Knicks forward David Lee says that the players understand general manager Donnie Walsh's plan for the future.

"We all understand what's going on here," Lee told the New York Daily News. "The plan was to save a lot for the future and have a big summer for the organization. But in order for us to make it as good a summer as we can, we have to put something together this year.

"That's why this is definitely not a throwaway season."

Eight of the 14 players on the current roster are in the final year of their respective contracts.

"We've addressed it," head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Our mindset is that this is not a throwaway season. Our mind set is, 'we're pretty good and we can do some good things.'

"It's a long haul. Maybe we have to play harder than everybody else but there is no reason why we can't. The ball is our court. We can get this done. It's not going to be easy but we feel good about our group. We just don't know how good yet we can be."