Stoudemire says no coach ever taught him defense. D’Antoni says it’s good he’s listening.

Amar’e Stoudemire had said this before — that no coach had really taught him how to play defense before last season.

It’s a direct barb at now Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, who coached Stoudemire in Phoenix and Los Angeles, a coach not exactly known for inspiring lock-down defense from his players. And Stoudemire repeated it again Wednesday talking about a rough defensive performance as he returns from knee surgery, reports the New York Times.

So it was something of a surprise when Stoudemire, at Knicks practice on Wednesday, took a mild swipe at D’Antoni, saying that, until now, “I’ve never been taught defense in my whole career….”

He said that his current coach, Mike Woodson, would insist that he focus on that part of the game. “I think having a defensive coach for the first time in my career is going to help,” he added.

Mike D’Antoni’s response? Good to hear Stoudemire is finally paying attention (again via the New York Times).

“I think it’s great,” D’Antoni said Thursday after the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice. “I think it’s great that he’s listening. He might have forgotten that Mike Woodson was also running the defense the last year I was there, so I don’t know if he just didn’t pick that year to listen. But Amar’e’s great. Sometimes you say things, but hopefully, that’s another step he can take forward and help his game. That would be great.”

Well played, aside for the overuse of the word great.

D’Antoni’s best Phoenix teams were not as bad on defense as some think — they were right in the middle of the NBA’s defensive pack in terms of points per possession. But because they played at such a fast pace there were a lot more possessions so their points per game allowed was much higher. His first couple years in New York the defense was terrible but so was the roster, the defense didn’t get better until Tyson Chandler (and Mike Woodson) arrived.

The D’Antoni defense with the Lakers this season hasn’t been impressive, but it wasn’t under defensive minded coach Mike Brown either. That is really more about Dwight Howard’s back not being right.