Isiah Thomas feels with Mike Woodson at the helm, a healthy Knicks team could be “as good as anybody.’’
Thomas was teammates with Woodson at the University of Indiana. He cited Woodson’s 81-53 record as a Knicks head coach as a reason why the heat should be off.
The former Knicks president added that Woodson, with Bobby Knight as a mentor, is prepared for adverse situations like the one he is facing with a 9-19 record and Garden fans chanting for his dismissal.
“When you evaluate the job he’s doing, I look at the total body of work,’’ Thomas said on WFAN radio Friday morning with Sid Rosenberg and Kim Jones. “Since he’s been here his record is [81-53]. When you look at the season he’s having, fortunately they’re in the Atlantic and nobody is running away with the division.
“I know Mike personally. I know what kind of competitor he is and what kind of coach he’s been. When he has all the pieces and the team is playing well, they’re as good as anybody. Coming out of training camp they had injuries and were hit with the injury bug more than most teams.”
The Knicks were without Tyson Chandler for six weeks. Knicks owner James Dolan, who occasionally consults Thomas, has yet to make a move to oust Woodson. Plus, Dolan does not have impressive interim coaching options available.
Thomas expects Woodson to hold up well under this Knicks crisis, but said Woodson is not a miracle worker and he will succeed only if they break the injury jinx.
“What will happen to the Knicks eventually is they will get healthy, they will get all their pieces back and they will turn out to have a pretty good season, a season everybody will enjoy,’’ Thomas predicted. “That is, if they get healthy. If the injury bug stays with them, they will struggle.’’
Having learned from Knight — the fiery longtime Hoosiers coach — will only help Woodson through this, Thomas said.
“This is what I know about the coach you have and my former teammate and friend: We played at Indiana and played for Coach Knight. We’re built for this type of adversity,’’ Thomas said. “Winning is easy. That’s when everyone pats you on the back and everything is great. These are the tough times when you really see what people are made of.
“We’ll see over next couple of week and months. I don’t know if it will translate into wins, but the type of personality and philosophy and type of man Coach Woodson is, you’re going to like what you see from this coach who’s under pressure and fire.’’
Thomas believes losing veterans such as Rasheed Wallace, Jason Kidd and Kurt Thomas from last season’s 54-28 unit hurt “their basketball IQ’’ because they were like extra coaches “implementing the philosophy.’’
Thomas, who works for NBA TV and has been active with his charity foundation in Chicago, also weighed in on the Brooklyn Nets, saying he thinks it will be tough for them to become a major force without center Brook Lopez out for the season due to a broken foot.
“I don’t know if they could come back from that type of injury and loss,’’ Thomas said. “He really was the rock and glue of their frontcourt. Now you’re depending on an aging [Kevin] Garnett and some of your rookies. You may struggle scoring in that frontcourt.’’
Thomas said he “absolutely’’ would like to return to the NBA in a GM role and defended his Knicks reign for the umpteenth time. Dolan told The Post’s Mike Vaccaro he would not rehire Thomas because he wouldn’t get “a fair shake.’’ The Post also reported Thomas is reluctant to come back to the Knicks under the current media-policy structure.
Knicks current president Steve Mills has not spoken to the media since the regular season began.
“Absolutely,’’ Thomas said when asked whether he wanted another GM job. “If the game called me back and I got the opportunity, I would love to. It warms my heart to see all players we had here whom I drafted with the Knicks, they’re doing quite well. I do know if I was able to stick with the plan and let those young players develop, they’d be a pretty good basketball team in the East.’’
Thomas reiterated his comments that he left New York with two future All-Stars (Zach Randolph, David Lee) and a Sixth Man of the Year winner (Jamal Crawford), all of whom were under 29.