http://www.nba.com/knicks/news/wilkenswilliams_050122.htmlBye,慢走啊,不送了...
Wilkens Resigns, Herb Williams to Coach Knicks
by Tom Kertes
GREENBURGH, NY, January 22, 2005 -- “Before this season I told (Madison Square Garden President and CEO) Jim (Dolan) and (MSG Sports President and CEO) Steve (Mills) that this will be the most frustrating year we’ll ever have,” Knicks President, Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas said. “Because we will be close enough to win a lot of games. But we don’t have the big horses yet to necessarily win many of those games.”“Rebuilding in this league while trying to remain competitive is a delicate balance,” added Thomas. This semi-frustrating, though quite natural, state of delicate rebuilding and progressive development the Knicks find themselves in is what made Coach Lenny Wilkens resign his position this morning. “This has been the most difficult time for me, especially the last few weeks,” said Wilkens. “After speaking at great length with my family and Isiah, I decided doing this was really in my best interest.” Wilkens, who Thomas felt was “the best coach possible during this transition period for this team” was offered a front office job as assistant General Manager. “If Lenny didn’t feel this is what he wanted to do, I would NOT have fired him,” said Thomas. “In my mind, he’s had tremendous success in getting this team into the playoffs last season. He is a great man and a great coach. As my assistant GM, working with me…well, all those free agents we are talking about getting here, all those trades we’re discussing – he’s coached against those players. So his input would be invaluable.”Assistant coach Herb Williams is taking over the team and “will be the coach for the rest of the season,” Thomas firmly stated. Wilkens will take some time to consider the front office offer.“Herb has been more than just an assistant – he’s very good on the blackboard, a great X-s and O’s guy, and he’s the hardest worker around here,” said Thomas. “He’s real confident. He was a six-time captain as a player. He’s here when I leave in the evening and he’s here when we get here in the morning. He’s been and done all the right things to earn this job.”
“There’s no change in the long term plan to transition this team to a championship level,” said Thomas. “Herb will continue to take us in the right direction. Our immediate goal is still to make the playoffs. We will continue to get younger and more athletic. But we are well-aware of the fact that there will be long and sometimes painful intermediate steps we’ll have to take in our progression toward the ultimate goal.”“In this game, you have to crawl before you walk. I won’t confuse progress with success. You are not just going to jump up and win the championship. It simply does not work that way.”To a player, the Knicks felt for the well-respected Wilkens. “We’re all in this together,” Allan Houston said. “In a way, yes, we let him down. On the other hand, no one can say we didn’t do all we could. I think we can all be proud of the fact that we’ve played hard.”Houston, who has actually played with his new head coach, feels “Herb is one of those guys who was a coach even when he was a player. He was always involved in strategy and adjustments during timeout situations. He played and coached under so many exceptional coaching minds. He’ll be great.”Williams mentioned Wilkens, Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, and Don Chaney as his mentors. “I’ve learned and have taken something from all of them,” the new Knicks head coach said. “So, while we’re not going to change things drastically right away, over time we’ll institute some new things. We’ll put some tweaks into the system. The main thing is to focus. The mindset has to be discipline on offense, discipline on defense, believe in the system you’re running. Then execute, and play hard.”“You’ve got to have toughness,” said Williams. “The NBA is a tough business so you’ve got to have toughness and you’ve got to be able to keep your man in front of you defensively. You do that, you may not win every game but you are giving yourself a great shot.”“We’re not that far away,” added Williams. “The players know that we’re close. You could say if it wasn’t for one or two possessions, we could have win the last four-five games. That should give them an extra sense of urgency. Sure, things WILL happen sometimes. But wasted possessions down the stretch of a close game – that’s unacceptable.” “I’m not disappointed in the club at all,” said Thomas. “I understand transition. I understand how it works. It took me 7-8 years to get to the pinnacle of the NBA. It was the same with Michael Jordan. Magic was fortunate – when he came in he had the Big Guy. We don’t have Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming.”“Patchwork is not the way we’re doing things around here,” said Thomas. “I feel confident in our roster, but it’s my job to think long-term. Yes, I still think we can win 42-43 games if things go well. But you can’t have two or three starters out injured and not suffer the results. So yes, it’s still our goal to make the playoffs. But if we don’t, it won’t deter us from executing our long-range plan.”“Things look tough right now – but I hope the fans stay behind us through the tough times. This is how it is. This is transition. You’ve got to go through this to get to the next level. Development is a process, a learning process in many ways. Just ask Jamal (Crawford) about the Detroit game or Stephon about that last possession last night. They think about those things all the time. They’ll tell you they learned – and they have. What happened in those games, you will never see that happen again.”“Stephon, Jamal, Sweetney, Ariza, many of the others, these are young guys,” said Thomas. “This is one of the youngest Knicks teams in the last 25 years. We have something like $40 million in expiring contracts this summer. So we are not going to be shortsighted. I feel we are very well positioned for the future.”
