Wallace and Camby return to practice

[Ill21]

GREENBURGH -- Veteran forwards Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby practiced for the first time in more than a month on Tuesday, but there is still no timetable for either players' return.

Camby has been sidelined since Jan. 11 due to a strained left plantar fascia.

Wallace has been out since Dec. 15 with a stress reaction in his left foot.

Both Wallace and Camby were active in conditioning drills in the Knicks' first practice after the All-Star break. Neither, however, took part in contact drills, and it is unclear if or when either Wallace or Camby will return to the floor.

The Knicks have listed Wallace as day-to-day since he went down with the injury. Originally, it was called a "sore left foot." But the Knicks updated Wallace's status to a stress reaction after a published report stated he had a stress fracture.

According to two league sources, there was a faction of the organization that believed the 38-year-old Wallace would be out for an extended period, possibly the entire season, so they wanted to pursue a free-agent last month to replace him.

Another faction, led by Mike Woodson, wanted to give Wallace time to heal. The Knicks have clearly opted with the latter.

But the health of Wallace and Camby could force general manager Glen Grunwald to make a move for a veteran big man in advance of Thursday's trade deadline. The team could also pursue a veteran free agent, such as Kenyon Martin or Lou Amundson, if they don't believe Camby and/or Wallace can be effective anytime soon.

After watching both forwards work out on Tuesday, Woodson was optimistic that Camby and Wallace would eventually return to the court. But he could not offer a specific date for either to return.

"Today was a step for both of them in terms of conditioning. Like I mentioned a week or so ago, I'm not going to just throw them in a uniform," Woodson said. "They're going to have to run up and down and participate a little bit in practice and then we'll consider putting them in the ball game. They're not going to ever play big minutes. I just want them to be safe and somewhat physically ready to play when I put them in there."

Camby, who signed a three-year contract with the Knicks in the offseason and was obtained via a sign-and-trade, has been a non-factor thus far.

In 14 games, the 16-year vet has averaged 2.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 10.4 minutes.

Wallace, on the other hand, was a significant contributor during the Knicks' 17-4 start. The 15-year veteran averaged 7.2 points per game and 4.2 rebounds in 14.6 minutes.

With Wallace out, the Knicks have gone 15-13. They have allowed 103.8 points per 100 possessions with Wallace on the bench. With Wallace on the floor, they give up 97 points per 100 possessions.

Woodson hopes Wallace, whom he coaxed out of retirement to sign a veteran's minimum contract in training camp, can fill a defensive void for the Knicks.

Wallace was moving gingerly in an individual drill late in practice on Tuesday.

"That's why we've been very cautious up to this point," Woodson said.

Referring to both Camby and Wallace, the coach added: "We're just trying to stay the course in terms of both of them getting back to where they can run up and down and cut a little bit and hopefully give us some positive minutes."

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/kni...rn-to-practice

[Anji]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sign Kmart!!!!!

[NYKINFL]

Wow what's the sense having two bigs if your not going to play them woody? Woody really seems dead set with this small ball non-sense! Further-more, if sheed can't give 15 mins a game then cut him and same goes for camby.

[Missing56&33]

Good ...hopefully they'll be ready to go soon. Don't think we should get rid of either guy both could be huge in the playoffs.

[yankeesown69]

Wow what's the sense having two bigs if your not going to play them woody? Woody really seems dead set with this small ball non-sense! Further-more, if sheed can't give 15 mins a game then cut him and same goes for camby.

Can't cut Camby hes on the first year of his 3 year deal

[D-Leethal]

Get Sheed outta here if he can't even play 10 mins or run without hooking him up to all this **** that makes his weightless. The goddamn playoffs are right around the corner. Get Lou or KMart. We still did Sheed a favor, he tried his best but if his health ain't gonna hold up no need holding on to him to be a cheerleader. Especially if Kurt isn't going to be able to give us 10-15 quality minutes with two backups out injured.

[AFG-NYC]

at this point I wish we had Jermain O'neal instead of these two...I'm not sure what woodson's obsession is with Wallace...Cut him and sign Amundson or Kmart...Woodson himself said that Wallace may not get to 100% this year and may only be able to play up to 10 mins a game...Camby has been a big disappointment, I expected a big contribution from him

[yankstheknicks]

This isn't even news worthy..... If they aren't close to coming back then what the hell is the point??

[HouRealCoach]

J. O'Neal would be in the same condition here... He just has that great training staff in Phx helping him out

[JEDean89]

encouraging that they are practicing if we could fit just one of them into the rotation at 15 mins a game it would be huge. we basically have 3 bigs right now, Chandler, Melo, Amare playing the 4-5, we need a backup big other than amare. ideally camby gets healthy and can give us 15 mins but my money is on sheed coming back before camby does. if we can get felton's defense back, shumps defense back and some camby defense going on then we will be in good shape.

[Bivory]

I'll bet any amount of money both will be hurt again in about a week and a half.

[oak2455]

I'll bet any amount of money both will be hurt again in about a week and a half.

hope your wrong

[Jesse2272]

We need to sign Amundson

as much as I love sheed wtf is the point of him playing less than 15 a game

[Enzo]

If we're keeping these old broken down players, we might as well just sit them until a week or 2 before the playoffs. These 2 are going to keep getting injured all year.