Knicks owner James Dolan gave Mike Woodson a vote of confidence on Nov 19.
Dolan sat down with The Post’s Mike Vaccaro on Nov. 19 before the Knicks played in Detroit and voiced his support for Woodson, but the Knicks have lost seven straight games since.
“I have a lot of confidence in Woodson, and one thing I can say about Mike is he has the respect of all the players,’’ Dolan told The Post in that interview. “They all respect him. And he treats them fairly and relatively equally, and that’s part of where the respect emanates from. And those are hard things to get from a coach. When a coach loses a team, that’s when a coach is kind of done.’’
The Knicks calmly went out and lost 9 straight ball games. The New York Post is reporting that Woodson’s seat just got extremely hot, and according to reports Jeff Van Gundy could replace Woodson if he’s terminated.
The Post has also learned that if Dolan eventually makes a move, old enemy and ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy would not be ruled out as a future candidate — though such a hire seems more sensible in the offseason if Dolan goes with an interim coach.
The Knicks are in shambles, with Woodson even acknowledging after Sunday’s loss to the Pelicans his team is playing scared late in tight games. Carmelo Anthony said the team is fighting confidence and “mentality’’ issues, and fixing that often falls on the coach. Anthony has hinted at a fracturing locker room, and there have been an inordinate number of blowups on the bench.
I’m not sure how much weight this rumor actually holds.
Van Gundy and Dolan were not on speaking terms for years after Van Gundy abruptly quit early in the 2001-02 season.