If there is a 2011-2012 season, it seems like the addition of Mike Woodson to the Knicks’ bench in the role of assistant to the regional manager defensive assistant is all but assured. Many D’Antoni bashers will now expect to be sated with stifling defense to compliment the team’s fast paced offense.
But is that a fair expectation?
In my opinion what is more likely to happen is that the team’s expectations will now be raised on the defensive end, the team will, in large part, fail to meet those expectations, and D’Antoni will receive the blame, not Woodson, since D’Antoni is still steering the ship.
It’s not that I think Woodson won’t help matters on the defensive end. He’s likely to be better than Herb. But in watching the Hawks over the years, I never felt as if I was watching some dominant defensive squad.
Indeed, despite having some talented defensive players over the years (Horford, Smith, Childress, Johnson, Pachulia), the Hawks under Woodson were, uh, not good with respect to defensive efficiency [per Basketball Reference]:
2009-2010: 13th
2008-2009: 11th
2007-2008: 18th(!)
2006-2007: 23rd (!!)
2005-2006: 25th (!!!)
2004-2005: 30th (!!!!)
So the Mike Woodson hiring, while sure to increase expectations on the Knicks’ defensively, may have a negligible impact on that front, and I somehow doubt Woodson would get the blame.
In my opinion Woodson may be more attractive to certain factions at the Garden for the way he coaches offense, e.g., give the ball to Joe Johnson and let him do things one-on-one. I know a certain former Nugget who likes to play that way.
It’s starting to become obvious that D’Antoni is going to be OUT after this year. To begin with, as many stats oriented analysts predicted, the Knicks were NOT much better after the Melo trade. He’s simply a very good but very overrated player. Given that the Nuggets were as good or better after the trade, do we really need any more evidence that the stats were correct?
The problem for D’Antoni is that average fan. media person etc… is basically clueless and has massively higher expectations as a result of adding Melo who they consider a super star. So when the Knicks win between 45-50 games net year (something they would have done anyway with the old team given any development of the young players and adding a player with Curry’s cap space), the fans and media are going to be calling for D’Antoni’s head.
In fact, this is so obvious I felt sure that both Walsh and D’Antoni were going to leave in the off season after having the Melo trade rammed down their throat by Dolan (and playing the good soldier about it in the press).
Now, add a defensive coach that is not a defensive specialist and all that’s going to do is add to the disappointment. D’Antoni’s days are obviously numbered in NY.
IMO, this us a sad development because the Knicks were in the process of building a young up and coming team very well suited to his system that with a few tweaks and good use of extra cap space would have been a major player for a long time.
No, what’s becoming obvious is that without Donnie Walsh running things anymore, we can expect to see a steadily declining level of decision-making. Walsh wasn’t perfect (see the 2008 draft) but, truly, only James Dolan possesses the unique brand of stupidity capable of running out the door the guy who saved the franchise from being the laughingstock of the NBA. Woodson is a nice coach, but has never been anything special on either side of the court. Much like Grunwald as a GM–and I fear he’s on tap for the job. I think it’s downhill from here, guys. The one grown-up we’ve had in charge for the past decade is gone, and calling the shots now is a guy who never accomplished a damn thing on his own merits.
I’m not a huge Walsh fan. IMO ANYONE can trade good players with bad contracts for bad players with less bad contracts or get rid of bad contracts by giving up young players and draft picks. So I really don’t get all the love for Walsh. IMO anyone could have done the same thing.
The real reason everyone loves him is that Knicks fans had gotten so used to extreme incompetence and extreme unprofessionalism that simple competence and professionalism is seen as something special.
I agree with you though. I see nothing in the new team to inspire confidence and Dolan is a moron.
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