Knicks president and GM Ernie Grunfeld looked over the practice floor at Purchase College yesterday and smiled. Over the last five days Grunfeld has landed guard Latrell Sprewell, power forward Kurt Thomas and veteran shooting guard Dennis Scott. With a 50-game schedule, sandwiched into such a short period of time, depth is more vital than ever.
“He’s an excellent outside shooter who can spread the defense for you,” Grunfeld said of Scott, who yesterday signed a one-year deal believed to be worth$750,000. Scott, a 14.2 scorer over his eight-year career, was due to arrive late last night and practice today.
Each new addition carries some baggage. Sprewell’s problems have been well-documented, Thomas has been a walking broken bone and has played only 23 games over the last two years while Scott, 30, has the potential to balloon out of shape.
As with Sprewell’s antics, the Knicks are looking ahead, not back, though. Scott is a lifetime 40 percent 3-point shooter. John Starks, the Knicks’ main 3-point shooter last year, shot 33 percent from downtown in 1997-98 and is a lifetime 35 percent from 3-point range.
“We understand he’s in very good shape,” Grunfeld said of Scott. “He’s had some problems in the past with his weight, but that’s behind him. Any time you have low-post players like Patrick [Ewing] and Larry Johnson, you could always use another perimeter player to stretch the defense.” *Jeff Van Gundy made it clear Marcus Camby still has much to learn while the Knicks are trying to learn to live without Charles Oakley. “We lost our best team defender in Charles,” Van Gundy said. “We have to make sure we can protect the basket.”
Asked about Camby’s progress, Van Gundy noted, “Marcus is doing better. He won big in college and he played in college with great enthusiasm. He had a pretty good first year, a not-so-good last year with a team that lost a lot. He has to come up to our expectations for work. All he has to do is sustain his effort and give multiple efforts. If he could run the floor hard, then come to help, then recover to his own man, make one effort another and then do that up and down the court, he’ll be fine.” *Van Gundy gave Starks a call yesterday to wish him well before Starks left for Golden State. “He sounds fine,” Van Gundy said. “Obviously, he’s disappointed because he wanted to finish his career here. I told him it wasn’t always pretty between me and him but it was always interesting and fun. He’s a special guy.”
Buck Williams will announce decision on his future tomorrow or Tuesday … The Knicks waived forwards Nick Davis and Jason Wallace yesterday.
