KNICK NOTES
Knicks center Jerome James showed up yesterday for the morning shootaround in a neck brace. His first season as a Knick has almost become comical and, sure enough, he heard jokes from teammates about his new wardrobe piece.
James said he has a form of whiplash after Eddy Curry crashed into his head during Thursday’s practice. James underwent an MRI exam yesterday.
James, who was signed as a free agent in July to a five-year, $30 million deal (the full mid-level exception), has been a bust, as bad a decision as Isiah Thomas has ever made.
James had played in 22 of the Knicks’ 41 games, due to various injuries and five DNPs.
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Larry Brown spoke at length with Thomas at the morning shoot-around, discussing mostly the Timberwolves’ trade of Wally Szczerbiak to the Celtics. Brown acknowledged the Knicks did look into acquiring Szczerbiak.
“Look at [Wally’s] contract. I don’t think anything matched up,” Brown said. “The people they would want we could ill-afford to move.”
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Rookie David Lee went from starting small forward to DNP in the prior game vs. Sacramento. Last night against the Magic, Qyntel Woods became the sixth starting small forward Brown had used . . . Brown continued to rag on the rookies, saying, “All of our rookies are kind of hitting the wall. But they practiced better recently. Their confidence is probably shot a little bit. They’ve lost more games now than they’ve probably lost in their whole career” . . . The Knicks were to take a train to Philadelphia after last night’s game. They play the Sixers tonight . . . Trevor Ariza was inactive last night.
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Jamal Crawford said he no longer reads the newspapers in New York after getting advice from Derek Jeter.
Crawford, a native of Seattle, went out with the Yankees’ captain following a Yankees-Mariners game last summer.
“I stopped reading the paper; I got good advice,” Crawford said. “I talked to Derek Jeter in the summer. He told me not to read the stuff. I think it’s good advice.”