Has Woodson grown as a Coach

[TakMan]

Very early days no doubt but thought I'd get people's opinions on the matter. He spent the first half of the season in the background attempting to instill at least a basic comprehension of the important role defence plays in winning games. The question is: Did he re-assess his offensive approach during this time as a result of experiencing a different type of offence? Watching the Knicks - Magic game again yesterday confirmed my thoughts that the Knicks offensive game is still very much centered on quick ball movement and good look shots. The difference (on offence) between the Woodson era and the D'Antoni era is that the players appear far more confident and motivated with this approach. Woodson makes sure of this by addressing any potential issues early with his time outs and adjustments. Defensively it's like night and day and -on that end- Woodson seems to have already stamped his name on the Knicks. Do you think Woodson will continue to stick with a combination of run and gun/ISO, or will he gradually attempt to bring in his old approach?

[TakMan]

Apologies as I've just realised this probably should have gone into the Woodson appreciation thread. Admins feel free to merge.

[Kiyaman]

Shame shame shame TakMan....Mike Woodson headcoaching philosophy that turned the Atlanta Hawks into a 52 win season team....were from Woody beating the Hawks oponents at their own game, Woody big problem with the Hawks were the Hawks GM never gave Woody one decent PG to rely on throughout his term as the Hawks headcoach.

The Knicks beat the Magic at their own game the other night, the Magic is a 3-ball shooting team (it reminded u of Dantoni only offense for 4 seasons).
We did not beat the Pacers, Philly, or Bucks with that offense.

Woody "System" is all about 85% of his 10 man rotation putting out their full-effort in their defensive talent to get playingtime the next game....this defensive formular has been working to the Knicks advantage with players putting more energy on defense than offense making the Knicks team-defense better each game 8-1....Woody defense in 9 games is averaging 86 points from oponents compared to Damphoney giving oponents 96 points.

[unloopme]

I don't know about his coaching philosophy growing, but his head and belly sure have grown a bit. JK Woodie! Your our man now, do us proud!

[TakMan]

Shame shame shame TakMan....Mike Woodson headcoaching philosophy that turned the Atlanta Hawks into a 52 win season team....were from Woody beating the Hawks oponents at their own game, Woody big problem with the Hawks were the Hawks GM never gave Woody one decent PG to rely on throughout his term as the Hawks headcoach.

The Knicks beat the Magic at their own game the other night, the Magic is a 3-ball shooting team (it reminded u of Dantoni only offense for 4 seasons).
We did not beat the Pacers, Philly, or Bucks with that offense.

Woody "System" is all about 85% of his 10 man rotation putting out their full-effort in their defensive talent to get playingtime the next game....this defensive formular has been working to the Knicks advantage with players putting more energy on defense than offense making the Knicks team-defense better each game 8-1....Woody defense in 9 games is averaging 86 points from oponents compared to Damphoney giving oponents 96 points.

See whilst it was Woodson's defence that made atlanta a well placed team in the East, it was his lack of variety offered on offence that did not allow them to perform in the playoffs. Even the worst defensive teams step it up in the playoffs. This is where a balance is required. Woodson himself stated that the Knicks would keep certain aspects of D'Antoni's offence during his tenure. He's still running the pick n roll and we're still shooting lots of 3's. My interest is whether Woodson is going to progressively change the offensive plan or whether he's trying to add to his tactics.

[Kiyaman]

See whilst it was Woodson's defence that made atlanta a well placed team in the East, it was his lack of variety offered on offence that did not allow them to perform in the playoffs. Even the worst defensive teams step it up in the playoffs. This is where a balance is required. Woodson himself stated that the Knicks would keep certain aspects of D'Antoni's offence during his tenure. He's still running the pick n roll and we're still shooting lots of 3's. My interest is whether Woodson is going to progressively change the offensive plan or whether he's trying to add to his tactics.

I will repeat it again "Woodson did not have a decent starting PG throughout his tenor as the Hawks headcoach", to take the Hawks pass the first-round.
And the Hawks still dont have a PG to lead them pass the first round.

When Kobe got knocked out of the playoffs in the first round (2007), Kobe went berserk asking to be traded, to cool down Kobe for the next season Lakers added PG-Derrik Fisher in their training-camp to go to the 2008 FINALS.

Wade didnt have a decent PG and got blown-out of the first round two seasons in a row (2008 & 2009)....the Heat added Point-Foward Lebron James with combo-guard Wade to go straight to the 2010 FINALS.

A PG creativeness controls all fazes of the offense in a playoff series....thats the reason why Marbury was a question-mark his entire career in the NBA as a high salary PG.

Dantoni's so-call offense is a play we used in High School when our oponents had good defensive-bigmen that dont pick up any fouls for knocking u senseless. We had to play the peremeter like Dantoni so-call offense, the only thing different was we had double-screens set for our best shooters, when Dantoni didnt have any screens in his offense.

[Kiyaman]

TakMan....I have to agree with u on a few things about Woody coaching, all of a sudden Woody decreased the players rotation down to 7+ players vs the Hawks when we have a game the next day WTF....plus taking the 2+ substitution players out the game so fast when they were just warming up to their oponents. Now that is all the signs of Dantoni....Why? because in the Hawks game we seen both C-Chandler & PG-Davis make consistent foolish mistakes quarter after quarter....I believe both Chandler/Davis were indirectly telling headcoach Woodson to give Jordan & Douglas some playingtime in the beginning of this back to back....Woodson act like he too, have a personal beef with players....just like Damphoney.

[TakMan]

TakMan....I have to agree with u on a few things about Woody coaching, all of a sudden Woody decreased the players rotation down to 7+ players vs the Hawks when we have a game the next day WTF....plus taking the 2+ substitution players out the game so fast when they were just warming up to their oponents. Now that is all the signs of Dantoni....Why? because in the Hawks game we seen both C-Chandler & PG-Davis make consistent foolish mistakes quarter after quarter....I believe both Chandler/Davis were indirectly telling headcoach Woodson to give Jordan & Douglas some playingtime in the beginning of this back to back....Woodson act like he too, have a personal beef with players....just like Damphoney.

I think he's applied an 8 man rotation in several of his games (though not as often as D'Antoni did). He also allowed players like JR Smith to keep chucking bricks, and never set up any plays for Novak. One aspect that was different to what we have been seeing most of this season, is that the vast majority of our plays ended with Anthony taking the shot. We didn't even see this sort of reliance on one player during D'Antoni's time. To be sure Anthony did very well, but with such an arsenal, surely we should be playing more than just one-dimensional offence. Get everyone involved Woodson.

[VeryGundy]

New York is hard. It will shower you with attention like an obsequious servant when you are at the top. But watch out on your way down.

Woody's honeymoon was officially over in Toronto. Last night's loss wasn't really on him completely but allowing JR to shoot his way out of his slump wan't exactly smart coaching when you were playing catch-up.

I still prefer JVG.

[Kiyaman]

I think he's applied an 8 man rotation in several of his games (though not as often as D'Antoni did). He also allowed players like JR Smith to keep chucking bricks, and never set up any plays for Novak. One aspect that was different to what we have been seeing most of this season, is that the vast majority of our plays ended with Anthony taking the shot. We didn't even see this sort of reliance on one player during D'Antoni's time. To be sure Anthony did very well, but with such an arsenal, surely we should be playing more than just one-dimensional offence. Get everyone involved Woodson.

The Knicks LOSS to the Atlanta Hawks is 99.9% headcoach Woodson doing.

The Hawks game was the first game Woody played less than 9 players receiving double digits of playingtime....in this Hawks game only 7 players receive double-digets of playingtime with 3 of those players receiving 40 minutes of playingtime....Jorts was ready to give his best inside game performance of the season vs the Hawks....but Woody wasnt having it by giving Jorts a total of 8 minutes of playingtime WTF....taking Jorts out of the game everytime Jorts did two or three things consecutively to lower the the Hawks lead down to low single digits....Woody gave Tyson Chandler 40 minutes of playingtime something no coach in Tyson NBA career ever did. Tyson career average of minutes has always been 27 minutes per game.
That 40 minutes of playingtime made Tyson have the worst game in his past 2 seasons....Jorts was playing with the same energy as Shump to receive 10 of Tyson 40 minutes, and 10 of Melo 40 minutes at the PF spot.
There was no reason for a career 24 minute per game JR Smith to receive 33 minutes of playingtime with a sad looking Toney Douglas on the bench with a no reason DNP.

[Kiyaman]

New York is hard. It will shower you with attention like an obsequious servant when you are at the top. But watch out on your way down.

Woody's honeymoon was officially over in Toronto. Last night's loss wasn't really on him completely but allowing JR to shoot his way out of his slump wan't exactly smart coaching when you were playing catch-up.

I still prefer JVG.

Truth be told....in 1999, I wanted JVG FIRED instead of GM Grunfield.
Grunfield had a good reason for punching JVG in the face.

I liked JVG handle of friendship with Ward/Starks/Houston/Oak/and Patrick, but when those players were split up we had no more use for JVG.
JVG terrible offensive coaching was exposed on the Houston Rockets.

[Newbie]

I don't know enough about Woodson's previous coaching experience
to respond to your question. BUT, I do feel he must have great
leadership abilities, and that's one of the most important part
of being an effective coach.

The team has to have respect, and to believe, in their coach.

Obviously, with all the wins since D'Antoni left, Woodson is doing
something right.

I believe in him!!

[Kiyaman]

Takman....like I was saying before "u need a decent PG to get pass the first round"....with Lin out for 6 weeks rather than a 6 day rest....were looking at Derrik Rose or Dwayne Wade in the first round....The Bulls bench-depth and the Heats bench-depth is not losing in the first round...

[Real NY Baller]

I'm waiting until the end of the regular season before I start speculating which team is the deepest. This jam packed season is hurting all the teams...

[TakMan]

Takman....like I was saying before "u need a decent PG to get pass the first round"....with Lin out for 6 weeks rather than a 6 day rest....were looking at Derrik Rose or Dwayne Wade in the first round....The Bulls bench-depth and the Heats bench-depth is not losing in the first round...

I think defence can take you as far if not further than a decent PG (though if Davis gets some more games and conditioning he may well become the decent PG we need). Memphis beat the crap out of SA in last year's first round and they didn't even really have a PG. They do have a brilliant defensive unit though. Not sure what the deal with Derrick Rose is, however if the Knicks were to play the Bulls at their own game (defence), and with Rose either missing, or at 50%, I couldn't call the outcome.