In the final installment of P&T's 2009 training camp videos, I present perhaps the most hard-hitting interview I've ever conducted. In a controversial move, I decided to confront the Knicks' Jordan Hill with the work of his namesake. A few other players shared their reactions as well. Jordan Hill will never be the same. Neither of them.

It's worth mentioning that I showed a couple guys the CD off camera. Nate Robinson and Allan Houston each got a good laugh out of it, while Jared Jeffries seemed more frightened than anything. The obvious conclusion is that Jared actually believed that his rookie teammate and the person on the album cover were the same person. Punk'd.

If you watched Knicks Summer League action, you probably saw the interview that took Posting and Toasting by storm. Toney first used the line in Vegas, during a halftime conversation with MSG's Tina Cervasio. When asked how he might adjust to NBA play, Toney replied that, among other things, he'd simply "do what Toney Douglas do". Naturally, the P&T community was enthralled. I added the DWTDD button to the side bar and encouraged any and all to heed that sage advice.

We needed clarification, though, on how best to follow in Toney's footsteps. At training camp here in Saratoga Springs, I sought Toney out for some tips on his way of life. Here's the short li'l video.

You heard it from the man himself. No matter what else you do or how you do it, do what Toney Douglas do. (Directed by Jacob Wolf).

During training camp here in Saratoga Springs, NY, I had the chance to talk to a few Knicks about the current NBA referee strike and how it might affect the game on a general and individual level. Jared Jeffries, David Lee, Danilo Gallinari, and Wilson Chandler pretty much agreed that their games would not be changed by newer, more inexperienced refs.

These guys weren't the only ones I spoke to, but a similar answer from Chris Duhon and a more existential, metaphor-laden response from Darko Milicic were lost to camera trouble. Gotta make due with what I have. Check out the full video, after the jump...

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After a relatively mellow morning practice, the evening scrimmages at day 4 of Knicks training camp in Saratoga were among the best I've seen. Skidmore faculty were invited into the gym and permitted to bring their kids (there was a Q&A session with the rookies post-practice), so a particularly large and engaged crowd was at hand. A number of Knicks seized the opportunity to impress, and the games got pretty intense pretty fast. Some notes:

- The main instigators of what became a pretty heated battle were Nate Robinson and Chris Duhon. Robinson's squad (which was pretty much him and the youngsters) hit a little run of success, with Nate and Toney Douglas taking turns at the point and running show on both ends of the floor. After some posturing and trash talk from Nate (naturally), Du just lost it. He'd been typically mild-mannered for all of camp, but absolutely hit the ceiling tonight. It was great. Duhon and his blue squad (Hughes, Darko, Chandler, and Lee) immediately got to work, with the energized point guard directing traffic, screaming at refs, and even giving his own Gladiator-like speech to anyone who'd listen during a break in play ("Go get a drink, then come watch us play!). Du's masterpieces of the evening, though, were a couple of his signature downtown bombs. Despite discouragement from assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, Chris spotted up from about 30 feet out, and hit nothing but net, assuring the crowd that he could hit it "from the bus" if he wanted to. He hit another deeeeep one in scrimmage and a bunch afterward just to prove his point.

- Adding to the excitement was an especially active Al Harrington, who continued to abuse every defender in his path (and a ref or two as well). I believe the word that Al's added muscle over the summer, because he's willing and able to bully his way to the basket and finish strong. The outside shots are falling, too.

- Brace yourself. Jared Jeffries has been one of the best players on the floor throughout camp. I'm serious. It was cute at first, but Jared made it clear tonight that he's determined to be a factor. His outside shots continued to fall, and he put the ball on the floor for difficult finishes with either hand. On the other end, Jeffries hounded guards in the backcourt, then raced back to legitimately swat a few people under the basket. My friend (a Celtics fan, I'm afraid, but he appreciates the Knicks) said, without a hint of sarcasm, "he looks like Kevin Garnett out there". It was a sight to be seen.

- Toney Douglas continues to impress me on defense. As an athlete, he's unspectacular, but he's determined to bust his ass to stay with his assignment. It's especially refreshing to see someone get over a screen now and then.

- Both Darko Milicic and Jordan Hill continued to run the floor nicely, though neither can seem to find their outside shot. For Jordan, it's a matter of squaring himself with confidence and not hesitating (aka Channing Frye Syndrome). For Darko, it seems like more of a tiredness issue. The big fella was winded enough to actually call for a sub this evening. All that said, I think both are ready to run pick and rolls all season long.

- I think I buy the idea of Danilo Gallinari acting as a shooting guard on offense, but I'm not so down with his matching up that way on D. Gallo matched up with Nate Robinson and Marcus Landry (the latter of which isn't nearly as ridiculous, but still) at times, and had trouble keeping up when he got screened or lost on the break. At one point, a frustrated Gallo objected to some physical positioning by Landry, and simply shoved him out of bounds with two hands. The guy's got fire, but I wonder if throwing him out there against guards maximizes his talents.

- A little kid sitting behind me remarked that Nate Robinson looks like Terrell Owens. I was ready to shred that racist little six year-old punk to bits in this space, but you know what? I kinda see it.

- Line of the night goes to one of the refs who, witnessing the crowd's excitement during a break in play, announced "IT'S ON NOW!" to everyone in his immediate vicinity.

That's it for now, folks. The last practice is mid-day tomorrow. You can look forward to a little bit of interview footage (today's were a lot of fun), some nice photos, and some closing notes from me. As far as scrimmage video goes, look no further than The Knicks Blog. I'm going out now. Have a good one.

That's not how it works, Darko.

Photo credit: Dan Erkes

Evenin', friends. After a brief detour at my intramural volleyball game, I'm back home to reflect on another evening of intrasquad scrimmages. There'll be no video from me tonight, as the esteemed Tommy Dee was in attendance and got plenty of good footage. His stuff is being edited and will be up at TKB any moment now. In the meantime, here's what I saw:

- Jordan Hill got a lot more touches than he had previously, but didn't quite have the range. He was fully willing to pull from anywhere out to the three-point line, but just didn't have his legs under him. Down in the paint, Hill's moves were sharp- he had a few gorgeous fakes and a particularly nice spin move- but the shots just wouldn't fall. Both inside and out, Hill's form is solid. It's just confidence, strength, and shot selection. I suppose that's kind of a full plate, but I've got faith in Jordan. I'm an optimist. Sue me.

- Maybe my eyes are fooling me, but I'd swear that Larry Hughes and Wilson Chandler have each worked on their shot trajectories. Hughes has added more arc to his signature line drive, while Wil's moonballs have fallen to earth a little bit. Both looked decent today.

- Guys, Jared Jeffries is hitting jumpers pretty regularly. I don't know how else to say it. Visit the zoo while it's still in business.

- Danilo Gallinari didn't shoot poorly, but his misses were uniformly short. Gotta wonder if the full court play is starting to tire out those legs, especially given the extra time he's had off.

- Al Harrington is a serial jersey-puller. I don't know if he's at Malik Rose's level yet, but he's got plenty of sneaky tricks. Ask Jordan Hill.

- UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot this. Rick Brunson was there. In the flesh. Now I know what it feels like to be in the presence of greatness.

Other than that, things were pretty regular-like. I got a couple of nice interviews today, and have more planned. I'll be back at practice tomorrow morning. Keep an eye out for Tommy's videos and we'll talk on the morrow. Be safe.

At last! I filmed a nice chunk of the Knicks' evening scrimmages here at day 2 of training camp in Saratoga Springs. The videos are a little fuzzy, so to assist with your viewing, here are the rosters for each squad:

May have flip-flopped a few, but I'm sure I at least got the important people right. Enjoy the vids after the jump, and apologies for the quality. More to come.

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First things first. I got a few interviews yesterday that I intended to put online this morning. Unfortunately, some communication between the microphone and camera was shot, so instead of witty banter, all you could hear was a continuous, ear-melting squeal. I'm gonna hold on to the tape and see what I can do with it later, but in the mean time, my apologies. As far as other video goes, I got a couple halfway decent interviews today, and have more planned. I didn't originally want to film scrimmages, but I'm getting the sense that there's plenty of demand for those, so I'll do what I can.

Meanwhile, the second morning practice finished up a couple hours ago, and there were once again some obvious discrepancies from last year's drills. We got to see plenty of conditioning stuff- full-court drills, running, and a circuit of weight work, but there was another task that had Mike D'Antoni most occupied. It's a defensive drill: five offensive players stand around the perimeter, swinging the ball rapidly from man to man. Five players on defense must shift and communicate while reacting to the ball movement. Eventually, the offense starts cutting and and making craftier passes, and the D has to keep up. I think I mentioned this on the Twitter, but Mike D'Antoni got seriously animated about this one. It was hard to tell exactly what he said, but there were multiple occasions when he actually cut the drill short to direct traffic and chastise certain guys. It was intense, and it was defense. Hahn's got the word on that here.

A couple player notes:

- Danilo Gallinari shouldn't be chest-bumping or ass-bumping anybody, if you ask me. Gotta protect that back. Stick with the classic high five.

- Darko Milicic is, as many have said before, a very strong lefty. He prefers to finish left on either side of the rim, and isn't the most ambidextrous of dribblers.

- Eddy Curry wasn't present today because of that strained calf.

- Jordan Hill, for all his youthful pitfalls, runs the floor like a pro. He's fast for a big guy, and appears to be pretty well-conditioned. These full-court drills look absolutely exhausting, but Jordan was able to keep up at full speed. He also looked much more adept at stopping on a dime and hitting the short jumper today.

- Al Harrington and Jared Jeffries made a point of screaming "AHHH!! AHHH!!" and "IT HURTS!!!" while doing the strength drills on balance balls.

Couple things I forgot to mention from yesterday: The players have personalized smoothies with their names on them, each calibrated to fit their nutritional needs and flavor preferences. In the lost interviews, Warren Carter told me his was peanut butter flavored, and Darko Milicic said his was made of "English fruit", whatever that is. Sun Yue's, incidentally, was labeled "#32, CUTTINO MOBLEY". He didn't seem to mind. (Insert "I drink your milshake!" joke here.)

- Also last night, I overheard Eddy Curry and Chris Duhon discussing how strenuous Mike D'Antoni's full-court drills were. Both agreed that it was harder than anything Scott Skiles had ever made them do.

I've got a few classes to go to, then it's off to scrimmages this evening. I'll have more notes, and hopefully some action-packed video up by tomorrow morning. I think I'm gonna save all the interviews for last, so sit tight and satiate your Knick craving with the scrimmage vids for now. Keep commenting and emailing, and watch the Twitter for live updates starting at around 10 a.m. each morning and 6 p.m. each evening.