The expiration date on owner James Dolan’s recent vote of confidence for coach Mike Woodson is approaching, according to sources.
While Woodson will coach the Knicks when they play the Nets on Thursday, it is unclear how much longer Dolan will allow this losing streak to go on. It has reached nine straight defeats and the team’s mental instability has become an issue. Dolan is obsessed with the Brooklyn franchise and a blowout loss could trigger changes — whether via trade or a coaching move.
Dolan sat down with The Post’s Mike Vaccaro on Nov. 19 before the Knicks played in Detroit and voiced his support for Woodson, but the Knicks have lost seven straight games since.
“I have a lot of confidence in Woodson, and one thing I can say about Mike is he has the respect of all the players,’’ Dolan told The Post in that interview. “They all respect him. And he treats them fairly and relatively equally, and that’s part of where the respect emanates from. And those are hard things to get from a coach. When a coach loses a team, that’s when a coach is kind of done.’’
The Post has also learned that if Dolan eventually makes a move, old enemy and ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy would not be ruled out as a future candidate — though such a hire seems more sensible in the offseason if Dolan goes with an interim coach.
The Knicks are in shambles, with Woodson even acknowledging after Sunday’s loss to the Pelicans his team is playing scared late in tight games. Carmelo Anthony said the team is fighting confidence and “mentality’’ issues, and fixing that often falls on the coach. Anthony has hinted at a fracturing locker room, and there have been an inordinate number of blowups on the bench.
Dolan must be at least mulling whether his public statement still applies. Do the players still respect Woodson? Has he treated the players “relatively equally’’ with the Woodson-Iman Shumpert relationship an issue.
Van Gundy and Dolan were not on speaking terms for the longest time after Van Gundy abruptly quit early in the 2001-02 season. The two exchanged pleasantries at the Garden last season before Van Gundy broadcasted a game for ABC. Van Gundy will be back at the Garden Dec. 11, working the Knicks-Bulls game.
New president Steve Mills worked with Van Gundy for two-plus seasons in his first stint with the Knicks when his title was executive vice president of franchise operations. They got along well.
According to a league source, one issue could be Van Gundy wanting input in personnel decisions in his next job.
A Van Gundy return would also set up the possibility of Bobcats assistant Patrick Ewing coming back as his associate coach. Dolan and Ewing repaired their broken relationship last season when Ewing worked for MSG Network periodically.
Van Gundy likely would be interested in the Knicks position. In late June, Van Gundy gave a massive mea culpa for quitting on Dolan — remarks that appeared to sit well with Dolan and may have served as an olive branch.
On ESPN Radio, Van Gundy called it “a stupid decision’’ to quit.
“It’s something I regret to this day,’’ Van Gundy said. “I live with it every day and I regret it. And I let my emotions come into it. And I was just emotionally spent. I made a bad decision and I quit….I had a great job with the Knicks.’’
One coach who once worked with Van Gundy said the former Knicks/Rockets coach has never desired taking over for a club in midseason, feeling it’s a tough go.
Van Gundy, whose Knicks record was 248-172, has thoroughly enjoyed his broadcasting gig and it wasn’t until very recently — with his daughter graduating high school — he seriously contemplated a comeback. He last coached the Rockets in 2006-07. He attracted mild interest from the Clippers and Nets last June.
“He’s the No. 1 basketball announcer in the country,’’ said an industry source. “He’s still an important voice. He’s the reason there were rule changes for flopping. But I think he’s got to give coaching one more shot. He has to. It’s in his blood.’’
There are other big names available including George Karl, Mike Dunleavy and Lionel Hollins, who said recently he wants another shot in the NBA after his solid run in Memphis. The problem is he was dismissed by the Grizzlies because of a supposed distaste for the new advanced stats movement. Mills was brought in to take the Knicks analytics a step further.
“I believe I’ve established myself as a head coach and I’d like another opportunity to show that [my success] wasn’t a fluke,” Hollins told ESPN.com. “I feel like I’ve proven I can take a young team and develop it, then sustain what I’ve done by what I did in the last five years in Memphis.”
Meanwhile, Woodson has to instill the confidence in his club before it’s too late. The only positive is the Knicks are just three games out of the Atlantic Division lead, despite being tied for the worst record in the East.
“We have to get together and do something and figure it out as a team,’’ Anthony said. “I don’t know what we have to do to come together a group, sit in here for hours and talk, but we got to do something.’’