Mike Woodson would rather view the Knicks’ season in two distinct segments, separated by the day he replaced Mike D’Antoni as the Knicks head coach. When applying for a job, it’s natural to want to showcase your best work.
The Knicks were 18-24 and had lost six straight games when D’Antoni resigned under pressure on March 14 and Woodson was elevated to interim head coach. They went 18-6 the remainder of the regular season and qualified as the seventh seed for the NBA playoffs.
That makes it “a positive” season as far as Woodson is concerned, even though it was more like a half season and the Knicks were eliminated in five games by the Heat.
“Making the first round of the playoffs and getting eliminated, that’s not fun for anybody,” Woodson admitted yesterday. “But this was a positive season. If we didn’t make the playoffs it would have been really ugly.”
Yes, it would have been ugly. But the way 2012 ended wasn’t much prettier. To call it “a positive season,” is a stretch. You don’t go from talking about winning an NBA championship, which is what D’Antoni talked about, to being eliminated after five games and call it positive.
Nonetheless, Woodson did enough to keep his job and all signs point to him being given the chance to lead the Knicks through a full training camp and regular schedule. That’s all the Knicks need to become an elite team or at least that’s how it sounds when Woodson is selling himself and the Knicks.
“At one point we were the best team in the NBA statistically,” Woodson said about a period where the Knicks were 8-1 under his leadership. “We did that on the fly. I’d like to think how we’d be if we had camp together and we kept a healthy team together over a long stretch. It would be interesting to see what we could do then.”
The extra time will help only if it’s put to good use. The first order of business is to a structure an offense that has more versatility and movement than it does now. Injuries certainly were a factor, but the Knicks’ basic approach was to give Carmelo Anthony the ball and if he can’t get a shot off, J.R. Smith will. Woodson also must figure out if Jeremy Lin is the permanent answer at point guard. If not, then free agent Steve Nash should get a call.
Woodson also must demand his stars improve. Amar’e Stoudemire, lost in Anthony’s isolation game, will be asked to improve his low-post skills, while Tyson Chandler has to become more of a threat offensively.
“If guys are happy with the status quo as we speak, they’re fooling themselves,” Woodson said. “Even the great players — Amar’e, Melo and Tyson — they can always improve.”
Right now, Woodson has the endorsement of the players.
“If we can just continue to build with him and let him lead us, we can follow his game plan and we’ll be a solid team,” Stoudemire said.
Said Anthony: “There’s no need to try to change it up now. I’m a big believer in sticking with what you have.”
Indeed, the Knicks could benefit from some stability after having the roster overturned for two straight seasons. Next season, there should be no excuses. Becoming a more dominant home team and winning the Atlantic Division are two goals Woodson already has established for 2012-13.
“You’ve got to win at home. You’ve got win your division and you’ve got to host [the] first round at home,” Woodson said. “If you do those three things, you’ve put yourself in a nice position to extend yourself in the playoffs.”
The goal is to extend the season all the way to the NBA Finals and ultimately a parade. Now that would be a positive season.