Eddy Curry: On the Outside Looking In

Prior to becoming the coach of the New York Knicks, Mike D'Antoni had the pleasure of coaching one of the most talented young big men in the game in Amare Stoudemire. Fittingly, Stoudemire gave himself the nickname S.T.A.T. (Standing Tall and Talented). In New York, D'Antoni is getting another opportunity to coach a talented young big man in 25 year old center Eddy Curry. The only problem is that Curry is S.F.A.T. (Standing Fat and Talented).

Curry is as talented as the come, but he's never going to reach his potential in the NBA if he can't get in shape. Curry's lack of conditioning already has him behind the eight ball with D'Antoni. Coach D is known for keeping a tight eight or nine man rotation, and as of right now, Curry is on the outside looking in.

"He's going to have to play better than he's shown me," Mike D'Antoni said of Eddy Curry, who played 18:03 the night before against the Nets and had 8 points and 3 rebounds. "He's just going to have to pick it up; he's going to have to pick up his training."

D'Antoni then said, "I'm going to start settling into rotations and it could be that way," meaning Curry could find himself on the outside of the rotation looking in.

"The door's never closed, but at the same time, we're not going to lower anything that we do down to anybody," D'Antoni continued. "They're going to have to come up to us. If they want to play, they know where they got to go."

Most guys around the league would love the opportunity to play in D'Antoni's uptempo system. If Curry could get himself in shape, D'Antoni would certainly find a way to make him look good. Heck, look how good D'Antoni has Zach Randolph playing so far. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if S.F.A.T. can get it together anytime soon.