn't bother me, even though I'd think it'd bother his family; he knows better than I do what that risk is worth to him.

 

The guaranteed money that the Bulls are (were?) offering, as much as it is, is worth a lot less than a long-term contract. I'm not saying it's the right choice, but it's not that hard to understand why he's doing this.

Edited October 7, 2005 by jackie hayes

[Kyyle23]

Mike olgolnik keeps saying during the update that there is no confirmation out of New York that Curry failed his physical, he is even pointing out that Harry is the only one reporting it.

 

the OG has been pretty grumpy since he realized the cubs werent going anywhere this year

[nitetrain8601]

Yeah, I heard that Curry failed the physical as well. Harry said it's from a good source. I'm led to believe he's telling the truth since Isiah has had 2 days and still wants to take more tests.

[qwerty]

As much as i hate steven a smith he has been told from a ''very reliable source'' that curry has passed it. Dumbass steven a smith> sports radio. Believe it or not he has more connections than they do.

 

Also davis wants out no matter what.

 

Antonio Davis, who returned to Chicago yesterday to be with his ailing mother-in-law, likely will have his contract bought out by the Knicks.

 

Davis, 37, was acquired from the Bulls on Monday in the trade that also brought Eddy Curry to the Knicks. Davis reported to training camp and expressed his unhappiness because he didn't want to leave his family.

 

Larry Brown said he doesn't want Davis here if that's the case. Davis' wife is a Chicago native.

 

Isiah Thomas said Davis has no choice, but that's likely a buyout negotiating ploy. The Bulls will re-sign him if the Knicks buy out a portion of Davis' expiring contract. Davis is set to make $13.7 million this season.

 

"I don't want to stand in his way if he doesn't feel comfortable," Brown said of Davis. "I'd be disappointed. But you don't want somebody who doesn't want to be here. If it's not in his best interests, we'll move on. He's got to be devastated. He's got [his wife] and the kids settled there."

 

Playing bad cop, Thomas said Davis "has no choice. This isn't charity."

 

Davis' buyout would leave the Knicks with 14 guaranteed contracts, one less than the maximum allowed. Yesterday's signee, forward Matt Barnes, a good defender who played for Sacramento and Philadelphia last season, could make the roster.

 

http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/29109.htm

[White Sox Josh]

If he fails this physical you have to assume it's because of his heart. And if that is the case my advice for him would be to retire. I would hate to see him die on a basketball court because of this. This isn't about basketball anymore. This is about life and death.

[Kyyle23]

If he fails this physical you have to assume it's because of his heart. 

 

This just in.....

[White Sox Josh]

This just in.....

WTF is your problem? Im really starting to hate this board. I thought one of the rules was to treat everybody with respect even if you disagree with somebody.

[Kyyle23]

WTF is your problem?  Im really starting to hate this board.  I thought one of the rules was to treat everybody with respect even if you disagree with somebody.

 

[qwerty]

 

 

[GoodAsGould]

WTF is your problem?  Im really starting to hate this board.  I thought one of the rules was to treat everybody with respect even if you disagree with somebody.

 

Oh he was just joking with you dont worry about it. On that other post maybe they were a bit rough on you but its a touchy subject and your view isnt a very popular one.

[Kalapse]

Well, it's official...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2184035

 

Curry passes physical, trade goes through

Associated Press

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Eddy Curry officially joined the New York Knicks on Friday after a team of doctors hired by the team cleared him to play.

 

Eddy Curry

Center

New York Knicks

 

Profile

2005 SEASON STATISTICS

GM  PPG  RPG  APG  FG%  FT%

63  16.1  5.4  0.6  .538  .720

 

The 22-year-old forward spent the past several days since being traded from Chicago to New York going through a battery of heart tests. He missed the final 13 games of last season and the playoffs after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.

 

Curry, who spent his first four NBA seasons with the Bulls, took the court Friday evening to practice with the Knicks at the College of Charleston after the NBA reviewed the test results.

 

New York didn't demand Curry take a DNA test as Chicago had. The Bulls wanted the genetic screening to determine whether Curry is susceptible to a potentially fatal heart problem, a request Curry balked at, saying it violated his privacy.

 

Chicago traded the 6-foot-11 center to the Knicks with veteran center Antonio Davis for forwards Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney and Jermaine Jackson along with a conditional first-round draft pick in 2006, two future second-round selections and the option of exchanging picks with New York at a later draft.

 

After three sluggish years, Curry, who came to the NBA directly from high school, had broken through to lead the Bulls in scoring last season with a 16.1 average. He played a major role as Chicago won 47 games and reached the playoffs for the first time since 1998 -- when Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led them to their sixth NBA title.

[GoodAsGould]

We really got a full roster this season it seems.... your only allowed to have 10 players activated at a time right? So assuming our starters are Hinrich,Gordon,Deng,Sweetney, and Chandler... that leaves Duhon, Basden, Pargo, Nocioni, Thomas, Songalio, Davis, Harrington and Allen...

[maggsmaggs]

We really got a full roster this season it seems.... your only allowed to have 10 players activated at a time right? So assuming our starters are Hinrich,Gordon,Deng,Sweetney, and Chandler... that leaves Duhon, Basden, Pargo, Nocioni, Thomas, Songalio, Davis, Harrington and Allen...

 

You get 12 active.

[Kalapse]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp...d=2182500&num=0

 

Isiah's Folly: Why Curry trade makes little sense for NY

By John Hollinger

ESPN Insider

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Risk and reward. That's what most NBA deals come down to when long-term contracts are involved -- how much risk a team is taking in adding a large contract, compared to the potential benefit if the player lives up to his billing.

 

And the Knicks' trade for Eddy Curry on Tuesday, a trade that was finalized when Curry passed his physical on Friday, like nearly every other deal Isiah Thomas has made since coming to the Big Apple, is a classic example of the risk and reward being completely skewed.

 

Mind you, this could work. If Curry's heart situation is deemed a low-enough risk that the Knicks' doctors allow him to play, and if Curry shows up in shape and plays hard, and if New York's doctors are right and Chicago's are wrong and the heart doesn't subsequently become a problem, and if the Knicks are right about Curry's potential for improvement, and if all that allows the Knicks to have a winning record and reduce the value of the draft choice they gave Chicago, then by all means, the trade works out for New York.

 

Certainly, there's some upside Curry could explore.

 

"I've seen Curry play against Shaq and Yao Ming and do very well," said Jamal Crawford, Curry's teammate in Chicago and now again in New York. "It's gonna be scary how good he can be because Coach Brown is going to get the best out of him."

 

Even without new Knicks coach Larry Brown getting the best out of him, Curry was pretty good last season. He averaged more than 22.3 points per 40 minutes while shooting 53.8 pecent from the floor, so if he had been able to stay on the court longer he would have been one of basketball's highest-scoring big men.

 

Like Crawford, Brown's former players in Detroit vouched for Curry's skills.

 

"Elden [Campbell] and all of them told me he's as tough to guard in the post as anyone you can think of," said Brown. "Most kids now, they don't want to be post player, but he's a true, pure low post presence."

 

On the other hand, the Knicks are paying Curry as though he's an elite center, and right now he's not. It's great to say that Larry Brown will slap Curry into shape, but some of his performance numbers are deeply worrying.

 

Take rebounding, for instance.

 

"I always judge rebounding on rebounds per minutes," Brown said Wednesday, offering an ex-Piston as a prominent example. "Ben [Wallace] got a rebound every three minutes." (Brown's right: It was one every 2.96 minutes last season.)

 

I judge rebounders that way too, and let's just say Curry is no Ben Wallace.

 

Last season's rate of 7.4 rebounds per 40 minutes was pathetic for a starting NBA center -- barely half of Big Ben's rate and 66th of the 70 centers who played at least 500 minutes last season. (While we're sharing good news, Jerome James was 59th. I guess $100 million doesn't buy what it used to.)

 

If anything, Curry's rate is likely to diminish further this season. The Bulls forced as many missed shots as any pro team last season and also missed plenty of their own, resulting in six more missed shots in their games than in those of the Knicks. Since one can't get a rebound unless a shot is missed, it seems there will be fewer caroms available for Curry in the Big Apple.

 

Brown is aware of Curry's shortcomings in this area but hopes he can fix them.

 

"Looking at his numbers, he hasn't rebounded like you'd expect an athlete like him to do," Brown said. "But I think his basketball is way in front of him. With young kids it takes time."

 

Unfortunately, there is little historical basis for that last sentiment. Rebounding tends to peak at a young age, when the player still has lots of spring in his step, and varies very little from year to year.

 

In fact, rebound rates are perhaps basketball's most resilient stat: The same players show up at the top and bottom of the charts year after year. And Eddy Curry is a "bottom" guy.

 

Let's humor the Knicks anyway. For argument's sake, let's suppose Curry did become an elite center under Brown's watch. While Curry's six-year, $60 million deal is generous, it includes an opt-out in after the fourth season that would put him back on the open market -- an opt-out he would almost certainly use if he lived up to the potential the Knicks are raving about.

 

Meanwhile, compare Curry's deal to that of former Knick Michael Sweetney. He was due to be paid his rookie contract for two more seasons, after which the Knicks would have been able to keep him as a restricted free agent if they so chose. Over the next six years, he was likely to cost the Knicks much, much less than the $60 million owed Curry, and he was virtually guaranteed to be a Knick for the duration of it as long as the team was interested in keeping him.

 

In fact, one of the more amazing subplots to this summer was New York's continued insistence on trading Sweetney. He was included in nearly every offer (including one for the demonstrably inferior Kwame Brown) despite being one of the Knicks' most productive players a year ago at age 22. His per-game averages don't jump off the page because he's been in a playing-time crunch, but Sweetney is a vastly better player than most NBA followers seem to realize.

 

While Sweetney didn't score as much as Curry a year ago -- 17.2 points per 40 minutes compared to Curry's 22.3 -- he matched Curry in shooting percentage (53.1 percent) and absolutely destroyed him on the glass. Sweetney yanked down 11.1 rebounds per 40 minutes, compared to Curry's 7.4.

 

Overall, based on Player Efficiency Rating (PER), my per-minute rating of a player's statistical production, Curry and Sweetney were virtually identical last season. One can argue Curry's size gives him more upside, but it's hardly a home run -- especially considering the two players are the same age.

 

Curry vs. Sweetney, 2004-05

Pts/40  Reb/40  FG%  PER

Eddy Curry  22.3  7.4  53.8  16.22

Mike Sweetney  17.2  11.1  53.1  16.35

 

And for that minor difference in ability, the Knicks are paying a great deal of money, taking on a slew of risk and giving up a whole mess of other considerations. Though they can probably live without Tim Thomas, it's worrisome that the Knicks are giving up multiple draft picks. New York loses the better of its pick or San Antonio's in 2006 (I wonder which one it will be), and also agreed to swap picks with the Bulls in 2007 if Chicago wishes.

 

Read that again, because the downside risk here is enormous. The Knicks effectively doubled down their bet by including the draft choices. The worse Curry does, the worse the Knicks will do. And the worse the Knicks do, the more valuable the 2006 draft pick becomes. Additionally, the right to swap picks in 2007 changes from a non-consideration to a potentially enormous addendum to the deal.

 

I'm sure the Knicks feel they're managing their risk, in two ways:

 

First, they have a team of doctors looking at Curry's health data to determine whether he's fit to play. Isiah must have said "I have tremendous confidence in our medical team" about 12 times in a 20-minute press conference on Tuesday night. He said the Knicks' doctors had reviewed the situation "from afar" and talked to some of Curry's doctors before executing the trade.

 

Second, the Knicks put some language in Curry's contract that gives them an escape hatch if the heart condition renders him unable to play.

 

However, Curry's contract isn't insured, as far as we know. (Thomas deflected questions about insurance, which I presume means the contract is just as uninsurable as it was three days ago.) That doesn't necessarily affect the Knicks on the court, but it does make Curry impossible to trade at virtually any point in the future. No matter what Eddy does in New York, the Knicks are stuck with him. With a coach who wants to trade his players about once every three weeks, that could make for interesting theater.

 

Thus, the Knicks didn't just give up Michael Sweetney and Tim Thomas. They also gave up an insurable contract, multiple draft choices, and the increased risk of a free-agent departure -- all to pay more money for a player the Knicks essentially already had in Sweetney: a high percentage-shooting big man who is in less-than-ideal shape and struggles on defense.

 

But it seems that Curry's perceived potential has blinded the Knicks to all the potential pitfalls.

 

"Every 15 to 20 years a guy comes along with this size and this type of agility and skill," Thomas gushed.

 

He is technically correct, I suppose: He didn't say "this type of skill or better," and, hey, it's been exactly 20 years since the Clippers took Benoit Benjamin with the third overall pick.

 

Unfortunately, Knicks fans have seen this movie before -- Isiah's making a move that could add two wins this year but is likely to cost them 10 or 15 a couple years down the road. On its face, acquiring Curry wasn't a bad idea. The problem was the execution. New York took on so many additional risks to make the deal that the potential rewards simply don't justify the deal. And in the salary cap era, as the Knicks have repeatedly shown us, that's a disastrous mistake, regardless of the team's budget.

 

John Hollinger writes for ESPN Insider. His new book, "Pro Basketball Forecast: 2005-06," is now available at both Amazon.com and Potomac Books.

[DBAHO]

In one of those articles, you know what stuck out at me, 22 year old forward. How fitting.

[DBAHO]

WTF is your problem?  Im really starting to hate this board.  I thought one of the rules was to treat everybody with respect even if you disagree with somebody.

Nobody is disagreeing with you. You are just bringing up an obvious point, that has probably been mentioned 100 times already in this thread and others about Eddy Curry and his heart.

[White Sox Josh]

Curry passed his physical according to SC.

[Dick Allen]

Curry passed his physical according to SC.

Yes he did. And Larry Brown said he isn't in very good shape, but thinks he will be eventually. Larry Brown is going to be wishing he never left Detroit by December.

[Kyyle23]

Yes he did. And Larry Brown said he isn't in very good shape, but thinks he will be eventually. Larry Brown is going to be wishing he never left Detroit by December.

 

What, you dont think all of the Knicks streetballah's are gonna work out together.

[WHarris1]

You get 13 active BTW

 

I'm pretty sure that's in the new CBA

Edited October 8, 2005 by WHarris1

[White Sox Josh]

You get 13 active BTW

 

I'm pretty sure that's in the new CBA

yeah i think your right.