I guess we now know why Mike Woodson is having so much trouble find a lineup he likes.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Woodson isn’t on the hot seat yet, but the Knicks front office is putting daily pressure on the embattled coach to change his lineup around.
Despite the Knicks’ 3-6 start and five straight home losses, Woodson is not in imminent danger, according to a source, of being the next Knicks head coach to “resign” — which is Garden-speak for canned. If Lenny Wilkens and Mike D’Antoni both resigned, so will Woodson. Count on it.
Until then, the coach is safe, but the word from above is to tinker with the starting lineup, which likely will include shifting soon-to-be-traded Iman Shumpert to the bench and likely promoting veteran tough guy Kenyon Martin. The move allows Anthony to play small forward while placing a rebounding and defensive-minded forward next to Andrea Bargnani, a non-rebounding, defensively challenged forward/center.
It makes some sense if Kenyon Martin has anything left.
The rugged and defensively talented Martin would protect the soft Bargnani who would start at center. Moving K-Mart to the power forward position would also allow Carmelo Anthony to flourish at his natural small forward position.