As the Knicks move forward with hiring a new head coach, the team had its second interview with candidate Mike Woodson on Friday, per SNY’s Ian Begley.
Woodson is among 11 known candidates New York is considering for the vacant role. While the presumed frontrunner for the job, Tom Thibodeau, has received most of the attention, the Knicks have also been connected to Kenny Atkinson, Jason Kidd, Mike Brown, Chris Fleming, Will Hardy, Ime Udoka, Pat Delany, and Jamahl Mosley.
As Begley details, all of the Knicks’ candidates had their first meetings with the team last month or during the first week of July. Woodson is among those that had his second interview this week. It’s not clear if a third round of meetings will be required, Begley adds.
Last month, Woodson spoke to Begley about his first tour of duty with the Knicks and why he feels the team can win under his tutelage once again.
“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,” Woodson said. “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.”
Woodson, 62, was the Knicks’ head coach from 2012-14 and was at the helm for the organization’s most recent postseason appearance. After his dismissal from the Knicks, Woodson joined Doc Rivers‘ staff in Los Angeles as an assistant coach.
New York has gone through a Rolodex of coaches since his departure, a list that includes Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek, David Fizdale and most recently, Mike Miller. Woodson, however, feels that with the current brass in power, he can guide a young Knicks team to a winning mentality.
“I think with the people in charge, with (president of basketball operations) Leon (Rose) and (GM) Scott (Perry) and (owner) Jim (Dolan) and everyone else that they hired on board, they will build a winner,” Woodson said. “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. “
sign 2 top 5 free agents + make a good trade = make playoffs
These coaches are not very good
They should have made a stronger run at Masai Ujiri. He probably would have declined but they still should have exhausted all efforts to pursue him.
If Knicks don’t make playoffs or don’t draft an Potential all stars next season
This would be Scott Perry first dance and last dance
This would be Thib last dance also
Scott Perry is already dancing, and the new coach can’t be blamed for a talent shortage after one year. So, no.
Perry is nicely set up to be the fall guy if no playoffs.
The thing where a GM trades a recently signed FA– especially as a “plan”– is just not a thing. How often are you going to pound on this bad-for-a-reason plan? How well did it work for the Knicks last year or the Dolphins two years ago? It did not. It failed even as a plan B and nobody thought it would be otherwise.
Woodsons time is over here. All he did is cater to Mello. Considering it’s all we had. I get it, maybe. But you can’t build a one man team. There is no such thing. Even when Bron took Cavs to a Final. He was best player who brought team together. It’s a team gm
Woodson sounds like he’s desperate to get the job, and that rarely bears fruit. But this is the Knicks, so who knows.