Short training camp doesn't faze Carmelo

The positive sign was that Carmelo Anthony, in peak condition and mentally focused, was the first Knicks player in the gym, once the NBA unlocked the doors last Thursday. What's alarming is that Anthony walked in alone, while Amar'e Stoudemire stayed in Florida with his personal trainer and Chauncey Billups stayed in Denver with his family.

Both are expected to arrive for workouts and physicals at MSG Training Center Thursday, one day before training camp officially opens.

Last week, Anthony talked about the importance of getting the players together as early as possible to reconnect after the long offseason, doing such things as "watching some film before training camp even starts so when that ball goes up on [Friday], we're ready to go out there," he said. "Go through our plays and go over our defensive schemes and know what we want to do before stepping on the court, rather than getting on the court and figuring it out."

Coach Mike D'Antoni, in the final year of his contract, will instead have a short training camp of 16 days, which include two preseason games and a fan-friendly team scrimmage at the Garden. That leaves 13 days for practice to prepare for the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. The Knicks scrambled to find chemistry late last season after the blockbuster trade that brought Anthony and Billups to New York and it appears they will be scrambling again.

"Two weeks is not a full training camp but there's a lot of time to get stuff done," Anthony said. "Get guys in, focus on the couple of things we need to focus on and go from there. And then we get better as the season goes on."

It was actually Stoudemire's plan to get the players together early, with a minicamp he wanted to host at IMG's basketball facility in Florida. But when a tentative settlement was reached to end the lockout on Nov. 26, it was logistically difficult to assemble 10 players who were scattered around the country in a matter of days.

Stoudemire said in October, "By not having a training camp and not having this preseason, it's definitely going to hinder us a little bit. But with the coaching staff that we have, we should be able to figure it out."

Billups, meanwhile, is getting in as much family time as he can. He considered moving his wife and two school-age daughters to New York this season, but with his situation unsettled as the Knicks attempt to trade for Chris Paul, Billups figures to rent, not buy, once again.

Anthony didn't sound concerned about the lost time with his fellow star players.

"We talked the whole summer, we talked the last couple of days," he said. "We know what we have to do."

Notes & quotes: The collective bargaining agreement is all but completed and the players began the voting process for ratification Wednesday afternoon. The NBA Board of Governors will meet Thursday in Manhattan to approve the deal and, if the CBA is ratified as expected, the lockout will be officially lifted.

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