WASHINGTON — During his exclusive hour-long interview with Post columnist Mike Vaccaro, Knicks owner James Dolan fell short of saying he “expects” the Knicks to win the title, but said he believes this team should be in the championship hunt.
That likely means another second-round ouster won’t be good enough for coach Mike Woodson to survive for next season, even with his contract now guaranteed.
Nevertheless, according to a Garden source, Dolan did not tell the coaching staff he “expects’’ to win it all. The source said Dolan told Woodson he feels they should compete for a championship.
“He never gave any sort of edict,” the source said.
Dolan told The Post he believes the team will contend, along with several other teams.
“I think this team can win a championship,’’ Dolan said. “I think there are a lot of teams that could win the championship this year. I think the Clippers can win. Are they going to? I hope not. I hope we win the championship.’’
The debate on Dolan’s mindset over this year’s squad began after he fired general manager Glen Grunwald and replaced him with Steve Mills four days before training camp. It raised questions about what Dolan actually thinks of Grunwald’s roster. During his interview with The Post, Dolan attempted to lessen this contradiction: How can he feel they are a title contender and dismiss Grunwald?
Dolan explained Grunwald wasn’t the right man to move forward with the Knicks’ new approach to analytics and the hiring of the global management firm, McKinsey & Company. Dolan called Grunwald “a classic GM” and said he felt the club needed a more progressive administrator as they “reprocessed’’ their strategic planning. That Grunwald is a lawyer, former head of the Board of Trade in Toronto and has the respect of agents and other general managers apparently didn’t factor into the decision.
Dolan also explained the timing, however ruthless it may have been, was strategic. Grunwald had just finished assembling the 19 players for training camp and a “lull period’’ occurs until Dec. 15. On that date, all free agents who signed in the summer can be traded, as can draft picks. That means Beno Udrih, Metta World Peace, J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. can be dealt by then. Trade talks usually pick up around that time.
“If you’re going to change general managers that’s probably the right time to do it,’’ Dolan said. “The next available trade date is Dec. 15.’’
As for why Dolan believes the team can compete for the title after getting off to a 3-8 start entering Saturday night, he said, “I think we have the pieces in place to do it. The skill level is there but there’s so much more to the game than that. … They have to believe in themselves, they have to put in the work, the effort, the discipline, they have to listen to the coach, they have to execute a strategy and put an effort in every game. They have to get themselves to be the best team they can be at the end of March. It’s OK right now not to be the best team you can be.’’
Dolan seemed to be giving his club a pep talk while acknowledging they don’t have the talent of Indiana, Miami or Chicago.
Nevertheless, Dolan also said he would rather have this season’s roster rather than the 2012-13 squad. It was a highly debatable claim, however. These Knicks have so far shown none of the leadership, chemistry and 3-point explosiveness that carried them to a 54-28 mark last season.
“Last year by the end of the year we were struggling,’’ Dolan said. “I’d rather see it go the other way. I’m not happy, believe me, about the record where it is now. But the warts that are showing up now are things you can work on, things you can fix. … Can they win the championship? Yes. They definitely can win the championship. There have been other championship teams that weren’t nearly as talented as this one. But they had something that this team needs to develop.’’
Woodson has six months to develop that “something,’’ otherwise it’s unlikely the Knicks coach will be part of the “reprocessing.’’