It only took two questions into Jeff Hornacek’s introductory press conference for him to be asked the $64,000 question: How much will the vaunted triangle figure into his offense?
The short answer: Phil Jackson’s beloved triangle will remain a “part of” his offense as he takes over the Knicks beginning in the 2016-17 season.
“There must be something about the word triangle, maybe we’ll call it the circle offense, I don’t know,” said Hornacek, who went 101-112 as the coach of Phoenix from 2013-16. “To me, it’s just a way to space the floor. You can run every play you want out of the triangle offense.
“It’s something that we can run a lot of plays out of,” Hornacek added. “It will be a part of our offense. It’s something that has worked and has won championships.”
Hornacek pointed out that his Utah Jazz teams had lost twice in the NBA Finals to Jackson’s Bulls and then said of the triangle, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Jackson obviously likes the fact that former Phoenix Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons — who coached Hornacek — learned the triangle from Tex Winter.
“In our conversation playing for Cotton Fitzsimmons, I told him Cotton was the replacement for Tex Winter at Kansas State and was the first guy to mimeograph Tex Winter’s book,” Jackson said “…Cotton employed all of that stuff in his offense and it’s all part of basketball and Jeff recognizes that.”
Still, Hornacek said he would like to include elements of the offense he used in Phoenix, utilizing a faster pace and increased pick-and-roll play. That offense figures to appeal to Knicks’ stars Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.
“We’d like to find a nice blend of up-and-down basketball and then when you get in the half court you can really execute and run things and get into things a little bit quicker,” Hornacek said. “But it’s not going to reverse from one way all the way to another way. It will be a combination that will help us win.”
NN
