Veteran Coach Mike Woodson Joins Kings Staff

Mike Woodson will be replacing Jay Triano as Doug Christie’s second in command, who was fired after being with the team since the 2022/23 season. Christie inherited Mike Brown’s staff, and after having his interim tag removed, he gets a chance to build his own group. A few holdovers from this past season include Leandro Barbosa, player development coach, Dipesh Minstry and video coordinator, Stephanie Ingo.

Woodson will join the three aforementioned assistants, Christie, general manager, Scott Perry, and assistant general manager, B.J. Armstrong as Sacramento’s current brain-trust looking to bring the team back to the playoffs. Woodson was most recently with the Indiana Hoosiers where he had been head coach for the last four seasons. Previously, Woodson was the head coach for the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks before taking assistant roles with the Los Angeles Clippers and Knicks. 

Woodson is likely familiar with Perry from his time with the Pistons where both were involved with the 2004 Championship team. Woodson’s mentors include names like Bobby Knight and Larry Brown and Brown had some great things to say about Mike during an interview for Howard Beck’s 2012 story in the New York Times. 

“He’s just a really good, decent guy who respects the game and is loyal as hell and loves to coach and teach.”

Woodson is basketball royalty and the only coach to win both an NCAA and NBA championship as a coach so his words should hold a lot of weight for Kings fans. Woodson’s NBAaccomplishments include taking Atlanta from a 13 win team his first year to a 53 win team his final year as head coach. Woodson also coached Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks when they broke the record for most three pointers made in a season on the way to conference semifinals berth. 

It remains to be seen where Woodson will have the most say with the Kings, but he is replacing the teams’ offensive coordinator in Triano. Woodson’s mentors emphasize hustle and more defensive principles, however, Woodson seemed to embrace modern basketball during his time with Indiana. Woodson had this to say to Tyler Tachman at Inside the Hall.

“The style has changed… and it’s a beautiful style.”

Woodson also went on to talk about using analytics to figure out which players should share the court together. For anyone worried that Woodson won’t be a good influence on a Sacramento team that might need to go back to some old fashioned, hard-nosed defense, don’t worry. While Woodson is embracing modernity, he certainly isn’t rejecting tradition. 

“When I look at young players, if you’re not willing to compete and play hard, your days in the NBA will be numbered because the next guy is more hungry.”

This sentiment seems to echo what we’ve heard from Scott Perry, and B.J. Armstrong and lines up with who Doug Christie was as a player. More and more teams are bringing in former head coaches as lead assistants and it’s great that the Kings were able to land someone that aligns with their mission like Woodson. The next steps for Woodson and the rest of the current front office and coaching staff will be filling out the rest of the bench and deciding what to do with a roster that failed to break out of the Play-In. 

Woodson, Christie, Perry, and Armstrong have a tough job ahead, but they are all very qualified for their roles which is a great step in the right direction.