New York Knicks: Is Mike Woodson a Good Candidate to Replace Mike D'Antoni?
Back in the 1980 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks selected a 6’5” guard out of Indiana University with the No. 12 overall pick.
His name was Mike Woodson.
Woodson would only play one season for the Knicks, but nearly 31 years later the team that drafted the former Hoosier will soon see him join their squad as an assistant coach. The Knicks' most glaring problem under current coach Mike D’Antoni has been defense (they were the NBA’s third-worst scoring defense last season) and Woodson is being tapped as a defensive assistant. There’s even speculation the Atlanta Hawks' head coach from 2004-2010 will replace D’Antoni once his contract expires in roughly 10 months.
During his six seasons with the Hawks, Woodson posted a 206-286 record. While that mark doesn’t look very impressive, the team did improve in every season, including a 40-win increase from season one to season six and three postseason appearances.
Woodson was a key assistant on the Larry Brown-coached Detroit Pistons squad that defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals. The Pistons were able to defeat the Lakers—a team then with four future hall-of-fame players and one of the greatest duos in NBA history—because of their stifling defense. Knicks fans will surely hope Woodson can bring some of that defensive intensity and knowledge he learned from Brown to the Big Apple.
While Woodson has a good résumé for becoming a defensive assistant and possible future coach of the Knicks, some questions still linger. In his last playoff series coaching the Hawks, the Orlando Magic blew out his team. Woodson was criticized because of over switching on defense and Dwight Howard believed his schemes were poorly thought out.
Woodson has also had the luxury of having some very skilled defensive players during his time as an assistant and head coach. In Atlanta he had Al Horford and Josh Smith, in Detroit he had Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, and in Philadelphia he had Theo Ratliff and Dikembe Mutumbo. If he becomes the Knicks head coach in 2012, his best defender would arguably be Toney Douglas—provided Douglas is still a member of the Knicks and they don’t bring in a better defensive player—a bit of a downgrade, to put it nicely.
Possibly the sketchiest thing about Woodson taking his coaching talents to New York City is the long-time friendship he has with Isiah Thomas. Woodson might be a good coach, but anyone who knows about the Knicks during Thomas’ time there understands why any move they make that in some way has to do with the hall of fame point guard turned franchise pariah and deviant has a spine-chilling feel to it. Still, it wouldn’t be fair to solely judge Woodson on his relationship with Thomas.
Woodson doesn’t really have much offensive expertise, but that might not be very necessary on a Knicks squad with two superstars who excel on that end in Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire. Woodson has playing experience of 11 seasons, which will likely help because players usually respect coaches with professional playing experience more than those with none—a major factor for defensive success, since a coach can say whatever he wants but the players still have to listen.
With the NBA lockout still in full force, only time will tell what ends up happening Mike D’Antoni. While it could be argued the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2004-2005 hasn’t really had an opportunity to coach a talented and cohesive roster in New York City, calls for his termination continue to grow. The owners and players are still far apart in negotiations, which could jeopardize the season. If that happens then we’ve likely seen the last of Mike D’Antoni on the Knicks sidelines and Mike Woodson will get his opportunity to, as owner James Dolan would say; “Fix the Knicks”.
