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NBA roundup: Knicks fire Woodson
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
The New York Knicks announced Monday that coach Mike Woodson and his entire staff were relieved of their duties.
Woodson’s status was the subject of speculation throughout the regular season, but the team made his departure official after a 37-45 finish to this season.
Woodson had one year and $3.3 million left on his contract.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff,” team president Phil Jackson said in a statement. “The coaches and players on this team had an extremely difficult 2013-14 season, and blame should not be put on one individual. But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond.”
Woodson went 109-79 (.580) in parts of three seasons, which included two consecutive appearances and an Atlantic Division title. However, the team finished out of the playoffs this season.
The Knicks will immediately begin a search for a new coach.
According to a report from the New York Post late last week, TNT analyst Steve Kerr expects to be the Knicks’ next coach and that he would accept the job if offered to him.
—Minnesota Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman announced that he is retiring.
Adelman was 97-133 in his three seasons in Minnesota and the Timberwolves were 40-42 in 2013-14. They last made the playoffs at the end of the 2003-04 season.
Adelman went 1,042-749 in 23 seasons in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and Timberwolves. He ranks eighth all-time in NBA coaching wins.
—Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was selected as the 2013-14 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year/
Noah, 29, is the second Bull to win the award, as he joins Michael Jordan, who won the award in 1987-88.
After finishing fourth in last year’s balloting, Noah collected 555 out of a possible 1,125 points, including 100 out of a possible 125 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Indiana center Roy Hibbert (166 points, eight first-place votes) and the Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (121 points, eight first-place votes) came in second and third, respectively.
Noah, 29, averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals during the regular season.
—Houston Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley is expected to play Game 2 of the first-round playoffs series against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday after an MRI revealed no new damage to his injured right knee.
Beverley, who sustained a torn meniscus in the knee earlier this month, re-injured it during Sunday’s Game 1 loss.
—The NBA said that officials made a mistake when they called a foul on Rockets center Dwight Howard with 10.8 seconds left in overtime of Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Instead, the foul should have been called on Portland power forward Joel Freeland.
