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Updates on the injured and the non-guaranteed from Knicks practice

Plus some details about the Knicks' relationship with the D-League.

By Seth
USA TODAY Sports

Hello! The Knicks held practice today following their crucial win over the Wizards in Baltimore. I have bits of information to share.

Regarding those with sprained elbows, via Adam Zagoria:

"Just what they thought, a little bit of swelling but I’ll be alright," Shumpert said Friday. "A couple of days."

Coach Mike Woodson said he expects Shumpert, Prigioni and World Peace to be ready by Monday, when the Knicks visit Toronto

Regarding Mike Woodson's plans for the players who were already injured:

Regarding Mike Woodson's opinion of and plans for some non-guaranteed training camp invites:

And on C.J. Leslie, via Zagoria:

"He is a project," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Friday after practice. "No doubt about that. Right now the game is somewhat quick for him in terms of catching on to what we’re doing. I’ve seen that over the years since I’ve been coaching, a lot of young guys they struggle early because you throw so many things at them, it’s too fast. So we’re trying to slow it down a little a bit, spend more time with him in the classroom.

"I’ll take a little bit more look at him Toronto [on Monday] because we’ll rest some of these other guys and see how he plays."

Those tactful but decidedly un-glowing assessments of Smith and Leslie check out with what I've seen, but there's still plenty of preseason left to play.

In closing, I'd like to pass along-- as best I can-- some revelations about the Knicks' relationship with the Erie BayHawks. I have been misinforming y'all all summer, through some combination of changing rules and my own incompetence. Either way, let me try to clear something up:

I have been saying all summer that the only way the Knicks can retain the rights of players in the D-League is if they keep them on the 15-man roster and send them down to the Erie BayHawks. This is false. As many people on Twitter just informed me (and as our dear D-League employee Dylan Murphy did his best to explain in depth to me), up to three players cut from each NBA team before the D-League draft takes place in early November can have their rights controlled by the cutting team's D-League affiliate.

What this means is the following: IF the Knicks decide to cut, say, C.J. Leslie and he: 1. clears NBA waivers and 2. signs a D-League contract, THEN the BayHawks (who are run in cooperation with the Knicks) can add him. The Knicks would then own his rights and would be able to call him up in-season, provided they had roster space. Another team would not be allowed to call him up in-season.

If the Knicks cut Leslie and the BayHawks did NOT add him via the up-to-three rule, he would be entered into the D-League draft and his rights would be up for grabs.

Now, there is a ton of additional complexity to this that I still don't fully understand. Leslie's case is pretty clean and simple, but Toure' Murry's is not. Murry played for the Rio Grande Vipers last season, and D-League rights carry over for two seasons. Thus, if the Knicks cut him, the Vipers (who are affiliated with the Rockets) get first dibs if they want him back. So that's a little different. The same, I assume, goes for Chris Douglas-Roberts with the Texas Legends and Jeremy Tyler with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

As far as I know, Cole Aldrich, Josh Powell, Chris Smith and Ike Diogu are in the same boat as Leslie because none of them have played in the D-League in the last two years. If the Knicks want to cut them but retain their rights, they can just send 'em to Erie as long as everyone's in agreement.

This is complicated and I don't quite get it, but the upshot is this: The Knicks CAN retain the exclusive rights of up to three players if they cut them before the D-League draft (and they must cut to 15 before the D-League draft). For players without recent D-League experience, this process is clean-cut as long as team, affiliate, and player all consent to it. For players with recent D-League experience, there are a few more hoops to jump through. And there are probably other jumping hoops we haven't discussed because this process sounds incredibly byzantine.

Overall, this is good news if you are a person who sees more talent on this training camp roster than the Knicks can fit into three openings. The Knicks have control beyond those 15 overall spots.

So, keep some semblance of the above in mind as we approach the final cut. We'll bring this back up when the time comes. Sorry I've been misleading y'all all this time.

Update: Ohhhhh man, you must watch this video of Iman Shumpert responding to a rambling Marc Berman question.

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