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Knicks' Calderon: Achilles 'back to normal,' trade comments were 'a joke'

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Calderon's decision to skip EuroBasket 2015 with Spain in order to heal from a season-ending Achilles injury has paid off.

While Spain has struggled to a 1-2 start, the New York Knicks point guard has returned to health. Calderon hit the shelf in late February, then received a platelet-rich plasma treatment on the tendon in late March, ending his season. With training camp less than three weeks away, the injury sounds like it's behind him.

"I feel as if the Achilles is back to normal," Calderon told Marc Berman from The New York Post.

Calderon also clarified a tweet from mid-August that implied the Minnesota Timberwolves and/or Los Angeles Clippers were interested in trading for him. The salary cap math always would have been difficult with L.A. and the fit strange with Minnesota, but Calderon said his tweet was "a joke" and he "was pretty confident" he was staying in Gotham.

He also seems confident that the group he'll show up to camp with can do better than the 2014-15 iteration, who struggled to the worst finish in franchise history. He's remaining cautious with his optimism.

"We'll win more than 17 games," Calderon said. "And we'll try to win every game. I'm real excited we can do great things, but talking about the playoffs, it's too early. You don't talk playoffs a few weeks before training camp."

The 32-year-old Calderon figures to open the season as the team's starting point guard ahead of first-round pick Jerian Grant. Last season, Calderon averaged 9.1 points, three rebounds, and 4.7 assists while knocking down 41.5 percent of his 3-point attempts, the latter a valuable tool for a point guard in a system that employs elements of Phil Jackson's triangle offense.

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