The Knicks took off the "interim" tag and officially made Mike Woodson their head coach yesterday with a multiyear deal. After taking over for Mike D'Antoni on March 14, Woodson led the Knicks to an 18-6 regular season record, as well as their first playoff win in over a decade against the Miami Heat. "Our goal is to build off the success we had at the end of last season and to continue our quest of bringing an NBA championship to Madison Square Garden," he told reporters yesterday.
According to ESPN, Woodson's deal includes two guaranteed years and a third-year option, worth approximately $4 million per season. Speculation ran rampant in the spring that the team might try to woo Phil Jackson out of retirement—but according to general manager Glen Grunwald, the team didn't even reach out to him: “We felt Woody was our guy.”
And some other good news tucked in to the Woodson signing: Grunwald feels very optimistic that Jeremy Lin will be back next season leading the offense. "We can keep him if we want him, and we do want to keep him, and I believe that Jeremy had a great experience here," he said. "I believe he wants to come back." Let's just hope that the whole Lintourage is back in action.
