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Jeff Hornacek is in triangle denial
By Marc Berman September 26, 2017 | 1:27pm

The triangle is not totally dead.

After the first day of training camp practice, Kristaps Porzingis said there were some triangle actions Jeff Hornacek’s coaching staff reviewed. Somewhere in Montana, exiled president Phil Jackson is smiling.

Porzingis admitted he has no idea if they’ll use that stuff in the gameplan, but it’s not a dead conversation.

“From the first practice we did now, we actually did have some stuff from the triangle,’’ Porzingis said at their Tarrytown campus. “I saw some elements from the triangle. I think it’s always good to know an offense that’s worked in the past. It’s always good for everybody, even if we’re not playing it.

“Just to know some other teams use elements from that offense to defend that better. Or for yourself, for your basketball IQ. We worked on it a little bit today and probably going forward we’re going to do some things with the triangle. It’s going to be good for everybody to know that.’’

In an attempt to take triangle out of the conversation, Hornacek said Tuesday the bigger emphasis is spreading the floor and being more high tempo this year. In fact, he seemed defensive about the whole idea.

“You guys asked that all last year,” Hornacek said. “Those are basketball actions. If you’re going to throw the ball in the post and run some split actions, you guys want to call it triangle. That’s basketball. Yeah, some of that [we did] we ran last year. That’s just basketball stuff.”

Jarrett Jack, newly signed point guard, said last week he heard no mention of the triangle during voluntary workouts.

Hornacek emphasized again the program will be more about opening up the offense rather than having a confined, slowdown, triangle attack.

“We’re trying to open it up,’’ Hornacek said. “The strength of our team should allow us to do that. Guys like KP from the outside, Courtney [Lee]. Willy [Hernangomez], Enes [Kanter], KO [Kyle O’Quinn], getting it inside to the post guy so we spread the floor. We’ll get up and down the court and put pressure on the defense. That can only start if we can lock down defensively.”

Indeed, Hornacek can run his own show. He attempted to combine his offense with the triangle last season.

When it didn’t work, Jackson ordered a full-blown triangle attack one week before the All-Star Break.

Porzingis’ views on the triangle appear mixed. After he praised the triangle last March, The Post reported Carmelo Anthony reamed him out for being positive in the newspaper.

Jeff Hornacek working on installing a better offense for the Knicks

STEFAN BONDY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, September 26, 2017, 4:18 PM

The Knicks project as pitiful on defense again, so their best chance of winning games is scoring A LOT of points.

That was rarely accomplished with the triangle, which slows down the game and theoretically translates to better defense because of court positioning.

Just ask Phil.

But that didn’t happen, either. The Knicks were terrible defensively in the years under Jackson, dropping to 23rd in the league in points allowed per game last season. Despite the new regime trumpeting defense as a focal point, it wasn’t addressed in the offseason. Tim Hardaway Jr., Michael Beasley, Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott are all considered, at best, subpar individual defenders.

This places a lot of pressure on Jeff Hornacek – now free from the triangle restraints - to create a juggernaut offense. He began implementation Tuesday in the first day of training camp, then relayed to the media his vision for the offense. It sounded similar to the system he ran as coach of the Suns, which was heavy on pace and 3-pointers.

“I think we’re going to try to open it up, obviously the strength of our team should allow us to that,” Hornacek said Tuesday. “We think we can spread the floor out a little bit more and maybe get up and down the court a little bit more.”

Kristaps Porzingis created a little tremor by saying the Knicks were teaching the triangle in the first day of training camp. It seemed plausible only because Kurt Rambis remains the associate head coach.

But Hornacek explained it as an issue of semantics. This will not be the fullblown triangle that Jackson installed in the second half of last season.

“Those are basketball actions, you know, if you’re going to throw the ball into the post guy and run some split action and you guys want to call it ‘Triangle,’ that’s basketball,” Hornacek said. “So, yeah, there’s some of that we ran last year but that’s, again, that’s just basketball stuff.”

The Knicks last season averaged 104.3 points per game (19th in the NBA) while shooting 44.7 percent (23rd) and taking 24.7 3-pointers (21st). They’re hoping to improve after subtracting two of the better offensive players at their respective positions, Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose.

“You know we probably just didn’t get enough easy shots (last season),” Hornacek said. “Scouts are tougher, we were taking tougher shots and shot 44 percent as a team.

“If we can kick that up to 46 percent and mix in a few more 3s, now you’re getting a couple more points. Maybe you’re getting the chance to set your defense up better so it kind of all goes hand in hand.”

As the hire of the fired president, Hornacek is under pressure this season to deliver with a roster that is unevenly balanced towards big men and offense. He has a reduced training camp to sculpt the schemes and determine three starting spots – point guard, small forward and center.

It’s a recipe for early struggles. At least there is less reason to believe that drama will grip the franchise like last season.

“Can our guys now handle distractions? I don’t know. Hopefully we don’t do that,” Hornacek said. “Hopefully, we just play the game, and the focus is on the New York Knicks organization and what we can do to grow.”

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

nixluva wrote:

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CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

I don't know what he is doing and I am puzzled why he is still there.

Maybe he's a decent assistant coach who is under contract and Jeff wants him on staff?

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

I don't know what he is doing and I am puzzled why he is still there.

Maybe he's a decent assistant coach who is under contract and Jeff wants him on staff?

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

I don't know what he is doing and I am puzzled why he is still there.

Maybe he's a decent assistant coach who is under contract and Jeff wants him on staff?

Charlie Rosen said the guy can't relate to players. Not Woj, Isola, Berman etc., Rosen. It certainly appears that that was the case the past two years. What do you think he has done that keeps him on the staff? I believe Jeff and Kurt were teammates at one point. I can't come up with anything else.

One guy's opinion. You believe everything you read?

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

I don't know what he is doing and I am puzzled why he is still there.

Maybe he's a decent assistant coach who is under contract and Jeff wants him on staff?

Charlie Rosen said the guy can't relate to players. Not Woj, Isola, Berman etc., Rosen. It certainly appears that that was the case the past two years. What do you think he has done that keeps him on the staff? I believe Jeff and Kurt were teammates at one point. I can't come up with anything else.

One guy's opinion. You believe everything you read?

It isn't one guys opinion. Woj said a lot more as have other writers. Rosen doesn't have skin in the game to burn Phil at all costs. I am a bit surprised by your question. Are you a big Rambis fan? Rosen did a great podcast. I posted the link to it a couple of times I think you can find it on Fan Rag if you look for it. He talks about Rambis and his struggles along with a lot of other things. His takes come accross a lot differently when you hear him speaking about them as opposed to what he has written in the past.

This has been well documented all the way back to his mini days. I do believe Rambis is a nice guy, but he's a jerk of a coach

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I have to hope that Jeff's take on what was run in practice is the accurate one. Rambis loves the triangle and lectured on it at a coaches clinic during the summer leagues.

so you think the associate assistant coach is running the show?

I don't know what he is doing and I am puzzled why he is still there.

Maybe he's a decent assistant coach who is under contract and Jeff wants him on staff?

Charlie Rosen said the guy can't relate to players. Not Woj, Isola, Berman etc., Rosen. It certainly appears that that was the case the past two years. What do you think he has done that keeps him on the staff? I believe Jeff and Kurt were teammates at one point. I can't come up with anything else.

One guy's opinion. You believe everything you read?

It isn't one guys opinion. Woj said a lot more as have other writers. Rosen doesn't have skin in the game to burn Phil at all costs. I am a bit surprised by your question. Are you a big Rambis fan? Rosen did a great podcast. I posted the link to it a couple of times I think you can find it on Fan Rag if you look for it. He talks about Rambis and his struggles along with a lot of other things. His takes come accross a lot differently when you hear him speaking about them as opposed to what he has written in the past.

I have no opinion on Rambis. You seem to think just because Rambis is on the staff that the Triangle must somehow being sneaked in under Jeff's nose, otherwise what's the point of bringing him up?

Berman and the like keep bringing up the Triangle cause it's a point of past contention and he's not smart enough or creative enough to write something else. I have no idea why you keep sliding the conversation back to the Triangle or anything related to it.

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