"Bernard King once made the adjustment from West to East when he joined the Knicks in 1982. And he thrived.

So the former Knicks super star forward was dumb founded when he read Charles Oakley's comments in The Post that Amar'e Stoudemire won't be able to hack it with the Knicks because he's "a West Coast player" and his body won't hold up in the physical East.

"I would not ad dress what Oakley said, those are his comments," King told The Post last night during an appearance at Steiner Sports in a Long Island mall.

"I joined New York after leaving the Golden State Warriors. I played out West for two years. I was one of the top 10 players in the league and the East was a more physical conference. My game did suffer for it from injuries, but I became a better player in the East -- first-team All-Pro, MVP voted by the players."