Too Many Curries for Eddy...T-Mac Injured again & Hoffa returns

With training camps open, there are a few stories emerging from various teams.

• According to the NY Post, oversized Knicks big man Eddy Curry has turned up to training camp out of shape. Eddy was never the most nimble of players and this won't bode well for new Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. This combined with the fact that Stephon Marbury is still a Knick could make for another long, awful season for one of basketball's most famous teams.


• The news that Houston Rockets swingman, Tracy McGrady hasn't recovered fully from off season injury shows that yet again, for all his talents, McGrady is a risky guy who can't be relied upon to take his team to the next level. The report also states that McGrady is already booked in for shoulder surgery NEXT summer.....note to fantasy ballers out there....DO NOT touch T-Mac this year.


• And here's a story to give hope to anyone who dreams of playing in the NBA....the Minnesota Timberwolves are reportedly about to add Brazilian dud Rafael Araujo to their training camp roster. T'wolves GM Rob Babcock famously drafted Araujo for the Toronto Raptors in 2004, ahead of players such as Andre Iguodala and Josh Smith. Babcock obviously can see something in Araujo that absolutely nobody else in the world can !
• And finally, Philadelphia 76ers gargantuan, Samuel Dalembert has stated that he wants to be an All-star this year. Don't we all ??? Dalembert figures that as Ben Wallace made it by primarily being a defender, then big Sammy can make it that way too.

Get Your Tents Out.....Training Camps Open

For hoops fans, the long wait is nearly over. Even though we were treated to a tasty Chinese delicacy of the Olympic Games, it still feels like it's been ages since we've had some proper NBA to watch.

Training camps open tomorrow and for the most part, it's when teams start getting serious about the upcoming season. Not totally though because most teams will have a few fill-ins at camp, players that will unlikely make the final roster but a guy a GM or talent scout wants to have a look at and test out.

And then there are the issues with still a couple of better known NBA-ers, such as Bulls G Ben Gordon and Knicks PG Stephon Marbury.

Gordon is a restricted free-agent. He currently has a qualifying offer of about $6m on the table for this season, but he wants a monster contract. Prior to the start of the 07-08 season, he turned down an offer of around $50m from the Bulls, figuring he'd get a lot more this past summer.

Things haven't quite worked out that way for Gordon and it seems that he and his agent rate his game a lot more than everyone else does.

There's no doubt that Gordon can shoot the ball well and his other major strength is his ability to get to the line. But he has has two major defects in his game.

1. He's too streaky for a team to build its offense around. He can be a nightmare to match up against when he's on fire, but equally, that old basketball saying that 'he can shoot a team in or out of a game' fits him perfectly. You could say that atleast when he's off his game, he keeps believing in himself and shoots the ball just as much, but his team mates and coaches might not see it that way.


2. Defensively, he doesn't give you much either. He's too focused on getting his next shot that he is a liability at the defensive end, especially for the amount of minutes he plays.

Gordon will probably bounce around a few teams during his NBA career. He'll be a hired gun, a compliment to a team in search of an offensive spark. The way it stands with him right now though, he'll only ever be a 'rental' type guy, they type of player who can be the final piece of the puzzle, but never a player that a team wants to be its leader.

Stephon Marbury on the other hand is going to get paid about $20m this year whether he plays or not. The fact that he recently purchased his own private Jet for $45m suggests that he has no plans on letting the Knicks off the hook for the final year of his contract. Fair enough, no sane person would just throw away $20m.

Starbury's NBA career is done though. That's not to say that he won't play in the NBA this season, he will for sure, and probably for a few more years after this. On talent alone, he could be a solid back-up point guard for a few years yet, but he brings more baggage than a airline holdall. He's only 31 but he won't ever be the player he could have been.

He's wasted his career and will be remembered as a pouting, sulking, overpaid baby who could have been one of the best point guards to have played the game.

He and Kevin Garnett were Minnesota's big hope but Marbury couldn't handle being the Garnett's side kick. While neither are in Minnesota anymore, KG is regarded as the consummate professional who finally got his dues last June.

Agent $111m, Agent Zero or Agent nothing ?

The news that Gilbert Arenas has had surgery on his knee comes as a blow to all fans of Agent Zero. 'bert is one of those players in the NBA that people tune into see. Arenas loves the spotlight and the spotlight loves Arenas.

He's already had a career of game winners or game extending three-pointers and shots that most kids would be happy to have one of.

But, now Arenas is facing his biggest challenge. A knee injury which has been bothering him for over a season already just won't heal properly. Arenas is saying he will be back in December but already there are reports contradicting that.

Let's just hope that if Gilbert is out for an extended amount of time, that he rehabs his knee first and not his mouth. That was the only annoying thing about him last season. If was as if he didn't like not being spoken about so he'd just say any ridiculous thing on his blog just so he would be in the headlines.

In the words of Mark Jackson, Gilbert "You're better than that".

Early whispers are that the Washington Wizards are going after unwanted Indiana Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley to fill the void. Pacers GM Larry Bird has made it abundantly clear that he'll take anything or anyone in return for Tinsely so I think we'll see a deal done soon.

It's only a fill-in move as Tinsely is garbage and no team who considers themselves a contender would want Jamaal as their point guard.

Lucky 13 for Big Rog

A quick look at the Tennis world now from The Daily Hurt.

Roger Federer claimed his fifth US Open title in a row last night after a straight sets victory over Britain’s Andy Murray.

Murray showed some of the fight which earned him his first Grand Slam final appearance, but he was largely overwhelmed by his more experienced opponent.

Federer now has 13 Grand Slam wins for his career and is only 1major shy of equaling Pete Sampras record of 14.

A Slow Week at The Daily Hurt

Apologies to regular readers of The Daily Hurt but due to study commitments, this week will be a little slow. We hope to return to regular service over the weekend or early next week.

Proof That The NBA Offseason Is Upon Us

With the Olympic Games keeping our household NBA names such as Kobe, Lebron & Dwight on the sports pages, there hasn't really been an 'offseason' this year. Until now. The reason we know this is because Jamaal Magloire signing with the Miami Heat is about the only newsworthy story.
Back in 2004, Magloire was an All-Star, but since then he has suffered from a serious bout of "Ian Baker-Finch" syndrome in that he has somehow forgotten how to do the one thing he'd done all his life, play basketball.
Baker-Finch's struggles were on the golf course and for those who aren't familiar with who he is, he's an Australian golfer who played in the 80's & 90's and won the British Open in 1991. His game fell apart shortly after though and now he is a commentator for one of the US broadcasters.
From the football world and in particular the English Premier League, we have seen Manchester United splash out another 30.75 million pounds to swipe Bulgarian hit-man Dimitar Berbatov away from Tottenham Hotspur. Once again, a sign of how silly the premiership is in that any quality player usually ends up at Man U. Manager, Alex Ferguson will probably now be hailed as a mastermind for pulling of this deal.