SARATOGA SPRINGS – For one day in this eclectic upstate town, the Knicks looked like a team again – a team with an identity, plan and style.
It’s Mike D’Antoni’s team, and that means they’ll run like the thoroughbreds down the street at Saratoga Raceway.
“They’re ready to change,” D’Antoni said after the first training camp practice at Skidmore College. “They’re ready to play well and try something different. Give credit to the players. They want to do it. I’m happy to bring a different style and I’m not backing off on it. Whoever goes with us, goes with us.”
The players were overjoyed talking about their speedball offense and not sexual harassment. Not only did Isiah Thomas’ trial one year ago create a cloud of negativity among Knick fans, but he failed to give the team an identity, moving from one system to another during their 23-59 laughingstock season. As a result, Donnie Walsh’s major offseason change was not with the roster but the coach.
“It’s a different atmosphere,” Zach Randolph said. “It’s pretty much last year’s team but it’s different – different coach and everyone’s on the same page. A lot better vibe than last year – guys smacking each other on the butt, helping each other out, helping guys get through it.”
Monday night in the team hotel, D’Antoni gave the team a presentation, talked about the new style, and told them the Knicks have too much talent not to win. He showed clips of the Knicks championship years to underscore his message.
“It’s a more positive vibe,” David Lee said. “We’re not going to learn this whole system and erase the past four years all in one day. But we’re starting off on the right foot with a lot of positive energy and starting to learn a system if we can all pick this up, we’ll be successful.”
Thomas alternated between a low-post team based around Eddy Curry and Randolph, to a fast-paced, smallball unit. There was no defensive plan. D’Antoni is all about pressure defense.
“We went through different times last year where we dumped it inside every time to games we tried to bring more pace,” said Lee, who could be the starting center. “Having a consistent system this year will help us. The best thing about this is we have a way to play night in, night out, whether that means shoot the ball from half court every time, at least we go in knowing what we want to do.”
Jamal Crawford thought the low-post offense was a mistake.
“We tried to establish going inside, [but] after a while everyone in the league just knew we were going inside,” Crawford said. “So that was tough.”
After five successful seasons as coach of the Suns, D’Antoni was excited about the players’ reaction to his style of coaching.
“In Phoenix, they kind of got stale,” D’Antoni said. “Same old stuff. We put up 110 [points] and got tired of scoring. Right now it’s fresh and guys are excited about doing it. They want to believe in something. For me it’s refreshing.”
Of course, it’s not even October.
“We’ll see in three days,” D’Antoni said. “Today everybody got the adrenaline going. In three days, we can be running in mud.”