Mike Woodson may be coming to an NBA sideline near you…as a head coach…provided you live in Sacramento.
As the Sacramento Kings begin their search for George Karl’s replacement, sources told The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Woodson looms as a serious candidate for the position:
As part of a broad search process for a head coach, the Sacramento Kings plan to interview Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Mike Woodson, league sources told The Vertical.
The Kings sought and were granted permission by the Clippers to meet with Woodson in the near future, sources said.
Woodson, 58, is one of several former head coaches with whom the Kings want to discuss their job opening.The Kings have also arranged an interview with Vinny Del Negro to take place sometime next week, league sources told The Vertical.
Sacramento has interest in meeting with former Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale, but it is unclear whether McHale will decide to meet with Kings officials, league sources said.
The Kings are expected to meet with approximately five candidates in a first round of interviews, league sources said.
There’s a chance this is no more than marginal noise. The Kings are clearly doing their due diligence, interviewing a ton of candidates. Woodson may just be another name in a long line of those other names.
But he wouldn’t be the worst fit for the Kings. He would be pretty good, in fact. He caught a lot of crap while with the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks for his heavy use of isolation players, but he was given a ton of iso-heavy scorers to work with, most notably Carmelo Anthony and Joe Johnson. He would probably milk the shot-creation talents of DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay, and that’s hardly a bad thing.
Woodson also isn’t a controversial figure. Some of the things he said in New York appeared out of touch, but the players genuinely try for him. And considering how many issues the Kings had with the players and George Karl, Woodson would be a nice, potentially necessary change of pace for an organization that really needs to stay out of the tabloids.
