Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni is plenty optimistic about what the summer will yield.
Speaking for the first time since Thursday’s deadline deals cleared even more salary cap room for the Knicks, D’Antoni said he believes that the team has a strong chance of using their freed-up money to land top talent this summer.
“Of course we do,” he said. “Now, am I just whistling Dixie? I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know. But we’ve got a good shot at it. We’ve got the best shot that we can have at it.”
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D’Antoni didn’t — couldn’t — specify particular targets, so whether he believes the Knicks can reel in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, some combination of the three or another big-ticket player entirely is unknown. But with the Knicks in position to offer two max contracts this summer, D’Antoni said the Knicks can bring in a superstar or two to play at the Garden.
“We’ll get some good guys in here,” he said. “Now, you don’t know how it’s going to play out — nobody does. But we will have a bunch of money to get a bunch of good players.
D’Antoni, who said, “I think I started anticipating [the 2010 summer] since the day I signed,” praised team president Donnie Walsh for how he has changed the Knicks’ cap situation. Walsh has unloaded Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and Jared Jeffries, without taking on any high-salaried players who are signed for next season.
D’Antoni said Walsh has executed his plan “almost perfectly.”
“Donnie’s done a great job,” he said. “And that’s why I came to New York. You go with a guy that’s proven over and over and over again that he can do what he says, and he did it.”
With the Knicks’ new acquisitions — Tracy McGrady, point guard Sergio Rodriguez and sharpshooter Eddie House — D’Antoni said the team will again feature a high-octane offense for the remainder of the regular season.
But there are lineup issues. With Jeffries, Darko Milicic and Jordan Hill gone, the Knicks have no backup center behind David Lee. Al Harrington, who is just 6-foot-9, will have to deliver minutes there. Either way, the offense will more closely resemble D’Antoni’s seven-seconds-or-less philosophy.
“We’re going to speed it up again,” he said. “We’re going to have to spread the floor. We’re going to have to score. . . . We’ve gone from a real tall team to a real small team now.”
The Knicks have a new point guard to work in (Rodriguez), a new backup shooting guard who needs minutes (House) and, above all, McGrady. How will the reconfigured lineup look? D’Antoni wouldn’t say just yet, other than to note that McGrady will see plenty of playing time.
“Whether they start or not start, they’re going to play, and then we’ll just try to fit the five best together and see what we’ve got,” D’Antoni said.