By MARC BERMAN SARATOGA SPRINGS - With no morning practice today at The Spa, here's my initial nine-man Mike D'Antoni rotation. D'Antoni said he wants a solid nine guys and will play all of them big minutes. My nine does not include Not-So-Fast Eddie Curry. Starting lineup: Starters: Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Zach Randolph, David Lee. Four-man bench: Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, Jared Jeffries, Wilson Chandler. THOUGHTS: All nine guys can run the floor, and even Zach can manage. If Quentin Richardson, whose 20 pounds lighter, can't find his shot like last season, I'd pull the plug quickly and take him out of rotation completely. But he deserves a first chance because he could be their best outside shooter and excelled in D'Antoni's system in Phoenix. Marbury looks smoother and sharper than Duhon, who told me yesterday he's going too fast for its own good as he and others adapt to the new system. Curry has to prove a lot that he can run up and down and not get tired after the game's first two minutes. I just don't see enough intangibles to make it work for him. Jared Jeffries, after two awful seasons here, may have finally found his niche here in an uptempo style. He's such a bad spotup shooter, he was a liability in a halfcourt set. The system is perfect for him. Same goes for Nate. -- So I'm walking into the Skidmore College sports center yesterday morning and there's this co-ed carrying a tom-tom drum ...
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