KNICK NOTES

The education and toughening up of Marcus Camby continues.

Camby, who sat out Friday night’s loss against the Nets with a blister on his left foot, practiced yesterday.

Of that injury, Camby said after the Knicks’ three-hour workout yesterday at Island Garden Basketball in West Hempstead, “It’s still a little sore, but they padded it well today.”

To play well, he has to practice well.

“Marcus just needs to stick in there and be durable,” Jeff Van Gundy said of the forward who has missed 37 games his first two years in the league with various injuries. “His effort in the last three practices has been better.

“One thing Marcus can give us that we’re not great at is offensive rebounding. We need him to be one of the best offensive rebounders per minute in the league and if he plays hard and works, he’ll get the opportunity to play more and if he doesn’t, he won’t. I think he knows that and I think he has responded to that with better practices.”

For the first time in his career, Camby is being challenged with the threat of playing time being taken away. Up until now, Camby has played just by showing up.

“Talent is the great equalizer in anything,” Van Gundy admitted. “I’m sure in high school he could dominate with maybe 50 percent effort. In Toronto, because of his high draft choice, and he was better than the other guys playing behind him, he didn’t have to do anything special to get minutes because he knew he was going to play. I think here he knows, ‘If I don’t do it, they’ve got very capable guys.’

“Marcus wants to do it, he’s learning how to do it,” Van Gundy added. “That’s why I’ve stopped short of judging him too early. I’ve basically been saying what I see. I’m not ready to say, ‘He’s going to get it done. Or he’s not going to get it done.’

“I just want to wait and see because if a guy hasn’t been in the exact right situation for him, to judge him too early would be doing him a disservice. I want to see over time if he can respond. I’m hopeful and we need him to be to be successful.” Van Gundy is not lobbying for Dennis Rodman. He knows Knick management has decreed that the team will not have Rodman on the roster, but the coach knows how valuable Rodman will be to the team that grabs the eccentric, rebound-eating forward. Whoever gets Rodman, goes up a notch in contender status.

Van Gundy also thinks Rodman will not be that much of a disturbance on a team, if Rodman approaches his job much like he did the last few years for the Bulls. In other words, show up on time for the most part and rebound.

“When you go out and get somebody, you know what they are, but they do have to believe in the basic concept of equality,” Van Gundy said. “There are time requirements. If they’re not met, there are repercussions … The Bulls got more out of him when he was conforming to [team] requirements.” *Dennis Scott managed to practice despite his strained right hamstring.