Carmelo Anthony isn’t the only member of the New York Knicks excited to play for Jeff Hornacek.
There are more.
A lot more, from the sounds of it.
From Ian Begley of ESPN.com:
One of the more intriguing early storylines in the Hornacek tenure is how he changes the triangle offense. The general expectation is that Hornacek will implement more pick-and-roll and play at a quicker pace than the Knicks did while running the triangle the past two seasons. But it would surprise many in the organization if Hornacek completely scrapped Jackson’s famed offense.
“Everyone uses a version of the triangle. Everybody does,” one veteran Eastern Conference executive said. “It’s called basketball. Playing off of the elbow; moving the ball side to side; cutter goes through, screen for the short corner spacer. It’s basketball. Jeff already used some of that (in Phoenix).”
Hornacek’s Suns also played at a much quicker pace and shot 3’s more frequently than the Knicks. Some of the Knicks are already anticipating — and excited about — potential changes Hornacek will make to the offense, according to sources.
This is the biggest question surrounding Hornacek’s arrival in New York: Will he actually have the freedom to implement his own offensive style? Or will he, like Derek Fisher was for a short time, merely be an extension of Phil Jackson’s triangle-obsessed agenda.
So many NBA offenses include elements of the triangle, but Jackson has been more married to it than anyone else. He even held a triangle camp of sorts after the season. So it remains weird that he hired a coach without extensive experience running or playing in his system.
But while this is good to talk about now, we won’t really know if the Knicks have moved on from the triangle until the season starts. Hornacek’s Phoenix Suns teams played with more pace and chucked more threes. If we see that the Knicks are doing the same in 2016-17, we’ll know he’s been given the freedom that his predecessor, Derek Fisher, never was.
