Jeffries should invest in bubble wrap
For the third straight preseason, Jared Jeffries suffered an injury that will cause him to miss the start of the regular season.
The Knicks announced tonight that Jeffries had suffered a left fibula fracture. It happened in today's practice when Jeffries made an impressively athletic defensive play for a 6-11 man. He sprinted to catch Stephon Marbury on a fast break and blocked Marbury's layup attempt from behind. But when he landed, Jeffries said he felt like "a horse kicked me in my shin."
Jeffries tried to get back into the game a short while later but he was clearly in pain. Mike D'Antoni immediately waved him off the court and told him not to push it. Jeffries said he heard a pop at that point. He walked off the court and talked to reporters after practice. He also walked to the team bus.
He was taken to Saratoga Hospital where x-rays showed the fracture. The team says he'll miss 6-to-8 weeks, which means sometime before Thanksgiving, or, at least the first 15 games.
This is a major blow to D'Antoni's plans for the rotation. Jeffries was penciled in as the starting center -- yes, center -- because of his high basketball IQ, skills handling the ball and, of course, the athleticism to make such plays as the block on Marbury.
But aside from his undisputable shooting issues, Jeffries has also shown a penchant for early injuries. Two years ago he broke his wrist in the first preseason game and missed the first 23 games of the season. Last year he had a sprained knee (ACL) and missed the first five games of the season.
Without Jeffries, the Knicks' already weak interior defense only gets weaker. Eddy Curry is not a shot-blocker and has yet to show any kind of defensive instincts. And then there's the little fact that the bacterial infection that has kept him out of the first three days of camp will, according to D'Antoni, will likely keep him out until perhaps Monday. Eddy will be way behind both in conditioning and in learning the system. D'Antoni will also be behind in figuring out how best to use Curry in his plans.
"When we get Eddy out here and get him up and down, then we’ll evaluate where he is," D'Antoni said today. "He can do this, he can be a force."
I would expect D'Antoni will give a look at a few different scenarios, which include a very small frontcourt of Zach Randolph and David Lee and also perhaps give Wilson Chandler a look at the four spot next to Eddy Curry.
And there's also Jerome James...
Wow.
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Comments (12)
Somthing was bound to go wrong. I'm not surprised that Jeffries got injured, he's always getting injured. Zack and Lee could be a good combo.
This makes me sad, I've always like JJ. He played shooting guard for Washington and I was really excited to see him play some 5 for the Knicks.
Wow is right Alan! OK, so my prediction of his gross game causing him to get kicked out of the league was derailed because his gross game kicked him off the court early. I'm not scared of this. I couldn't see Jeffries as a force of the Knicks in the middle. I'm sorry but I just don't see that. Yes he's an athlete but bottom line is...he's Jeffries. Lets get big Eddie in shape and wire his mouth shut and fine him if he doesn't lose 20 lbs this month. Lets all work with fast Eddie and get him to become the player he should be. Just envision fast Eddie @ a trim 280lbs running up and down the floor like a gazelle. Lets hire Charles Oaktree to become his trainer. It would make a great reality TV show. It would be like Apollo and Rocky running on the beach. "Was a matta whichoo?!... Wassa matta wichooo?! Eddie replys, "tomorrow Oak...tomorrow"....Oak replies "There is no tomorrow" There is no tomorrow" .....now put the burger down!
Ive been backing you up EDDY
Ive been making excuses for you EDDY
and you come in to camp unprepared
That's it! YOur name is the Ediot from now on.
Get off you A-- andstart practicing.
JJ cant believe our luck. Even in our best years our glory years we had to come up against Jordan.
Lets just toss out the trash and keep the players who come to play, I dont care who they are. I just want someone to root for.
Im back to Gloom and Doom
Go to H--- Scott Layden and Isiah!!!
It's a shame about Jeffries, I was curious to see what he could do under a real coach. A Lee/Randolph frontcourt would kill other teams on the boards, but I don't know if it would work out well on the defensive end. Chandler/Curry would be intriguing if Curry would get into shape, but that's a big if.
I hoped that D'Antoni would start Jefferies @ Center.He can
run the floor and at 6'11 could be Camby w/o a jumper. This
blows! Looks Like Zach, Lee and Chandler wil be our front court.
Curry is not an option. Rumors are...his tummy hurts because he tried to "sneak in a snack during a practice break" and woofed down a banana without peeling off the skin.
yo host,
you're body of work & credibility are in question here.
your gettin slammed. see artucle below
How can Marbury possibly still be an active member of the Knicks? Unless my short-term memory, too, is a shambles, I swear I read a couple weeks ago in Newsday the Knicks were days away from outright releasing him or agreeing to a buyout of this season's $21.9 million guarantee.
How could several sources that the author claimed confirmed the report all be mistaken?
Weeks prior to that exclusive, Newsday broke another story; within days, readers were notified, Randolph and a trade-maximum $3M to defray 1/18 of his $48M, 3-year obligation, would be dispatched to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. The holdup, we were told, was the inclusion of a New York number one pick in exchange for either point guard Kyle Lowry or Javaris Crittenton.
How can Randolph possibly be jacking up jumpers for Mike D'Antoni as he did for Isiah Thomas . . . when sources confirmed to the author Zach would be in Graceland by that weekend?
How could the author be wrong when months ago his newspaper was purchased by Cablevision, the same entity that owns the Knicks, the team he has covered for over a year?
This just in: three Newsday sources confirm Zach Marbury is not a Knick.
I don't see how Jared Jeffries can play Center. He can't block shots and he has no strength defending the post. He might be able to outrun most Centers but so what? He can't hit a jumper and is awful in the paint.
I can't believe this guy. Again???
He is the Carl Pavano of the NY-Knicks !!!
I thought he would fit in so well with the D'Antoni offense, I expected surprising things from him. (Sigh!!!)
Hey Alan, whats up with optomizing your blog for the iPhone. Especially now that the season is about to start, and a new knicks era is going to begin, I would love to have this blog one click away from me at all times. Just wanted to know if your blog was going to go the route of other popular blogs, like the LoHud Yankees blog (Abraham), USA today, the NY Times, etc.
thanks.
I liked the idea of Jeffries playing Center as a Boris Diaw-type in a small lineup...but since when does he have a high basketball IQ?
I seem to recall him making a plethora of stupid mistakes last year on seemingly every other pass he made (despite Isiah being the coach).
I'm not going to dispute his defensive presence, but let's not kid ourselves by saying he's THAT intelligent a player. I want to see that in the regular season before I believe it, and so far, as a Knick, he hasn't done that.
Alan, what does the Jeffries injury do for Patrick Ewing Jr.'s chances of making the team. Berger mentioned the airballs he's been throwing up, which can't be good with D'Antoni making the decisions.
If Houston is pulling himself from the lineup, and Jeffries is out, does that better PE Jr's chances?
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