There is no rest for the New York Knicks, even though their season over.
According to the New York Daily News‘ Frank Isola, team president Phil Jackson is set to get his hands dirty teaching the triangle to some of the Knicks’ current players:
Phil Jackson has decided to coach the Knicks … at least for a couple of days.
The Knicks’ embattled team president is running a clandestine mini-camp this week in New York with a handful of current players, the Daily News has learned. According to a league source, the two practices are being described as a “triangle seminar” in which Jackson and interim head coach Kurt Rambis will watch film and continue teaching the Knicks an antiquated offense that Jackson is intent on running despite many of the players’ reluctance to embrace it.
Not every player will attend the camp. It is unclear if Carmelo Anthony, who did not sound pleased following his exit meeting with Jackson last week, will participate. Newly signed Tony Wroten is expected to attend along with rookies Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant as well as Langston Galloway and Jose Calderon.
What does this mean?
Essentially nothing.
It’s confirmation that Jackson has no plans to stray from the antiquated triangle offense. So if anything, it’s a bad sign—a harbinger of his continued inflexibility and, more subtly, his long-term devotion to head coach Kurt Rambis.
Maybe this mini camp actually helps. But the idea that Jackson, a team president and not a coach, has to get his hands dirty just to help his players grasp the current system is not good. Elements of the triangle can work in today’s NBA. Using it as the basis for your entire offense, though, slows down the pace, encourages a ton of mid-range jumpers and doesn’t provide the ideal amount of spacing.
If Jackson is willing to update the system during this mini camp, then perhaps there’s hope yet. But imparting wisdom unto a handful of current players won’t help the Knicks recruit free agents, which remains a pivotal part of their rebuilding blueprint.
