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The New York Knicks will make their triumphant return to the playoffs this season after sitting on the sidelines since 2004, but there are still plenty of questions about the immediate future of the franchise. The arrival of Carmelo Anthony was heralded as a championship move, but almost immediately questions were raised about Melo’s commitment to the defensive end of the floor and whether or not he could lead New York to the NBA’s Promised Land.

It seemed a little strange, honestly. Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni was actually heard publicly criticizing the defensive abilities of one of his players. Is this the same D’Antoni who has made a career out of trying to outscore opponents at all costs and completely ignoring the defensive end of the floor? That proved to be a recipe for success in Phoenix, where Steve Nash was running the show, but it’s been a bit more of a challenge for the New York Knicks. In fact, the ever-panicked New York media have been calling into question D’Antoni’s qualifications as the head coach of the Knicks of late. Can a coach win a championship without preaching defense?

The answer is no, but that doesn’t mean the Knicks need a new head coach. It means they need a new mentality, to realize just how important the defensive end of the court really is. D’Antoni’s open criticism of Anthony was a starting place. It was one way of making sure he had his new superstar’s attention. No, Carmelo is not a player known for his defensive prowess. In fact, one NBA head coach recently remarked to HOOPSWORLD that it shouldn’t come as a surprise to D’Antoni. Surely his own scouting report on Carmelo said to attack him on the defensive end. Why would that change just because he’s a Knick now?

No, the secret to instilling a defensive mindset where one was previous absent is not a simple task. You can’t snap your fingers and make a dominant offensive player equally dominant on the defensive end. Still, slowly but surely, D’Antoni is getting his point across.

"To be honest, defense is all we’re concentrating on," D’Antoni tells ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. "Offense comes easy. But defensively, it’s what we’re really concentrating on. And again, with younger guys and guys that are more comfortable with offense than defense, we do play small. We spread the floor. We play a smaller team, a faster team, because we believe we’ll put up a lot of points and it gives us the best chance to win. Obviously, sometimes we pay a price for that."

The price is that the Knicks are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. They’re second in the league in scoring at 106.42 points per game, but third-worst on the other end, giving up 105.83 – only the lottery-bound Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves yield more buckets. Opponents shoot 47.2% against the Knicks, making them the fifth-worst team in that category, and again, the four who are worse are all lottery teams: Sacramento, Cleveland, Toronto and Detroit. That’s not the kind of company you want to keep if you have championship aspirations. That said, there’s only so much a coach can do. Much of the responsibility is on the shoulders of the players.

"You know I think Coach D’Antoni definitely… he’s known to be a phenomenal offensive coach and defensively you know he definitely goes over different strategies on how we can defend teams and players," Amar’e Stoudemire said in a recent interview on The Michael Kay Show. "It’s up to us to really implement what we think can better ourselves defensively."

Winning an NBA championship is not just about lining up as many star players as you can get and planning a parade. A lot of work goes into molding those players to work as a cohesive unit and learn to play hard on both ends of the floor. D’Antoni has proven he can take his team deep into the playoffs if everyone’s on the same page, but at the same time the game has changed since he had the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals. The league has adapted to his style of play, and now most teams can match scoring for scoring. Where championships are won is still on the defensive end of the court, and while the Knicks are a few personnel moves away from competing on that stage, those moves will most likely involve the roster and not the head coach.

The Knicks need a few more players who understand the importance of defense and will fight for every possession. They need a player or two who will preach defense in the locker room and on the court just as much as their head coach preaches it in practice and in the huddle. When they have that, the Knicks will be in the championship discussion . . .but not a single day before.

Krstic Has Big Shoes To Fill

At the very least, Boston Celtics center Nenad Krstic has a lot to live up to in replacing Kendrick Perkins. Now, with the news that Shaquille O’Neal is injured again, he has even bigger shoes to fill. Is he up to the challenge? He talks with HOOPSWORLD about his struggles in Boston, how hard it was to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder, and what it will take for him to be the guy who helps Boston win a championship in this exclusive interview:

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More Than Lip Service 2011

For three years running HOOPSWORLD has done an in-depth study of the NBA’s Green initiative, which began when commissioner David Stern announced that it would be one of his highest priorities at his annual All-Star address three seasons ago. We were more than a little skeptical, as people in high places often make broad statements about socially responsible activities. We wanted to see exactly what the NBA was doing, and how seriously they took the Green initiative. Well, true to his word, David Stern has put his staff to work finding ways to reduce the NBA’s environmental footprint, and while there is still plenty of work to do, great strides have been made again this season.

"Thanks to great guidance from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the NBA and our teams continue to implement new measures to reduce energy consumption and waste throughout all of our business areas," says NBA Executive Vice President of Social Responsibility and Player Programs Kathleen Behrens. "NBA Green Week highlights the importance of environmental protection while encouraging fans to do their part by incorporating green habits into their daily lives."

It starts at the league level, where the NBA offices in New York have undergone renovations to make the facility more green-friendly. Behrens tells HOOPSWORLD it all starts with the little things.

"We have an ongoing commitment to energy conservation in the league offices. We’ve done some renovations on some of our floors, we’ve changed to more energy efficient vending machines, we’re using new kinds of light bulbs, we have light sensors in certain places that aren’t occupied all the time so they’re not lit all the time and that has made a big difference. We have recycled products in our cafeteria. We also continue to share tips with our own employees, as we do with our fans, things that everyone can do to be a little bit greener. There are small things, too. It’s not just about making one change and then leave the playing field, so to speak. We want to continue to make improvements, so remind our employees to turn the lights off, to unplug chargers when they devices aren’t charging because that uses energy, making sure computers are off, being mindful of ways to recycle better, trying to re-use products, print on both sides of the paper – those kinds of small things can really add up. We are really making an ongoing and concerted effort to communicate to our employees and our fans that everyone can do something in this area and small steps can add up when everyone is committed to it. We’re not perfect in this regard, but we want to make a commitment to making improvements in our offices, in our buildings, in our training facilities, in how we operate and conduct events and making sure we share that information with our partners, our vendors and our fans."

{AUTHOR_BOX}The hope was that the NBA would get league-wide buy-in from their teams, and several franchises are leading the way with community events, while others have taken even bigger steps towards getting their staff, players and fans together working towards the common goal of being more environmentally conscious.

"One of the things that has been fun to see is a number of our teams doing events with their employees and players out in the community. Oklahoma City did a great community park clean-up the other day with all of their employees. This isn’t just about the players on the court, it’s about an organizational commitment. The Dallas Mavericks have a great program called ‘Guard The Planet,’ the Toronto Raptors had a big Green Night last week, and the Houston Rockets have also made a big commitment to Green Week initiatives. It’s about everyone getting out and feeding off of the energy, no pun intended, of everyone’s shared commitment here is what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re seeing teams with an ongoing commitment, not just through Green Week, but an ongoing organizational commitment to reducing their environmental footprint."

Later in the week we’ll be talking with the Orlando Magic about their new arena – Amway Center – and the work that went into getting it LEED Certified. Behrens was there for a recent game and was impressed with what she saw.

"I’m very impressed with that building and they made a great commitment from the start to really make that facility as green as possible. I know the team is planning an announcement for tomorrow or Thursday and all indications are that they will be Gold LEED Certified, but they want to make the announcement themselves. Regardless, they made a great statement with that facility and all of our arenas so far – Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Portland, Los Angeles – have really made a commitment. One of the things we love about the LEED Certification is that it really kind of forces ongoing change and improvements to keep the certification intact. It’s a real commitment on the part of the teams and the arenas, so we think it’s really terrific."

Over the next couple of days we’ll be talking with the NRDC about the NBA’s Green initiatives and also taking an in-depth look at Amway Center and all that went into making sure the NBA’s newest arena also sets a standard for environmental awareness.

For more information on the NBA’s Green Initiative, which extends well beyond the scope of the Green Week event, please visit their official site: NBA.COM/GREEN

HOOPSWORLD Twitter:  HOOPSWORLD has launched a new Twitter module where we will be releasing more breaking news and insider-type information via Twitter. Make sure you are following all of our guys to insure you are getting the very latest from our team: @stevekylerNBA, @AlexKennedyNBA, @jfleminghoops, @TheRocketGuy, @EricPincus, @joelbrigham, @alexraskinNBA, @stephenlitel, @TommyBeer, @DPageHOOPSWORLD and @YannisHW.

NBA Chats: There will be three NBA Chats today starting with Luke Byrnes who will host his weekly Hoops Chat at 1pm EST. Luke covers the Western Conference and College Basketball for HOOPSWORLD, so get your questions in early. Senior NBA Writer Eric Pincus will hold his weekly NBA chat today at 4pm. Eric covers the NBA as a whole, but is based in LA with the Lakers and Clippers. Stephen Litel will dig out from the snow in Minnesota to hold his weekly NBA Chat at 8pm EST. You can always find the next chat here: Upcoming NBA Chats.