Eddy Curry
From Hoopedia
Eddy Curry Jr. (born December 5, 1982, in Calumet City, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA currently with the New York Knicks.
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High School
Curry was regarded as one of the best high school basketball players in the nation as a senior at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois. Curry led his team to second place in the 2001 IHSA State Playoffs.
NBA Draft
Curry had signed a letter of intent to play at DePaul University but declared himself eligible for the 2001 NBA Draft in which the Chicago Bulls made him the fourth overall pick. The decision to draft Curry and pair him alongside fellow rookie Tyson Chandler was a major surprise to many basketball fans given that both players were high school seniors. In trying to rebuild from the Michael Jordan era, both Curry and Chandler wore uniform numbers that when put together read 23; Curry wore number 2, and Chandler number 3.
Professional Career
Curry's contribution was limited during his rookie year due to limited minutes. Curry did improve in his second year, leading the NBA in field goal percentage (58.5%) and becoming the first Bull to lead the league in a major statistical category since Michael Jordan in 1998. His 2002-03 season was widely considered a disappointment as he failed to live up to expectations after a strong finish to the previous year. In the 2004-05 season the Bulls improved by 28 wins and made the playoffs as the 22-year-old Curry led the team in scoring before being hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat. This caused him to miss the last 13 games of the regular season and the entire playoffs. On June 24, 2005, heart specialists cleared Curry to resume practice. On October 3, 2005, after refusing on privacy grounds to submit to a DNA test, as requested by Bulls management to assess whether he has a congenital heart condition, Curry was traded to the New York Knicks. The trade included the Bulls' Antonio Davis, as well as the Knicks' Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas, and Jermaine Jackson. First round draft picks were also exchanged in the trade - which later came back to haunt the Knicks as they had a poor 2005-06 season in which Curry averaged 13.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game (numbers that were significantly down from the previous season). Curry's inability to defend and rebound was a source of frustration for former coaches Scott Skiles and Larry Brown. When asked by a reporter in 2003 what Curry needed to do to become a better rebounder, Skiles simply replied: "Jump." The 2006-07 season has seen a resurgence in Curry's performance under new coach Isiah Thomas, with Curry anointed the team's primary offensive option, averaging career highs in points (19.6), rebounds (7.1), and minutes (34.9) per game. On April 7, 2007 Curry scored a career-best 43 points in an overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks; his first three-pointer of the season forcing the game into the extra period. Curry is 2 for 2 from three-point range in his NBA career.
Cardiac Problems
Several prominent cardiologists cleared Curry to play, but Barry Maron, a world-renowned specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, suggested the DNA test. During the team's media day, Bulls General Manager John Paxson said he understood the privacy issues involved but insisted the Bulls did not have an ulterior motive; they simply do not want a situation similar to those of former Boston Celtics guard Reggie Lewis or Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers -- players with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who collapsed and died. Paxson told reporters the Bulls had offered Curry $400,000 annually for the next fifty years if he failed the genetic test.
The test that Eddy Curry was required to take is called Predictive DNA Testing. It has an approximately 10% 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% efficiency.
In the end, even the very doctor that suggested the DNA test cleared Eddy Curry to resume playing, merely suggesting Curry take the test; he never actually demanded it. It has been suggested that the episodes he suffered could have been the result of a poor diet Curry was following in an effort to lose weight, as stipulated by the Bulls in order to obtain a new — and larger — contract. There is speculation Curry may have used ephedra to enhance his weight loss, which could potentially have compounded the situation.
