D'Antoni will be working with those players extensively this summer as the U.S. Olympic team's assistant coach. In a recent SI player poll, D'Antoni came in second to Phil Jackson as the coach they'd most want to play for.

While D'Antoni pines for Rose, he also can try to get Nash to New York if he really wants. Nash can opt out of his contract after next season and force Phoenix into a sign-and-trade with the Knicks.

Nash presumably would want that, as he has lived in the offseason in Greenwich Village with his wife and twin daughters for the past four years. Nash actually makes regular appearances at the Knicks' summer basketball camps for kids.

"He loves the vibe, loves the culture," a Nash friend said.

Nash, however, will be 35 next summer and obtaining him would likely ruin Walsh's bid to get under the salary cap in 2010 for the younger superstars. If Nash doesn't opt out, he'll be a free agent during that 2010 class, and D'Antoni could get him then, too.

In an ominous remark, D'Antoni once told Play magazine, "I have always said, when Steve retires, I'll retire. I don't want anyone to be able to figure out whether our success is because of my system or because Steve's ability to make it work."

Actually, Knicks fans will find that out in the coming years. Longtime Suns owner Jerry Colangelo told The Post D'Antoni will adjust to whatever the roster is.

"He could play any kind of tempo," Colangelo said of D'Antoni. "He coached effectively (in Italy) with the different personnel and how the game was played there. He transformed himself in the NBA. That's a pretty good indication of his flexibility. It's wrong to say the only way he can coach is the up tempo. Maybe it's his preference and choice, but if he doesn't have the horses, he knows he can't. Maybe there'll be a combination."