First practice: Stoudemire, Felton named co-captains

Before the new team took the court for the first time this morning, the leadership was defined last night during the team's annual pre-camp dinner. Mike D'Antoni designated Amar'e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton as the co-captains for this season.

These veterans were the obvious choices for a team that has the seventh-youngest roster in the league and has 10 new faces. Stoudemire is the undisputed marquee player -- and will remain as such as long as Carmelo Anthony takes the money gamble and runs to Newark --and the Knicks hope his work ethic is contagious. The all-star, who already has Knicks staffers referring to him as "STAT" (his self-made moniker that stands for "Standing Tall and Talented"), addressed the team during the dinner by imploring them to stay in top condition.

He also said that "teams are going to be aiming for us because we're now a team to beat. So we have to be ready."

Time will tell if the team follows the lead of Stoudemire and Felton, who is also a tireless worker. One thing sorely lacking in recent years here has been leadership. 

The team last season had David Lee and Chris Duhon, who very likable guys, but not exactly imposing figures, as co-captains. Before that, there was the trio of Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry (seriously) and Malik Rose, who were the leadership during Isiah Thomas' last season in 2007-08. And the season before that: Crawford with Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis.

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* - The first practice of the year involved mostly conditioning drills, including one in which the players had to wear a harness around their waists and run while pulling a weighted sled across the gym floor. Timofey Mozgov caused one sled to gouge a rut into the floor. 

* - Eddy Curry made it through the entire, exhausting work out, which was an achievement in itself. Last year, it wasn't until the night session that he came up lame because of a calf injury that wound up costing him most of the season. The team will practice again tonight. One observation with Curry is that during five-on-five defense drills, while the rest of the team wore their reversables properly, he had his slung over one shoulder. But there's a good reason, I'm told: the red jerseys only come in XL so it didn't quite fit him.

He was on the red squad, which included the three rookies (Andy Rautins, Landry Fields, Patrick Ewing Jr.) and Shawne Williams. Kind of suggests he has some proving to do before he gets to play with the other vets.

The other two groups of five offered perhaps an early glimpse into D'Antoni's plans: Blue team was Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Amar'e and Ronny Turiaf. White team: Toney Douglas, Roger Mason, Bill Walker, Anthony Randolph and Mozgov.

* - As far as the Carmelo Anthony rumors, the entire Knicks contingent spoke as if they were ready to move on, which is telling. Stoudemire did say, "I don't think it's over yet," but added, "but there's no disappointment at all. We made great strides this summer with the players we have and we're in a great situation right now."