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New York Knicks’ guard Pablo Prigioni is one of very few rookies in the NBA that doesn’t actually get treated like one.

So he says.

The 35-year-old Argentine is the oldest NBA rookie in 40 years but he is still thankful that he isn’t subjected to embarrassing tasks that other first year players have gone through.

“They don’t treat me like a rookie, thank god,” Prigioni joked. “They respect me a lot and they are also great players but more importantly good people.”

Going from playing roughly nine minutes to start with to over 20 minutes in his last three games, Prigioni is now starting to show the form that earned him a spot in the league via Caja Laboral. He was impressive especially in the 108-101 loss to Chicago at Madison Square Garden in the team’s penultimate game before heading to England’s capital city.

The Knicks arrive with a 24-13 record in the Eastern Conference, second only to Miami, whereas Detroit sit outside the Playoff picture with a 14-24 record, Prigioni is hopeful of the same amount of court time he has had in previous games – and even though he is enjoying being part of the regular rotation – he admits being more exhausted than he would playing in the Liga Endesa.

“There are a lot of differences between ACB and NBA,” he said. NBA is quicker and there is hardly time for practice as you travel a lot too. For starters, we have to travel to London for a regular season game; there are of course other rules. I would just be throwing out other differences but those are the main ones.”

The Argentina international’s preparations for this season did not start off too well. He confessed to not at 100 percent when he arrived in New York for pre-season training camp and even hinted that he might have delayed his arrival to the States.

“I have memories [of the Olympics],” he grinned. “For me the last Olympic Games, I was happy because we made the top four in big tournaments and big games, but I had so many problems with my body.  I was sick a lot during the Games and I don’t enjoy that experience.”

Prigioni was asked about his future involvement with the national side but didn’t reveal much in the way of suiting up when Argentina travel to Venezuela for the 2013 FIBA Americas tournament. He remains focused on tomorrow’s game with Detroit.

New York Knicks’ game with Detroit Pistons from the O2 Arena, London is scheduled to tip at 8:10pm.