Curry: 'I'll be ready'

He ran hard, he spun, he bounced and he dunked. In fact, he dunked with ease, which is not something you could say a few months ago. Eddy Curry looked himself again. Yes, still big, but nimble and explosive. And six weeks into his strict offseason regimen, he went as far as saying the game seems to be coming easier for him again. He reacts now on instinct when over the past few seasos he admits he used to calculate a lot of his moves. "This," he said, "is the way it used to be when I was coming up." Eureka. So my story from Friday's Newsday may have overexaggerated his weight loss to date. One of his trainers, Jerry Powell, told me abut 46 pounds. The Knicks are saying about 30. Donnie Walsh seemed pleased with what he saw so far. But, as Walsh has learned -- just as everyone else who has ever dealt with Eddy throughout his career, it has never been an issue of ability, but the maddening lack of motivation to get the most out of that ability. “He’s a tremendous talent, but a lot of it is up to him, if he wants it,” Walsh said. “That’s the key, does he want it? He’s put in a lot of work. If he continues to do that, then he can be a factor in the league.” The Orlando Magic showed the tremendous value of the big man in the playoffs. I don't believe Walsh is quite ready to give up on Curry, who in top shape and in Mike D'Antoni's pick-and-roll system could be very effective. If Curry is motivated only to earn himself another big contract in two years, the Knicks can benefit from it. But it seems more likely Curry would welcome a trade for a fresh start (and to get away from he media glare) and the Knicks would love to clear his $11.2M off the ledger in 2010. It's amazing, really. It's a big story that a highly-paid veteran player is working hard during the offseason to be prepared for the coming season. Meanwhile, we see Jared Jeffries, who looks tremendous and put in a vigorous workout on the court after the morning sesion, and think nothing of it. Just bloggin.