Jared Jeffries had high praise for Mike D'Antoni and believes that the Knicks will turn around under his coaching.

"I think Mike is an incredible coach," Jeffries said. "Once he gets the pieces that he needs, I think that he?s going to do very well here."

Jeffries said that D'Antoni cares about and preaches defense.

"It?s not like he tells the guys, ?Don?t go out there and guard anybody, just try to score.? That?s not the case at all."

Jeffries, who was traded to the Rockets on deadline day in order to open up more cap room this summer, indicated that the Knicks' defense is limited by their present personnel.

"I think that Mike?s a realist," Jeffries said. "Defending, like anything else in the NBA, is a talent level. And you can?t have people that are not great defenders and expect them to be great defenders. Just like you can?t have people that aren?t great scorers and expect them to be great scorers. He put me out there to be a defender and he puts guys out there to be scorers. He does focus on defense, but if you don?t have defensive players, then you?re not going to be a great defensive team."