http://nymag.com/news/sports/mike-woodson-2012-11/

... it wasn’t until 2004 that he made his coaching mark. Working as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, Woodson received considerable credit for that team’s heralded blue-collar work ethic—no small feat considering the Pistons’ abundance of superstars, from Chauncey Billups to Rip Hamilton to Rasheed Wallace. Detroit won the NBA title that year...

Cliff Notes 1. His Detroit experience is more instructive than his tenure in Atlanta

Woodson immediately set about changing the team’s culture. In a semi-­famous speech documented by Slam magazine’s Lang Whitaker, Woodson spelled out his philosophy to the team clearly: “I have zero ego as a coach, none. If you think you see something that’s going to work better than what we’re trying to do, speak up! Say something to me! But what I’m telling you guys is that if you guys will just consistently do what we’re asking you to do on defense, we’ll win games. I don’t give a **** about the offense; you guys can score more than enough points to win games. The offense isn’t the problem. But you have to get stops on defense, and if you’ll listen to what we’re telling you, I promise you’ll get stops. The **** works, okay?

Cliff Note 2. Game respects game

Shumpert says another reason the Knicks enjoy playing for Woodson is that he keeps it simple. He sets basic, achievable team goals that are easy to understand. The main one is, notably, a defensive one: Hold the other team to 25 points or fewer a quarter, 100 or fewer a game. “He says if we do that, we’ll win,” Shumpert says. “At the end of every quarter, we can just look at the scoreboard and see if Coach is gonna be happy or not.”

Cliff Notes 3. Mike Woodson is straightforward and understated.

Sitting behind his desk, Woodson makes no Rex Ryan–like championship guarantees or even vague predictions. Instead, he says: “I feel real good about our chances and the makeup of our ball club. I’m anxious to see how far we can go.” It’s boilerplate, drama-free coachspeak. Finally.

Unlike stubborn non-adjustment ass D'Antoni. His playbook "Come on Let's Go" "Hustle, let's go" "Guy's let's go"

The fact that the team doubled down on defensive talent is what makes this a good team for Woody to do his thing. We have more defensive players than we had last year and that makes a huge difference. It's why I think the Knicks can actually pull off beating the Heat in a series this year. We also have more vet leadership and PG's that know what they're doing. IF you have an offensive coach you get him what he needs and the same for a defensive coach. Give him some tools to really excel. Woody has that and zero excuses not to win big this year. This is his kind of team.

I have zero ego as a coach, none. If you think you see something that’s going to work better than what we’re trying to do, speak up!

Nalod wrote: To not be graceful is to be clumsy.

Pablo is both graceful and conserves energy. Fiat 500 or Cooper Mini?

Nalod wrote: I love the "Cisk-Boom-Bah" stuff on puffing up our chests to love our coach.

No love. Just the facts ma'am.

Nalod wrote:How about we just let the play speak for itself. Woody is good coach. Better than MDA?

Time will tell if the timing is right or he game passed D'Antoni faster that Nate Archibald in the open court. Woody has much better hair.

Nalod wrote:Woody is a good fit for these guys. "18-6" is a tall order to live up to.

Factored over an entire season, 55-27 would be outrageous. 48-34 is more like it.

Nalod wrote:So basically he is great coach because of what he did in Detroit, but Larry's work there is not considered?

I feels as if Larry Brown was never in New York. Woodson is much less a great coach than a potentially great fit for these Knicks at this moment.

48-34. Book it.

arkrud wrote:

I have zero ego as a coach, none. If you think you see something that’s going to work better than what we’re trying to do, speak up!

Not encouraging... you will not hear this from best NBA coaches. But from other hand Dolan has enough ego for whole organization.
So this is union made in heaven.

misterearl wrote:Assumption Is The Mother Of All Poor Dialogue

"VCoug" - I'm assuming that your post is quoting from the article. In it he says, " I don't give a **** (****?) about the offense." That's in your post just above cliff notes 2.

VCoug - if you read the piece, you would learn that the offense is not being neglected. For Woodson, defense is a priority that does not mean that he ignores other aspects, unless one wants to assume that an NBA coach would simply roll out the ball racks and go have a beer.

You would have been educated in the first two paragraphs:

As a rule, New York Knicks practices in the past few years have been chaotic. In their double-wide gym in a nondescript building in suburban Greenburgh, one rarely sees all the Knicks together on the same floor at once. One day last year, I watched Andy Rautins shooting three-pointers by himself in one corner, Josh Harrellson and Amar’e Stoudemire posting each other up at the opposite end of the gym, Carmelo Anthony goofing off catty-corner from that group, and Toney Douglas lying down along one baseline, stretching and looking half-asleep. It was like watching a gymnastics meet: You could never focus on one thing or tell what was going on.

It is not like this anymore. At a practice last week, the Knicks clicked with military precision. Other than the recently signed Rasheed Wallace—who was still working his way into shape and therefore mostly running “sprints” on his own—the Knicks were as one, on the same court, participating in the same drills and the same scrimmages at the same time. Carmelo was running a pick-and-roll play, spinning off Chris Copeland as Raymond Felton tried to hit him with the pass; Tyson Chandler ran over to try to block his path to the basket; Steve Novak ran under the basket and then back out to sneak open for the corner three. The rest of the team stood around them, watching, commiserating, laughing … but definitely not missing anything. No one seemed anywhere close to asleep.

I played for the Phoenix Suns. 2007. My last season. As were playing against the San Antonio Spurs. And I remember us coming to our first practice before Game 1. And we brought it in. And we were excited about our playoffs getting started. And Coach D'Antoni put in some film. It was Steve behind the back. Amare slam dunk. Shawn Marion with the block. Raja Bell with the charge. It was a highlight film of our team. They have showed me making a shot on there, and I was barely even playing.

So after that he as like all right, we're going to run and down, go through our set plays and whatnot, and we're going to get out of here.

And I looked at Kurt Thomas. I hit him with an elbow. I'm like hold on. I gotta say something.

So I did my Arnold Horshack from "Welcome Back, Kotter."

I'm like "ooh, ooh, ooh, hey coach. I gotta ask a question. Are we going to talk about how we're going to defend Tim Duncan on the post? Are we going to talk about Manu Ginobili in pick and roll? Keeping Tony Parker out of the paint?"

He looked at me in front of the entire team and coaching staff and said: "We're not worried about what they do. If we play to the best of our abilities, and do what we're supposed to do, there is no way they can beat us. We don't mind if Tim goes off. If Tim goes off, that means everybody else is quiet."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/43774/nba-today-jalen-rose-luc-richard-mbah-a-moute

Not saying Woodson is a god, but I prefer his philosophy and approach a lot more.