D'Antoni says Knicks in good position

I spoke with former Socastee High School coach Dan D'Antoni, currently an assistant with the New York Knicks, last week and asked about the Knicks' salary situation.

The Knicks did very little this offseason by way of transactions, leaving them with plenty of money heading into next offseason, which could present a free agent class with the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and others.

D'Antoni believes the Knicks are in a good position for the big offseason. However, by no means was he looking past this season.

"We want to be competitive this year and we think we can be. There's not many players we would trade out our players for. How good can we be? I don't know. We think what we have is very competitive," D'Antoni said. "I think [GM] Donnie [Walsh] did a great job getting our salary structure in line for the end of this year if we need more. These guys might show us they can get right to it too. The financial ability is there [either way].''

As things stand now, the Knicks, Nets and Heat are the teams in the best financial position heading into the offseason, which is very, very far away. Heck, we just started this season, didn't we?

With a potential free agent class like that, I guess it's never too early to start looking at the possibilities.

Comments

[i Know what to do]

I think Clevelnad should trade Lebron....its inevitable...he aint staying...but they wont...no team is dumb enough to take him for less than a season and then not sign him in the summer.

[Dave Wetzel]

While I think it's a very strong possibility that LeBron leaves, I find it hard to believe any teams will give up much for him. The only teams that would want a rent-a-player situation are ones that would have to lose core players to get him, thus defeating the purpose. And the Cavaliers by trading him would assure that he won't stay in Cleveland no matter what the slim chances may be. Their best hope is, well, hope. Either way, I don't see the current LeBron winning a title until he changes his - or his coach's - philosophy, which a good coach could help him with.