Mike Woodson’s time as the head coach of the New York Knicks is just about over.The Knicks have been abysmal this year, winning just seven of the team's first 24 games. Last night’s 102-101 loss to the Washington Wizards was the last straw.
Mike Woodson needs to be fired immediately.
Not having Tyson Chandler on the court has been a big problem for New York this year, but that doesn’t excuse his blatant coaching mishaps this year. Not calling a timeout after Bradley Beal scored the go-ahead bucket with six seconds remaining can only be described as idiotic.
Woodson still had three timeouts to use at the end of the game, but instead, decided to let Carmelo Anthony dribble the ball up the sideline and take an off-balanced heave as time expired while his teammates watched in awe.
Great strategy, Woodson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mlPSW_7fhA4&w=620
If a coach can’t draw up a play to get a better shot than that with the game on the line, he doesn’t deserve to be coaching.
The Knicks had some lofty expectations heading into this season. After making it to the second round of the playoffs last year, many thought this was the year that Carmelo Anthony finally got at least a taste of the Conference Finals, if not a taste of the NBA Finals.
Oh, how wrong those expectations were.
The Knicks have the fourth-worst winning percentage in the NBA a little more than a quarter into the season, and Woodson hasn’t gotten the most out of his players.
Carmelo Anthony has played well, but no one else on this Knicks roster has.
Andrea Bargnani is averaging close to 15 points per game, but is only averaging 5.2 rebounds per game while playing the majority of his minutes as the team’s center. JR Smith is shooting an abysmal 34 percent from the floor, Raymond Felton is shooting 28 percent from deep, Amar’e Stoudemire is a shell of his previous All-Star form and Iman Shumpert has regressed from a season ago.
Rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. has been the Knicks' second-most efficient offensive player behind Carmelo, but is only playing about 17 minutes per game.
The Knicks roster is flawed, but it isn’t 7-17 bad. That falls on Mike Woodson, who hasn’t pushed any of the right buttons to get his team to play well this season. The Knicks rank in the bottom third of the league in a number of important statistical categories, and the team hasn’t appeared to play with any heart at multiple times this season.
Something needs to change in the Big Apple, and the Knicks’ rough cap situation isn’t going to allow for many roster moves. Woodson hasn’t coached well this season, and his time is in NYC is over.
If the Knicks are going to make anything out of this season, the players are going to need a new voice in the locker room. Woodson’s just isn’t getting the job done right now.
Lionel Hollins, Avery Johnson, PJ Carlesimo and George Karl are all experienced head coaches that are currently unemployed. If Woodson gets fired, the Knicks could turn to one of these coaches to take over the team.
By Mike Lucas
