Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni insists that he'll remain patient and positive this season, even if the team struggles.

"You have to have a plan," D'Antoni told the Associated Press. "I would be very selfish. I tell players to sacrifice all the time. If the plan is that we've got to do this, then what does that tell me if I can't do it?"

However, D'Antoni's brother Dan, a Knicks assistant, acknowledged that another rough season would be hard on the head coach.

"If we don't win, it's going to be hard," said Dan D'Antoni. "You can be patient, and he understands that. But it's hard to choke it back. He wants to win, he thinks he can win."

The plan Mike D'Antoni alluded to was New York's goal of signing a maximum-level free agent next summer, namely LeBron James.