New York Knicks Players Defend Head Coach Mike Woodson

With rumors of Mike Woodson’s impending demise in New York flying, his players came to the defense of the embattled head coach. (The latest candidate for Woodson’s job, according to the tabloids in Gotham, is Allan Houston.) Per Newsday and the NY Daily News: “It’s about us caring and giving a —-, man,’ Kenyon Martin said. ‘That’s what it boils down to.’ The Knicks are 3-13 and have lost nine straight, so it’s understandable that there is heat on Woodson. But Martin and Carmelo Anthony were among the Knicks who defended Woodson after practice Tuesday amid reports his job could be in jeopardy if they don’t turn their season around. ‘Welcome to New York,’ Anthony said. ‘We’re worried about that. But then again, we’ve got to worry about playing basketball. I think that’s been a problem in New York all this time. Everybody worries about what’s being said on the outside. As a team, we’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to control our locker room. We’ve got to control what happens on the basketball court. That’s by us playing hard, that’s by us sticking to the game plan and doing what coach Woodson says to do out there on the basketball court. We can’t worry about the speculation that’s going on outside this building, and we shouldn’t. And as a leader of this team, I’ll try my best not to allow that.’ […] Would Billy Joel coach the Knicks? In Dolan’s Garden, you can’t rule any scenario out. But Allan Houston, supposedly the GM in training, looms as a potential successor. The word around Knicks camp is that Dolan wouldn’t hesitate to promote him to head coach if the Knicks don’t turn things around sooner than later. Houston’s $100 million contract placed the Knicks in salary cap purgatory for years. Maybe having to coach this Knicks team would be his payback. Crazy? Well, if we told you on Sept. 1 that Steve Mills would be back before training camp to run the front office you wouldn’t have believed that either. At MSG, always expect the unexpected. Based on that history, you’d be a fool to rule out Woodson, Van Gundy and, yes, even Allan Houston.”