Knicks’ hiring of Jeff Hornacek is good news for Kristaps Porzingis, Carmelo Anthony

Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony have plenty of reasons to smile if the Knicks are no longer forced to run the triangle.Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony have plenty of reasons to smile if the Knicks are no longer forced to run the triangle.

Jeff Hornacek should already have the support of the one player he can't live without. It's the same player that must buy-in to make this all work.

If the reports are indeed true that the Knicks’ soon-to-be hired head coach has the freedom to throw away Phil Jackson's triangle offense like yesterday's trash, then Hornacek has recorded his first big victory in New York. A 7-foot-3 victory, in fact.

Somewhere in Latvia today, Kristaps Porzingis is smiling.

The Knicks franchise player was not very fond of the triangle offense and it's hardly a secret that Porzingis was less than thrilled with the way Kurt Rambis was using him. But Porzingis is too young and too respectful to lash out. Instead he left it to Carmelo Anthony to become the public face of an unhappy and confused locker room.

When Melo questioned the offensive system and the direction of the coaching search, Porzingis, like most of the Knicks, was in step with his more famous teammate. Ultimately, this may be Carmelo's greatest assist and you have to wonder how much Anthony's pleas influenced Garden Chairman James Dolan.

There was undoubtedly a dramatic turn of events over the past few weeks. Rambis was Jackson's guy but the Knicks president was well aware that Rambis did not have the support among the players. It stands to reason that Jackson would run a two-day triangle camp after the season to demonstrate to Dolan that if Rambis is hired, Phil will be more actively involved.

But perhaps Dolan feared that Jackson wouldn't have the stamina to last a full season playing a de facto coach. Dolan also was aware that Rambis was never the popular choice; not among the fan base and certainly not among the players. There is a feeling that Dolan put the kibosh on Jackson hiring Rambis and if so give Dolan credit for appreciating that Rambis would be facing a massive uphill battle to win support in the locker room.

If Jeff Hornacek can do things his way with the Knicks he'll have the support of his players.

It also raises questions about Jackson's future in New York. A few weeks after he was hired, Jackson sought to revamp the Knicks medical staff but Dolan vetoed the move. Jackson then tried to hire Steve Kerr but Dolan allowed the negotiations to drag and eventually stall. And now Rambis.

On Thursday, there was an internet report about Jackson leaving the Knicks to return to Los Angeles which proved to be bogus. But make no mistake about it the clock on Jackson's time in New York has started.

Maybe Jackson's legacy will be Porzingis and Hornacek, a player with All Star potential and a coach who wants to prove that last year's flameout in Phoenix was an aberration.

For now, the Jackson-Hornacek marriage is already being written about as a union made in coaching heaven. Judging from some accounts, Hornacek was Jackson's top choice to coach the Knicks as far back as when James Naismith first hung a peach basket on a wall. It's simpatico, stupid.

Honestly, it doesn't really matter how Jackson's long and often bizarre coaching search arrived at Hornacek or how Madison Square Garden will spin the hiring of Jackson's fourth coach in two-plus seasons.

But over the coming weeks and months no one will care how the sausage was made and what role Jackson, Dolan, Steve Mills and even Isiah Thomas played in this.

Phil Jackson doesn't go with his guy--Kurt Rambis--which raises questions about his future in New York.Phil Jackson doesn't go with his guy--Kurt Rambis--which raises questions about his future in New York. (HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
All that matters is that Hornacek, who will likely outlast Jackson, is a solid choice. A very solid choice in fact with the chance to make it work here. No, he's not as accomplished as Tom Thibodeau. He's not as MSG savvy as Jeff Van Gundy and doesn't have the New York cache of Mark Jackson.

But if Hornacek is allowed to do things his way he has a better chance than Jackson's first hire, Derek Fisher. As far back as last July, Fisher went about placating the Knicks by altering the offense to make it compatible to today's NBA; more pick and rolls, more three-point shots. But that upset Jackson and eventually Fisher was fired. Now, Hornacek gets to do it the way Fisher wanted to only now Hornacek will have the full support of the players and management.

At some point, probably early next week, the Knicks will have a news conference to announce Hornacek. Jackson will talk about how much he admired Hornacek as a player and how effective he was playing for Jerry Sloan in Utah. The Knicks will go to great lengths to paint it as Jackson having full autonomy to make the call.

But that doesn't explain why Jackson would risk losing Hornacek to Sacramento and Washington, two teams he interviewed with. Hornacek was also a candidate to join Steve Kerr's staff in Golden State. Everything about Hornacek's hiring goes against what Jackson was preaching for two years.

In Hornacek, the Knicks get a good man with a decent coaching resume that played under great coaches like Sloan and Cotton Fitzsimmons. He has a winning pedigree. Could he be too nice to make it in New York? Not if he wins.

He's off to a good start. If the reports about the death or at least a phasing out of the trinagle are true, Hornacek has already won over a couple of guys named Kristaps and Carmelo.

I'm the biggest fan at my job but I can't get into any conversations because I don't want to lose my job. Today all the guys were talking about Jeff Hornacek and how terrible and stupid Phil is. How trash the Knicks are.... They sound like Frank Isola. I'm not a bitch like Isola so I don't want to talk about that bitch ****. I find that there are no diehard fans anymore. Just clowns that wasn't to tell Isola jokes all day.

And one Jackson confidant made something perfectly clear on Thursday, telling CBS Sports that the idea of hiring Hornacek was Jackson's move -- and that it has only further emboldened Jackson to stay the course and finish the job of fixing the Knicks.
"He's more committed than ever," the person said.

Watching and following the media when they do eventually find out is going to be priceless. They are all going to look like fools. I can't wait. Hopefully it happens at some point tomorrow

gunsnewing wrote:It's amazing all day not one person in the mainstream media has brought up Jett's ties to the triangle? Is the media that incompetent or was Cotton Fitzsimmons really not coach the triangle? I checked and Rambis did indeed play with Jeff 2 seasons. No mention of that either from the media.

Watching and following the media when they do eventually find out is going to be priceless. They are all going to look like fools. I can't wait. Hopefully it happens at some point tomorrow

No mention of it on the Michael Kay show. What kind of reporting do they are completely devoid of research skills.

gunsnewing wrote:It's amazing all day not one person in the mainstream media has brought up
Jeff's ties to the triangle? Is the media that incompetent or was Cotton
Fitzsimmons really not coach the triangle? I checked and Rambis did indeed
play with Jeff 2 seasons. No mention of that either from the media.

Morons . . .

CrushAlot wrote:

Vmart wrote:This was written before he found out that Fitzsimmons was a Tex Winter's disciple and he ran the triangle when Jeff was there as a player. Since then Frank has been doing damage control. Contrary to what Isola believes and makes up it seems as though Phil did a coaching search and did interviews which Isola had no clue about.

Now he is paint a picture of dissension in MSG.

If you go to the article it is time stamped 8:31 tonight.

Its more interesting and it sells. Fans eat it up, as its easy to funnel anything to Dolan and Melo. They been doing it for yrs.

Melo gets max, that means Dolan forced Phil to do it.
Lin signs poison pill, that means Melo forced Lin out.
Tyson gets traded, that means Melo forced Tyson out.

Phil exposing the media the way he just has should be an eye opener. Probably won't be though.

Is it possible that Hornacek, who was under contract under PHX when Phil hired Fish his true first choice? Then Kerr? Maybe? Why wait?
Did Hornacek need time to consider his options? Want to take on NY and the Media? When pressed by phil, who might have liked Blatt and Vogel as alternatives, to make a choice otherwise he was going with one of them?

What was the sign? I think when Rambis was not named coach within a week it was a sign. Certainly when Phil was "caught" interviewing others it was a clear sign. I mean, kind of cruel to hang a guy out there whose a friend (rambis). My guess is Rambis was in the know and cool with the whole process. He might have been playing along the whole time.

Phil really did not want a media circus around his process.

Do fans really deserve to have all the answers? Im not sure, team is not public domain as media suggests we are due. I suppose in time we will know all we need to.

SupremeCommander wrote:Isola is turning himself into the uberwhore so he can get more facetime on ESPN. Eff that guy. He's now officially worse than Bermanbury.

LOL Bermanbury,forgot about that one.

No doubt that Post and Daily News compete fiercely and it means going after the clicks, it's how the papers get some of their money (ESPN and the like too obviously) and I wouldn't be surprised it the writers have some parts of the employment agreement based off of that too.

I can kinda tolerate Berman, he doesn't go off the rails as much as NY Daily News staff. And Frank is in a league of his own, gone from reporting to sensationalizing to outright tool and laughing stock.

Hi Frank, know you are reading. How do you live with those low low lowbrow standards LOL cash must be nice

Problem is these harsh "Snits" on twitter do get eyeballs and that's the game now. The negative slant is more admired than being optimistic.
Like Nalod has said before, "Anger sells"!