The Re-Emergence of a Once Promising Big Man: Life and Times of Eddy Curry

Eddy Curry has always been a large player on the court, that is when he actually was able to stay on it.

Curry, a once heralded Chicago Prep star (Preps Chicago Hoops aired in 2000 on Fox Sports South, chronicling Curry's High School days) was drafted out of Thornwood High School in Chicago, back in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls (fourth overall). 

He was a raw rookie, who displayed a limited work ethic but one who many saw as a cornerstone of the franchise along with fellow high school standout Tyson Chandler.

Curry did not play much during his rookie season, but ultimately started to blossom in his second season with the Bulls in which led the league in field goal percentage (58.5 percent) while also finishing strong to end the year.

His next season would see a decline in numbers, and often show Curry in foul trouble and exposed his inability to consistently rebound the ball. Questions soon surrounded the franchise in whether they made the right choice in drafting Curry.

He proved doubters wrong after strong summer workouts and a strong start to the season in 2004-2005 in which he put up good numbers (16.1 points per game), and led the young Bulls to the playoffs despite only playing in 63 games.

It was then that he was diagnosed with a irregular heartbeat, thus missing the last 13 games of the season and the playoffs.

He was eventually cleared by various cardiologists except for Barry Maron, a world-renowned specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, who suggested Curry undergo a Predictive DNA test before he would be cleared to play.

General manager John Paxson agreed with Dr. Maron and told Curry he must take the test as he was concerned with his overall health first and foremost. The DNA test has an approximately 10 percent efficiency at detecting DNA irregularities, which may signal the chance of a person developing a specific condition. The practice is illegal in 40 states.

Such testing does not reveal the presence of a condition but rather seeks out irregularities, which can be used to determine if a person may be susceptible to developing a specific condition. It is far from an established science and has also been known to produce as many false positives as true positives.

From the standpoint of an NBA player, if the test produced a false positive which you would be unable to determine until decades down the road when you would know whether or not the person actually did or did not develop the disease, you may have just ended the career of a pro player based entirely on a test that has a 10 percent efficiency.

Dr. Maron only suggested Curry take it rather than demand it, either way, Curry refused and was promptly dealt to the New York Knicks on Oct. 3, 2005.

Curry struggled in his first two seasons with the Knicks, often showing poor decision-making and a often lack of jumping, which resulted in poor rebound numbers for a player his size (6.0 rebounds per game).

Curry would go on to have a career year in 2006-2007 under new head coach Isiah Thomas, he posted career highs in scoring (19.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.0 per game) as well as playing in all but one game that season.

Curry had one more decent run as the Knicks starting center during the 2007-2008 season, but failed to live up to the success of the previous year and also could not escape injury only playing in 59 games.

The 2008-2009 season brought in new head coach Mike D'Antoni, who was known for his up-tempo style, often clashing with the often-injured and slow moving Curry.

Curry would only play limited minutes, appearing in only three games all year due to injury and not fitting in to D'Antoni's system. Again showing up to training camp overweight for the second year in a row.

2009 would also mark a troubled year for Curry, despite losing major weight and finally showing up for the 2009-2010 season in somewhat decent shape. He had many off the court troubles, including Curry's ex-girlfriend, Nova Henry, and their nine-month-old daughter Ava were found murdered in Chicago on January 25, 2009, along with Curry's Chicago mansion being in foreclosure, as he owed close to $220,000 in mortgage payments. Curry took out a nearly $4 million mortgage on the property in 2006, which included monthly house payments of more than $25,000.^[14].  

All that coupled with sexual allegations by his former chauffeur, David Kuchinsky. Kuchinsky accused Curry of trying to solicit gay sex from him.

According to court papers, Curry repeatedly approached Kuchinsky "in the nude," saying, "Look at me, Dave, look," and, "Come and touch it, Dave." The Manhattan federal court suit also stated that Curry made Kuchinsky perform "humiliating tasks outside the scope of his employment, such as cleaning up and removing dirty towels [into which Curry had ejaculated] so that his wife would not see them."

Kuchinsky also said Curry called him racial slurs, including "fucking Jew," "cracker," "white slave," "white devil," and "grandmaster of the KKK."

Curry again had a down season after another injury filled training camp and the inability to win over his coach. Curry appeared in seven games in the 2009-2010 season, putting up decent numbers but again languished on the bench thus washing away another season in his once promising career.

Curry came into the 2010-2011 as an afterthought, and Weighed over 365 pounds in which many viewed him as mainly an attractive trade chip ($11 million expiring contract) for Mike D'Antoni, who had stockpiled the center position with Timofey Mozgov and Ronny Turiaf as options before Curry could see the light of day.

On February 22, 2011, Curry was traded to the Timberwolves" title="Minnesota Timberwolves">Minnesota Timberwolves in a three-way blockbuster deal which also involved Nuggets" title="Denver Nuggets">Denver Nuggets that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York.

Lasting only a week, his contract was bought out by the Timberwolves on March 1st,2011, before he played a single game for them, making him a free agent as he was out of shape and did not fit the T-wolves future plans.

Curry was sinking fast as he has watched his once promising career, go down with painful injury after injury, all the while the Miami Heat held a slight interest in Curry if he could regain conditioning.

To the surprise of many the Heat told Curry after a late season workout in which he weighed 350 pounds, if he could get down to a playing weight of 300 pounds then he would have a shot at making the Opening day 2011-2012 roster.

Curry finally committed himself to training hard during the rest of the 2010-2011 season often working with respected Chicago based trainer Tim Grover, who trains many of the NBA elite players.

Curry shed an astonishing 70 pounds before being offered a one year deal with the Miami Heat, he has since lost another 15 pounds since being in training camp. He is currently limited with a hip flexor injury, but he is expected to provide much excitement if he can ever regain his 2008 form.

Curry has taken a long road since being drafted 4th overall in 2001, but the hard way is often the best way in the end if you succeed.

Curry is looking not only for redemption for his once herald career, he is looking for respect and the ability to prove all the doubters wrong.

If anyone can provide Curry with the tools needed to succeed it is Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. Wouldn't it be a sight to see if Eddy Curry is the big man in the middle who leads the "King to a Ring", only time will tell if Eddy Curry Re-Emerges as a quality big man.