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Thoughts?
The Knicks are moving closer to hiring former Hawks head coach Mike Woodson as an assistant coach, which will fuel speculation that Woodson may one day succeed Mike D'Antoni as the team's head coach.
Although Woodson's last Atlanta team was criticized for its failure to make defensive adjustments when getting bombed by Orlando in the 2010 playoffs, the former first-round pick of the Knicks will join D'Antoni's staff as a defensive coach.
The Daily News first reported in May that D'Antoni, who has resisted bringing in an outsider to his coaching staff, would be forced to hire a defensive coach because of the Knicks' failures at that end during his first three seasons in New York.
In the past few days, Woodson had told two confidantes that he expects to join the Knicks. The move might become official next week, according to sources, when Garden and team executives return from vacation. Woodson had what he called a good meeting with D'Antoni earlier this month, but he had people above D'Antoni in his corner from the start.
Woodson's hiring was recommended by Isiah Thomas, a long-time friend and former teammate who continues to serve as Garden chairman Jim Dolan's top unpaid consultant.
Woodson could be in line to move to the head coaching position in the future. D'Antoni has only one year remaining on his contract, as his requests for an extension in this off-season have been rejected by Dolan.
Woodson's alliance with Thomas goes back more than 30 years, when he helped Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight recruit Thomas to Indiana. Additionally, Woodson is also a former teammate of interim GM Glen Grunwald. Although there has been speculation that the Knicks are looking for a permanent, GM Grunwald is signed through the 2011-12 season. Meanwhile. the team still has made no move to replace Donnie Walsh, who was forced out as team president in a contract dispute with Dolan in June.
Last month, Woodson was in the running for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job. But he finished second to ex-Nets coach Lawrence Frank.
A former No. 1 pick of the Knicks in 1980, Woodson spent six seasons as head coach in Atlanta, posting a 206-286 record. In his final two seasons, the Hawks were 100-64, advancing twice to the second round but getting swept both times. He was fired by the Hawks after their second-round loss to Orlando two years ago, when the Hawks set an NBA record for the largest average margin of defeat in a four-game series. After they lost by an average of 25 points per game, the Magic's Dwight Howard criticized the Hawks' constant double-teaming schemes and failure to make adjustments after their 43-point drubbing in the opener.
"Mike didn't adjust when he coached the Hawks," said one NBA president. "He had his game-plan going in and he stuck with it. As a future head coach, he'll probably be better because it would be his second job. A lot of times, guys do better after their first head coaching job when they have that experience."
Solid hire I guess. Wanted Frank first but Woodson is qualified for the job also imo.
