GREENBURGH - Mike D'Antoni went to work Tuesday in cold, rainy conditions - an especially miserable day for someone who never bothered with an umbrella in recent years.

If he doesn't miss life in Phoenix yet, well, he might very soon.

D'Antoni opens his first season as coach of the New York Knicks on Wednesday against Miami not knowing what to expect from a team for the first time in four years.

D'Antoni hasn't been this unsure of what he had since his first full season with the Suns in 2004-05. After that, he always believed he had a title contender - which he certainly doesn't now.

The Suns averaged 58 victories over the last four seasons. The Knicks lost 59 games in two of the last three.

Things should be better under D'Antoni, but he knows there's no quick fix.

“We're trying to be a really good team by at least January, February, maybe April, maybe next year, I don't know,” he said. “I'm anxious to get started. We've got a lot of work to do and then we'll just see what happens.”

D'Antoni is still sorting out some aspects of his rotation - though he said for now that former starting center Eddy Curry isn't part of it.

He's probably more familiar with some of Miami's personnel than his own. He had forward Shawn Marion in Phoenix, then was with Dwyane Wade over the summer as an assistant on the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Beijing.

“I told him to take the month of October off,” D'Antoni said. “Obviously he didn't listen.”

Wade, returning to regular-season action for the first time since March, could have a big opening night. D'Antoni's uptempo system will create plenty of possessions for the Knicks, but they lack any true defensive stoppers.

D'Antoni believes the Knicks can be good, saying, “I really think they're better than what I thought they were.” And while he wants to win, he knows that's only part of his job for now.

The Knicks, with too many bad contracts for mediocre players, are clearly building toward the future, and D'Antoni vowed he's “not going to get shortsighted” in that regard.

That's why he said rookie forward Danilo Gallinari could play Wednesday, even though New York's top pick didn't appear in any exhibition games while recovering from a back injury.