Imagine how things might have been different if Knicks president Phil Jackson had been impressed enough with Mike Woodson’s 16-5 finish last season to allow the coach to finish out his contract this season.
One thing is for sure: Woodson would have fought to keep center Tyson Chandler, whom Jackson couldn’t jettison fast enough the day before the NBA draft.
“Had I stayed on board, I probably would’ve pushed to keep Tyson and keep the core group together because that’s what won the 54 games two years ago,’’ Woodson, now a Clippers assistant, said Wednesday night before his new team clobbered the Knicks, 111-80. “But people change. You got to live with it. They’ve had a tough season so far.
“Hopefully they can rebound this summer and put some pieces together and get back to winning basketball games.’’
Woodson, wearing a blue and red Clippers tie, was back at the Garden for the first time since finishing out last season 37-45, after which he was fired. Clippers coach Doc Rivers had Woodson sub for him in the postgame press conference as a reward.
“We are playing for something,’’ Woodson said of his 47-25 club.
Last season’s Knicks clip seemed awful at the time as they finished one game out of the playoffs. But in comparison to the 2014-15, league-worst, 14-58 stink, last season smells like a red rose.
Woodson proved his worth in 2012-13 when he guided the Knicks to an Atlantic Division title, a 54-28 record and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Only one player — Carmelo Anthony — remains from that team, and he’s rehabbing from season-ending knee surgery. Only three other players remain from the pre-triangle-offense club of last season: Tim Hardaway Jr. (who excelled under Woodson), Cole Aldrich and Andrea Bargnani.
“I’m not going to downplay what we did,’’ Woodson said of the 2012-13 campaign. “I’m pretty happy with our style of play we had here. It’s not easy winning 54 games in this league. … [Former general manager] Glen Grunwald and [owner] James Dolan put a solid group together that year with nice veterans. You can’t take anything away from that team. That team was very competitive.’’
Under rookie coach Derek Fisher, the Knicks have been the NBA’s biggest joke and, with two more losses, will have the worst record in franchise history. Woodson believes he never had a chance at survival once the Zen Master took command on March 18, 2014.
“I think when Phil came in, he had his mind made up based on what he wanted to do,’’ Woodson said. “I could respect that. There’s nothing I can say bad about Phil. He’s had a helluva career as a coach. He had other ideas in terms of direction he wanted to go. I respect that.’’
Trading Chandler to bring in oft-injured point guard Jose Calderon, since-waived Samuel Dalembert, free-agent-to-be Shane Larkin and disappointing rookie Cleanthony Early has been a bust. Jackson didn’t get nearly enough assets when he dumped J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert in January’s fire sale. At least he saved Dolan $6.5 million in payroll/luxury tax in buying out Amar’e Stoudemire.
“They’ve had a tough season, I don’t wish that on anyone,’’ said Woodson, who still desires to be a head coach. “I went through it my rookie year in Atlanta [13-69]. You try to learn from it and grow.’’
Woodson heard plenty of “Fire Woodson’’ chants last season, which fans may regret now.
“I don’t backtrack,’’ Woodson said. “Bottom line is we had a tough season. We had a lot of injuries my last year here. I couldn’t get around it. I lost key guys at pivotal times throughout the season and it was tough to rebound once we started to get bodies back toward the latter part of last season when we made that big push to get that eighth spot but fell short.’’
Anthony had his best seasons under Woodson’s isolation offense, which is distinctly different from Jackson’s triangle. Anthony had a subpar season with Woodson gone, but was playing on a torn patellar tendon for a chunk of the time.
“It’s been tough on him too,’’ Woodson said. “I know how competitive he was as a player. He was great for me. I love Carmelo and what he brought to the table for our ballclub. To see what he’s going through now, it’s something he has to get behind him through summer work. I love Melo. He was great for me.’’
Woodson’s Knicks also attempted boatloads of 3-pointers. They were first in the league in 2012-13. Fisher’s triangle isn’t designed to set up the 3-pointer and some consider it antiquated. This season, the Knicks rank 22nd in 3-pointers made.
“The league has changed the last six, seven years,’’ Woodson said. “If you’re not shooting the 3-ball, it’s tough. Every two you take, I’m taking two 3s. The game has changed. That particular year we shot a lot of 3s. We led the league in 3-pointers attempted. … I wasn’t a big proponent of the [3-pointer] 12 years ago when I started coaching. It grew on me.’’
Does it hurt being back?
“I don’t look at it in that light,’’ Woodson said. “I had an opportunity here and I didn’t get it done, I guess. I had to move on and I’m happy as hell to be in LA with Doc. It was a good three years for me [in New York] where I was drafted and played my rookie year and to be able to circle back, it was fantastic.”