No timetable for McDyess' return
Associated Press

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) _ The New York Knicks expect Antonio McDyess to play this season, though they won't give a timetable for his return.

``I've been warned ... not to use the word you just used, the word that ends in 'table,''' team president Scott Layden said Thursday.

At a barbecue and briefing for the media, the Knicks served hamburgers, hot dogs and morsels of information regarding the health and prospects of their best frontcourt player _ the former All-Star and Olympian who fractured his kneecap almost a year ago and was lost for the entire 2002-03 season.

Layden said McDyess was rehabbing with 20-minute running sessions in a workout pool and 20-minute jump-shooting drills at the team's practice facility, and that those sessions will eventually be lengthened.

But Layden would give no further details and evaded all questions concerning a time frame for McDyess' return to the active roster.

``We're going to be conservative and we're not going to rush things,'' he said. ``Let me put it in these terms, before this summer we were measuring his progress in terms of months. Now we're measuring his progress in terms of days.''

Layden, entering his fifth season with the Knicks, said McDyess did not have any setbacks in his recovery from the two most recent operations on his kneecap _ the latter of which, a bone graft procedure, was performed in April at the Mayo Clinic after the fracture in McDyess' kneecap did not properly heal.

``I saw him on the court the other day, and you could see in his face and his eyes that's he's excited to be out on the court and back with a basketball in his hands,'' Layden said. ``His knee is as healed as it should be at this point. He won't be wearing a brace. His spirits are very good and his mental outlook is terrific.''

New York's veterans will report to camp Friday, with the Knicks well-stocked at power forward but deficient at other positions. Layden said newly acquired Keith Van Horn will spend much of his playing time at the small forward spot, where his defensive deficiencies could be a problem in a conference loaded with quick, athletic players at that position.

There is no backup shooting guard behind Allan Houston, and Shandon Anderson is the team's only natural small forward. The center position will again be manned by Kurt Thomas, a converted power forward.

The trade for Van Horn made the Knicks younger and taller, which was one of Layden's goals in the offseason. The team also added three draft picks in Michael Sweetney, Maciej Lampe and Slavko Vranes, although only Sweetney is expected to have an immediate impact _ the amount of which will be determined in large part by the health of McDyess, who plays the same position.

``We're confident that he's going to play for the team this year, and we're going to take a conservative approach so we can ensure he has a long and productive career,'' Layden said of McDyess. ``Clearly with him on the team we're better, so we look forward to when he's out there going full strength.''

Whenever that might be. link