SunTimes Former Bulls center Eddy Curry is upset about Bulls general manager John Paxson's recent revelation that, in addition to the well-publicized March 30 irregular heartbeat that ended his season, Curry had another heart scare during the team's training camp last season. Curry also told the New York Daily News that he and agent Leon Rose would consider taking legal action against the Bulls. Knicks president Isiah Thomas said the Knicks were aware of the previously unreported incident. "He checked out fine,'' Thomas said. "They found it was more or less him being tired and not eating.'' Curry learned of the death of Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier when he arrived for the Knicks' practice Saturday morning. Although the Hawks initially indicated the 7-foot, 260-pound Collier may have died of cardiac arrest, they backed off pending the autopsy results, which will not be available until today at the earliest. "I'm just saddened by the fact that I know him and it hits close to home,'' said Curry, 22, who was traded to the Knicks on Oct. 3 after he refused to take a genetic test that the Bulls believed would show whether his heart troubles could prove fatal. "It's tough to deal with because it can happen to anyone.'' The Knicks' doctors put Curry though a series of tests -- though not the genetic test the Bulls requested -- and are confident he is no more at risk than any of the 400 players in the league. "If there's any player that should feel safe and secure right now about his heart, it's Eddy,'' Thomas said Saturday. "He's probably been tested and seen more doctors about his heart than any player in the NBA.'' Curry said he's confident about his health. "I had so many doctors look at everything about my heart to make sure it was 100 percent ready to come out here on the court,'' Curry said. "Had we just blown this off and I played and this happened [Collier's death], it could have been more back-and-forth about going on. I feel the doctors did a good job of evaluating my situation.'' Thomas again cautioned reporters not to jump to conclusions about Curry's health. Although Curry was diagnosed with a benign heart arrhythmia, the Knicks claim none of the tests shows signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease that is a leading cause of sudden death in athletes. "We should be extremely careful not to give him something that he doesn't have and not to keep putting him in a light of a patient or someone who is sick,'' Thomas said, "because doctors have cleared him and checked him out and said that he doesn't have a condition. We need to be extremely sensitive to him and not keep saying that he has this because clearly he doesn't.'' Source
