D’Antoni Not Biting on Prospect of Another Big Three
July 15, 2010 – 5:50 am by Eric SchmoldtWhile the rest of the world was still talking about the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, another Chris was busy talking about the next Big Three. Chris Paul spent part of Carmelo Anthony’s wedding day talking about the possibility of he and ‘Melo joining Amare Stoudemire with the New York Knicks.
Is it possible? Sure, why not? The Decision of this of this offseason proves that just about anything can happen at this point. Just don’t expect Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni to start speculating about it right now. He’d basically just be guessing. And besides, with the current shelf life of NBA coaches, chances are just as likely that D’Antoni wouldn’t be around to see the next Big Three anyway.
Mike D’Antoni joined Armstrong and Shapiro on the Score in Denver to discuss being a part of this year’s free agency process, how he would coach this year’s Big Three and the chances of coaching the prospective next Big Three.
On what it was like to be a part of this year’s free agency period:
“It’s been nerve-wracking in trying to put the best foot forward and trying to chase down all the rumors and see if you’re still in the game. You hear so much stuff, it’s like a roller coaster. You’re up one day, you’re down the next, but it was an interesting process. Some great things come out of it. As a staff, you kind of bond with your ownership. … It’s been a lot of positive stuff and, like you said, we came out with Amar’e [Stoudemire], which we’re really happy with and we made a nice trade. We were able to go to Plan B after we couldn’t get the other free agents and we think we’ve bettered the team.”
On whether the Knicks were in the hunt to get any of the Big Three:
“I think, to a certain degree, maybe an outside chance. It seems like, and I don’t know this, that all three seemed like they wanted to play together and they were looking for the best spot and Miami was able to shed all the cap room to get it done and that’s where they went.”
On whether the Knicks will save their current cap space for a move next year, possibly for Carmelo Anthony:
“I know there’s a lot of speculation out there and there always is because it seems like the best thing to do is speculate on everybody else’s future. Obviously we did that for two years and the guy we didn’t speculate on … is [the one] we got. You can’t hold much credence to what everybody says and even players change their mind every other day. … We’re almost capped out right now. We spent all our money … but we have left wiggle room for the next years. … We should be able to go after a max player next year, the year after.”
On the notion of Chris Paul’s New York Big Three:
“They have a hard time deciding on what shrimp cocktail to have on the plane. You don’t put any credence in any of that, just go forward. We have a lot of nice young kids that we’re trying to develop. … I know it’s fun to talk about and it’s fun to chase rumors and stuff, but really, I wouldn’t put a lot of credence in that.”
On how he might coach Miami’s Big Three:
“Their games complement each other. We did it in USA basketball. Those three guys, they’ll be fine because LeBron likes to pass. They’ll figure it out and they’ll be good. How good they’ll be will depend on how their chemistries work, but they’ll be a force down there.”
Listen to the entire interview with Mike D’Antoni on the Score in Denver here
Tags: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, free agency, NBA, New York Knicks
