Sports Radio Interviews

The Knicks are Looking to Improve in Mike D’Antoni’s Second Season…or Are They?

When you think about Mike D’Antoni’s teams in the past, you think about teams that like to run up and down the court, they like to score as much as possible and they like to score quickly.  His offensive system is very fun and exciting, but I don’t think that kind of system can ever consistently compete for Championships in the NBA.  In the NBA, defense wins championships and historically Mike D’Antoni’s teams don’t play defense. 

On top of that, he doesn’t have the caliber of players right now that he had in Phoenix and the Knicks seem content to just float by this season and gear up for the summer of 2010 where a lot of big-name free agents become available on the open market.  They had the worst record in the Eastern Conference a season ago, had a chance to make some moves in the offseason and really didn’t make any moves to improve.  It seems as if the goal of the Knicksis to be just competitive enough while at the same time preserving as much cap space as possible for the summer of 2010.  I think if the Knicksare finally going to be competitive again, it will be in the third year with Mike D’Antoni as opposed to this year, his second season in New York.

Mike D’Antoni joined ESPN 1050 in New York to talk about the expectations for the team this season, going from a winning team in Phoenix to New York, how close the Knicks are to being able to run his system effectively and dealing with the New York media.

 On coming into a rebuilding situation:

“I don’t think so because I really like coaching, I like our guys and I know the plan.  I’d have to be fairly selfish to get frustrated and not get into the process.  You play the cards you’re dealt and you play them the best you can.  Hopefully we’ll be good this year.  That’s the plan anyway so we’ll see what happens.”

On the pursuit of some of the free agents in the offseason:

“I knew it was going to be tough just because of the situation that we’re in and what we could offer and all that.  You deal with it, you try to do the best you can do, you hope you can get some breaks.  If you don’t, you don’t.  Again just going back, I like the guys we have on the floor, so I’m ready to go to battle with these guys and I’m happy we have them.”

On whether the culture has changed within the organization:

“I think everything is gone.  I think the culture in the locker room, on the practice floor and how they approach each day is great.  I’m really happy with their professionalism and the way they view how they want their careers to go.  Having said that, we still have to get to the point where we’re confident in what we can do.  Winning begets winning.  We have to have that mindset.  I don’t know what comes first, you get the mindset and you start winning or do you have to win to get the mindset.  We’re working on that.  Hopefully you get some breaks and get off to a pretty good start where it all kind of snowballs into a positive manner.  Just do the best you can do, the players are going to play as hard as they can play and we’ll just see what happens.”  

On how his resume helped the transition of the team:

“Without a doubt.  You couldn’t do this as a first year guy.  You’re right.  As soon as the players lose confidence in you or they feel like they have a little more juice than you have, then you’re in trouble.  That’s where coaches get in trouble.  That’s why coaches get fired all the time.  Not that they don’t know what they’re doing, they just didn’t get the ears of the players.  Sometimes that’s not fair, but that’s just the way our business is.  It’s a tough business.”

On whether they can shoot the ball well enough to run his system:

“Well that’s probably the key to this year.  If we shoot the ball well, we’re going to be good.  Our defense is improved.  We’vegot guys that are more defensive-minded and will apply themselves on that end, so that’s going to improve.  Can we shoot the ball well enough to be a top team in the East?  That remains to be seen.  We’ll see.”

On whether or not the team is close to where he wants it to be:

“No, I think Donnie (Walsh) has done as well as he can do with the situation.  He’s put us in a position where next year when we get under the cap, we have different possibilities and a lot of flexibility.  I think we have a pretty good core of young people that will either stay with us and go forward or we can switch it up.  I think he’s done a great job under tough circumstances.  Now it’s just up to us, the team, the players, and myself to win.”

Listen to Mike D’Antoni on ESPN Radio New York with Brandon Tierney (13 minutes into podcast)

Tags: Donnie Walsh, Eastern Conference, Mike D'Antoni, NBA, New York Knicks