Ian Begley, SNY.tv | Twitter |
Mike Woodson is one of nearly a dozen coaches expected to interview for the Knicks' head-coaching vacancy. There are head coaches with playoff experience (Tom Thibodeau), experience in the market (Kenny Atkinson) and a long list of up-and-coming assistants (Jamahl Mosely, Will Hardy,and Ime Udoka among them).
But Woodson brings something unique to the table: He's the only candidate who has won as a head coach in New York.
Woodson amassed a 109-79 record as a Knicks head coach. Remarkably, He's also the only coach in the past 20 years to lead the team to a playoff series win.
Below, Woodson talks with SNY about the opportunity to interview for the job, what he thinks about the Knicks roster and why he thinks his style of play fits well in today's NBA:
What are your thoughts about interviewing for the job?
The bottom line is I'm happy as hell to get another opportunity to interview for this job. I couldn't be happier. When I left there, I thought one day, hopefully, I'll get a shot at coming back. And this is the shot. I'm ecstatic.
What does it mean to you to coach in New York?
It means everything to me. Think about it: I was a young kid who had a big-time college career, and the organization thought enough of me to draft me with their No. 1 draft pick back in 1980. And then they think enough of you to bring you back as a coach. When I came back, I was an assistant coach and was asked to take over once Mike D'Antoni stepped down. It was like a dream come true for me. I had come full circle.
What's it like to coach a winning team in New York?
I've played and coached for a number of teams and there's nothing like winning in New York. There's just nothing like it, especially in terms of the fans. The beauty about the fans in New York and people that love Knick basketball: you can't trick them. They sniff that out right away. I knew that when I took over. We went 18-6 to end the regular season (outscoring opponents by a combined 211 points), made the playoffs and set the tone for next year. And then we got a bunch of guys in our first offseason to buy into our system. And I thought it worked out pretty well (the Knicks won 54 games in Woodson's first full season, 2012-13).
What do you think about the current Knicks team?
For the most part, they're a young team. When I think about young ball clubs, I think about what we went through in Atlanta. It was a struggle early. We had a ton of young players. Josh Smith, who turned out to be a wonderful player. Marvin Williams, who is still in our league. Josh Childress, Donta Smith, Royal Ivey, Salim Stoudamire, Al Horford. We ended up building something sustainable, in part, because we developed those guys. (Hawks executive) Billy Knight was on to something. We built that team through the draft and free agency. We brought Joe Johnson in. Tyronn Lue came in as a point guard to jump start us. We picked up Zaza Pachulia and we became a competitive ballclub. We added Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford, those were the two final pieces to the puzzle. Jamal won the Sixth Man award. We made the playoffs every year those guys were there.
But even through the rough times, when we were getting beaten badly, there were always coaches who came to me and said, 'Man, your team plays hard.' That meant more to me than everything. Because that's half the battle. If your team plays hard and they start to mature and you keep them together, the results are what happened here in Atlanta.
So the Knicks are in a great position because they've got cap space, they've got room to go out and wheel and deal in the free agent market, and they've got room to make trades. They also have young players that you can continue to develop and they have draft picks. It's a great combination.
What do you think about RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson?
Both have beautiful futures in our league, they really do. But they've got to learn. There's a learning curve that comes along with being a young player in our league. They both have to develop. Can I develop young players in our league? Absolutely. I've done it.
How has the game changed since you coached in New York and can your philosophy work today?
That's a great question because when I was in New York, I felt we were ahead of the curve. When we assembled that team (in 2012-13), the one thing Glen and I talked about was, 'Who can shoot the three ball?' And Jim (Dolan) supported everything we wanted to do. Now let me go down that roster. Carmelo (Anthony), J.R. (Smith), Rasheed (Wallace), Jason Kidd, Raymond (Felton), (Steve) Novak, (Chris) Copeland, Iman (Shumpert), Pablo (Prigioni). When Pablo shot it, he made it. So we had nine guys on the floor that could all make the three ball.
So it wasn't luck or coincidence (that we thrived that season). We assembled a team based on how the style of play is today. It wasn't luck that we led the league in threes taken and threes made and fifth in 3-point percentage. The beauty in all of that is that we were No. 1 in not turning it over. We were on to something. Now you look at the league, if you don't shoot threes, you don't have a shot at it. So we were right where we needed to be as a ballclub that year.
Defensively, we talked about assembling a team that could switch (when defending pick and roll). And Tyson Chandler was the backbone of everything that we did. He was tremendous, won Defensive Player of the Year. Now, when you look at the league now, 90 percent of the teams switch everything. So I still think I can coach in the way that players are playing today.
Ray Felton said recently that you were able to give players freedom while simultaneously holding them accountable. How do you achieve that balance and how important is it?
As a player, through high school and college and in the pros, playing for guys like Bill Smith, Bobby Knight, Red Holzman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Larry Brown, Gene Shue, Don Chaney, Phil Johnson - they gave me freedom and they utilized my talents. That's what coaching is all about - you give them freedom but you also discipline players, you hold players accountable. At the end of the day, they look to you for structure. That team had a lot of freedom to play, they did. And that helped us. But you've got to understand something: (GM Glen) Grunwald did a lot of great things to help put that ballclub together, along with (Knicks owner) James Dolan. To put eight new faces on a ballclub and say, 'Go win your division' - it doesn't happen very often in NBA basketball, it just doesn't. Once we established the team and gave them structure of how we wanted to play on both ends of the floor, they ran with it.
When you talk about the 2012-13 team, some critics say that you got lucky that year because the Amar'e Stoudemire injury forced you to play Carmelo Anthony at power forward. How do you view that?
As the coach, you go into it with the cards that are dealt to you. But this wasn't about luck. Our goal was to play Carmelo, Amar'e and Tyson (Chandler) as starters up front. When we played those guys together, they were 14-4. That was good basketball. But we were also going to play Carmelo at the four even if everyone was healthy. Unfortunately, everyone didn't stay healthy. Injuries occurred. And Amar'e got hurt. So I went to Carmelo and said, 'You're going to play the four now.' We thought it would benefit our team because we were looking at the big picture.
He might be a little bit smaller than a lot of the fours we'd play, so defensively we thought we could cover for him if we needed to. But he played his ass off on defense for us that year. And on the other end, there was not a four in the league that could cover Carmelo Anthony. Not one. And we knew that. So that's why the four was so powerful for him and our ballclub at that particular time. Melo thrived at the four. And we won a lot of games (New York won a playoff series that season - its only series win since 2000).
So for all of the critics that want to say we got lucky, that wasn't the case at all. This was a decision that we made, that had to be made. Because of the cards that we were dealt. That doesn't have anything to do with luck. And again, even if Amar'e wasn't hurt, Carmelo was going to play some four anyway. And Carmelo played the best basketball of his career during that time. He was in the running for MVP. J.R. Smith won Sixth Man of the Year. Tyson Chandler won Defensive Player of the Year. So it wasn't luck.
Again, our vision going into the season was to play Amar're, Tyson and Melo up front and to have Carmelo play some four, too. Unfortunately, Amar'e had injuries. But that's no knock against Amar'e. Amar'e is a great player, man. What he's done in our league is just phenomenal. But as a coach, you have to do what you think is best for the team in the wake of injuries. And I thought it worked out well.
Now that we're six years removed from it, what are your reflections on the 2013-14 season?
Coming off of the playoff run, we had high expectations heading into that offseason. Steve (Mills) came in (as team president prior to training camp) and he had his vision of what he wanted done with the team. I knew we had lost Jason Kidd, Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas - all strong leaders that were a part of the (2012-13) team. I wanted to add a few more veterans to that team. We just couldn't get that done.
And we went young. And when we got the injuries - Raymond missed 17 games, Tyson missed 27 games, (Andrea) Bargnani missed 42 games, Kenyon Martin missed 50 games - then we had to rely on the younger players. Jeremy Tyler, Toure' Murry. That's no knock against those guys. They're in the NBA for a reason - because they can play. I've raised young players, but it takes time. And those two players, they hadn't played in our league (extensively) and we struggled. (The Knicks finished the season with 37 wins, one game out of the eighth seed and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference).
As a coach, I take full responsibility for it. Same thing for the year before that. I put that on my shoulders. But the one thing I'll say is this: if you ask me the question of, 'What was your fondest year (in New York)?' That (2013-14) year was. You know why? Because when we got in a hole, they didn't quit. And when we got our players back, we won 16 of our last 20 games and made a strong push to make the playoffs and missed it by one game. That team could have easily quit and said, 'Let's go home for the summer.' They didn't do that. When we got Tyson and Raymond back, we made a mad push and we were back playing Knick basketball again. We got our players back and we won.
Had they gone the other way and we continued to lose, there's not a thing I can say. But that wasn't the case. From a coaching standpoint, that was my best year. Because we coached them up at the end and we made a big push to make that eighth spot. And had we gotten it, it would have put a lot of pressure on Phil Jackson to make the decision that he did (Jackson fired Woodson the day after the regular season ended).
What makes you the right candidate for the job this time around?
I did my job when I was here. We won games. The fan base was engaged. I walked out of the Garden many nights thinking that the fans were proud and excited about what we were doing. Am I capable of coming back to New York and helping them build a winning team again? I feel confident in that, I absolutely do. I think with the people in charge, with (team president) Leon (Rose) and (GM) Scott (Perry) and Jim (Dolan) and everyone else that they hired on board, they will build a winner. At the end of the day, it takes everybody being on board to make it happen. That's what we did (the last time I was here). We all had a great working relationship when I was here. That can definitely happen again.