by Yaron Weitzman / @YaronWeitzman
GREENBURGH, NY — Carmelo Anthony denied reports that a rift existed between him and former Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Speaking to the media this afternoon following the Knicks first practice under interim head coach Mike Woodson, Anthony addressed the numerous reports that he and D’Antoni had been clashing over the former Knicks coach’s offensive system and said that he and D’Antoni had a “great relationship.”
“It worked for me in the Olympics when we won the gold medal,” Anthony said when asked about D’Antoni’s offensive scheme.
“I’m not a do-what-I-do type of guy and you-do-what-you-do type of guy,” he added. “Me and coach (D’Antoni) never had that type of problem where I said, I’m going to do what I do.”
Anthony, though, did say that he felt there were certain downsides to D’Antoni’s offensive system, which is predicated on spacing and ball movement.
“In that system, there’s a lot of open space… whoever gets it can shoot the basketball,” Anthony said. “That can help us, that can hurt us.”
Anthony also said that Knicks didn’t have any locker room issues, and that D’Antoni had been in constant communication with him all season, along with other Knicks such as Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
“He (D’Antoni) said he lost control of the team, I don’t really understand what he meant by that,” he said.
Stoudemire also addressed the media and discussed the changes that he expects Woodson to make.
“I think he’s going to utilize his leading scorers, myself and Carmelo,” Stoudemire said.
The Knicks’ second game under Woodson will be tomorrow night against the Pacers. Danny Granger tweeted that the Pacers have “two winnable games” ahead, referring to the home-and-home with the Knicks Friday and Saturday—something that did not make Stoudemire too happy.
“He’s got to be careful what he asks for,” Stoudemire said. “I don’t think he’s really in a position to speak to boldly right now. We got something to say about that tomorrow night.”
