When Mike D’Antoni resigned as the Knicks head coach on March 14th, there was immediate buzz about who would be coaching the Knicks next year. The general public put a fork in New York and began discussing possible suitors for next season. For some reason, the only name seemingly not in the mix was Interim head coach Mike Woodson. Now, a little over a month after D’Antoni left this team for dead, Woodson has led the Knicks back into the playoffs with a 16-6 record as the lead man. He has a team that lost 8 of its last 10 games under D’Antoni feeling confident that it can win again. In fact, in the 22 games that Woodson has been at the helm, they have not lost consecutive games. What once seemed like a temporary way to stop the bleeding may turn out to be the cure.
As soon as D’Antoni resigned, experts were saying the Knicks needed a big name coach to take the reins, most projecting Phil Jackson as the lead candidate. Woodson was considered a dark horse, if even that. But what have big names done for poor teams in the recent past? The only similar move I can think of is Larry Brown in Charlotte. Now, in no way am I saying Larry Brown is close to Phil Jackson, and the Knicks have more talent than the Bobcats, but big coaching names don’t mean as much in the NBA. In college, Coach K, Calipari, or Boeheim can influence a recruit just with their name alone. But not in the NBA. Instead of trying to make a splash with a name, the Knicks should look for someone whose coaching style fits the personnel they have on the roster. Woodson has proved he knows how to get the best of his current players, even without the phenomenon that is Jeremy Lin (I couldn’t write a Knicks article without mentioning him at least once). What more do the Knicks want?
The most important part of Woodson’s winning is that he has completely shifted the focus of the Knicks offense. Woodson has the Knicks playing like they should have been playing all year: centered around their best player. With D’Antoni as a coach, the Knicks were running his trademark run-and-gun offense; one that did not suit Carmelo Anthony’s play style. Carmelo Anthony is arguably one of the top three isolation players in the game, and in my book, a lock for top five. Under Woodson, Melo’s scoring has shot up. He went from averaging 16.5 points in February and 19.4 in March (although 27 in his last four games), to 31 PPG thus far in April. Woodson is getting the most out of his best player, which is what the Knicks needed.
Now heading into a playoff matchup with either the Bulls or the Heat, Woodson not only has a chance to be in discussion for the Knicks head coaching job next year, he has an opportunity to lock the job down. The Knicks obviously will not be favored in either series, but no one should count them out either. The way the team is clicking right now, led by one of the best scorers in the NBA; it is entirely plausible to see them knock off either team in a first round playoff series. If Woodson can pull this off, I can’t see any way the Knicks don’t let him run the show next year.
by Nicholas Wershing
