We are just about 48 hours away from the first Knicks preseason game of 2014. Do you have the shakes yet?

Derek Fisher ran the team through another practice on Monday, and he apparently ran them pretty hard.

Fish not playing around. Today's Knicks practice is still going on and it's been 3 hours and 15 minutes already. — Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 6, 2014

Big whoop, Fisher! Mike Woodson once had the team practice standing around watching Carmelo Anthony shoot for eight hours: "I don't wanna see you move, rook! Championships in June are won by standing around and doing nothing in October!"

As Seth alluded to in the links post, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tim Hardaway and Iman Shumpert were held out of contact drills. Amar'e didn't practice for standard Amar'e reasons, but Hardaway and Shumpert are suffering from (hopefully) short-term maladies:

Fisher says Shumpert has a hamstring ailment. Hardaway Jr has some inflammation in hip. Fisher says NYK is being cautious with both — Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 6, 2014

Take heart, Shumpert fans -- our man was still hard at work this afternoon:

Shumpert's the last player still on the practice floor. Taking jumpers as Fisher looks on pic.twitter.com/QMJLuA4A2n — Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) October 6, 2014

Shumpert staying after practice to work on floaters. — Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) October 6, 2014

I hope the Knicks invested in one of those Men In Black neuralizers this offseason, to purge Shump's brain of the memory of Ray Felton's infamous wounded-duck floater. Don't want that image floating around in his head when he shoots...pun intended.

Will Shump and Tim play in Wednesday's preseason opener? All signs point to "dunno."

Fisher is not ruling out Shumpert or Hardaway playing Wednesday. — Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) October 6, 2014

Per Marc Berman, Shumpert would have participated in a full practice today if he'd had his druthers. When it comes to players and their health, we probably shouldn't let them have their druthers:

"I believe I’m playing,’’ Shumpert said. "I would hope so. I don’t want to sit out all these practices and not play. That’s why I’m sitting everything out, so I can get some game action.’’ ... "It’s a strain, pull, something,’’ Shumpert said. "I would play, but they don’t want it nagging me all season. Coach is taking the necessary precautions. If it was bruise, they’d let me play. But since it’s a muscle, I don’t want anything to linger on throughout the season. Just sit out and get through it.’’

PLAY THEM IN PRACTICES AND MEANINGLESS GAMES! I WANT KNICKS BASKETBALL NOW, DAMMIT!

(Seriously, though...maybe don't play them if they aren't 100-percent healthy.)

In financial news, Scrooge McMelo was asked about the league's massive new TV deal, and whether or not rumors of a future windfall entered his mind when negotiating his contract in the offseason:

Carmelo reiterates that he wasn't interested in a 2-year deal, despite the league's TV deal was coming up. Says "Im good with five years." — Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) October 6, 2014

Carmelo: "I signed my deal. I'm good. The organization is good." Also says front office must be looking forward to new TV deal/bigger cap — Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 6, 2014

I'd appreciate it if the front office didn't let everyone know that they'll have more money to play with in the immediate future. Perhaps a certain fedora-wearing, kazoo-blowing owner can be kept out of the loop.

In non-Knick news, Tyson Chandler said something today. Now, we all have our differences of opinion on certain members and former members of this organization , gentle readers, but I think we all can agree that the following statement is not true:

... RT @DwainPrice: Tyson on he, Melo & Amare: "We had potential to be 1 of the most dominant frontlines of all time when we came together." — Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) October 6, 2014

Finally, let's end with FAT SHEED:

"I talked to Sheed the other day," Kevin Garnett said. "He was at home, on the couch, being fat." — Andrew Keh (@andrewkeh) October 6, 2014

I still hate you, KG.

I still love you, Sheed.

Only 48 hours til Knicks basketball.