NBA: Knicks coach Kurt Rambis says Derek Fisher abandoned triangle offense too soon

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Kurt Rambis says Derek Fisher abandoned triangle offense too soon

PHILADELPHIA – Derek Fisher abandoned Phil Jackson’s beloved system but Kurt Rambis is here to pick up the pieces of a broken triangle.

That was the message Friday from the interim head coach, who dropped plenty of hints about why Jackson decided to can Fisher and replace him with a triangle loyalist.

“We didn’t fully immerse ourselves into practicing (the triangle while Fisher was coach), developing it, learning how to work with it, going through the breakdown drills to execute it properly,” Rambis said. “We kind of skirted over things. So the real learning process of it didn’t have enough time to take place. We also didn’t allow the players the kind of time that it needs to allow them to get comfortable with it.”​

So yeah, the triangle isn’t going anywhere as long as Jackson is president – and probably Rambis will stick around under that arrangement while preaching their shared principles. It was a good enough to Friday to edge the lowly 76ers, 109-102, on the same night Allen Iverson was honored at Wells Fargo Center for his election into the Hall of Fame.

One-eighth of the Knicks’ victories this season have come against the Sixers (10-69), the rare franchise that can claim greater dysfunction than New York (32-48).

Iverson recalled happier times in Philly.

“I want my legacy to be the guy who gave everything he got, the whole 165 pounds on a 6-foot frame,” Iverson said. “When I go, when I die, I don’t want nobody to be like, ‘Oh, okay, well, you heard Allen Iverson is dead? Oh well, what are we doing tonight?’ I want it to hurt. I want people to feel it. I want it to mean something.”

Issues over Fisher’s triangle straying went as far back as Summer League of last year, according to sources, when Jackson took notice.

Fisher then declared in training camp that too much emphasis on the system was a sabotaging factor during the 17-win disaster of last season, prompting him to adopt a different philosophy with more offensive freedom and fewer triangle lessons.

Rambis said Friday that hurt the team’s development. Asked about Fisher’s recent comments that teaching the triangle is too time-consuming, Rambis defended the precious system.

“First off, it’s not difficult. It’s like learning anything new. You have to open up your mind and be receptive to learning something new and that’s a huge part of it,” said Rambis, who owns a 9-17 record as interim coach. “And Phil and (triangle originator) Tex (Winter) have always felt it takes players a good year or so in terms of really understanding it and the nuances of it. Would I say it’s difficult? No. You just have to be receptive to learning it.”​

Still, sources familiar with Rambis’ two-season stint in Minnesota believe his focus on the triangle was a contributing factor to abysmal record, because it’s a complicated offense and emphasizing defense would’ve squeezed more wins out of a roster lacking talent and experience.

Regarding the Knicks, Rambis explained Friday that Fisher deviated from the traditional two-guard set of the triangle. During that time, according to Jackson, Fisher resisted help from older assistants Rambis and Jim Cleamons.

“We were constantly wavering back-and-forth (between a two-guard set and a one-guard set in the triangle). So our players almost treat it like plays now instead of a real sequence of actions, a system that you work under,” said Rambis, who was Fisher’s lead assistant but hasn’t spoken to the 41-year-old since he was fired. “A coach has to do what he feels is right.”​

That feeling from Fisher went against Jackson’s, and was a big factor in the decision to replace a hand-picked coach (not that Fisher’s devotion to another triangle, the one involving Matt Barnes and Gloria Govan, helped matters).

But now the Knicks are back to Jackson’s three-sided comfort zone. For better or worse.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...isher-gave-triangle-quickly-article-1.2593475
 
That is why he got fired. That shit with Matt Barnes ex was just a ploy by Chief Triangle. Anyone who listens to NYC sports radio know the deal.Fuck Phil J and Fuck Dolan for now not deciding to get involved. This cat is on vacation.
Rambis is just trying to protect his job. Get that contract and then get fired to be on vacation. The Knicks love giving up cash.
 
The successful Knicks were a defensive team that wore teams down making it easy for Pat to score or get bailed out from chippies. They even had a short lived system of triangle defence or three man zone which is now 'illegal defence'. A run and gun Knicks without without lockdown defence is getting blown out of the gym every time.
 
Jeff Hornacek: We're Going To Keep Doing This Stupid Thing That Makes No Sense


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Photo credit: Frank Franklin II/AP



Anything good that is ever created inside Madison Square Garden will eventually be dragged down 34th Street and dumped into the Hudson River, where it will somehow catch on fire. Remember when the Knicks were feisty and it was fun to sit around talking about how great Kristaps Porzingis was? That feels like 100 years ago.


One thing for Knicks fans to feel good about heading into this season was the presence of head coach Jeff Hornacek. He got the job over Kurt Rambis, who really sucks, and was empowered to run his own offense, albeit one that was supposed to blend in some concepts from the triangle in a vague way. These developments gave Knicks fans hope that maybe team president Phil Jackson wasn’t in fact a total moron hellbent on destroying the Knicks by insisting that they adhere to his archaic basketball philosophies.

Well, you can toss Hornacek in the river now, too. While speaking to reporters yesterday, the coach, sounding something like a member of the Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyists confessing to deviationism, said that it was a mistake for him to try and mix a more up-tempo offense with the triangle at the beginning of this year, and that next season the Knicks will exclusively run the triangle offense. From ESPN:

“Obviously, if we go into it like we did this year — no,” Hornacek told reporters in Utah when asked if the Rose-Anthony-Porzingis trio can be playoff caliber. “If we turn around and have a different way we start, go right at however we’re going to run it next year, if it’s full triangle, it’s possible. You never know how these things will fit. Maybe a second year is helpful for us.”

What exactly this means—what a full triangle is—is as unclear as ever. Does he mean that the Knicks are going to, like, pass the ball more? Run the ball through a dominant low-post presence? Snag a pair of cinch Hall of Famers, one of them a dominant low-post presence, and have them try to create space for shooters to whom they’ll pass the ball? Have a guy in a Tex Winter mask heckle the team during practices? Who knows? Whatever the case, this is something Jackson started making noise about weeks ago, and now it appears that Hornacek is fully on board with his boss’ self-defeating plan to build a team around a system rather than a system around a team. Have a good offseason, Knicks fans.

http://deadspin.com/jeff-hornacek-were-going-to-keep-doing-this-stupid-thi-1793569068

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ek-reiterates-commitment-triangle-next-season
 
Carmelo Anthony wishes Jeff Hornacek had stood strong
By Marc Berman

March 23, 2017 | 12:41pm | Updated

http://nypost.com/2017/03/23/carmelo-anthony-wishes-jeff-hornacek-had-stood-strong/



PORTLAND, Ore. — As every Knick tries to find a reason for the team’s collapse after Christmas, Carmelo Anthony added to the discussion, questioning the flipping back and forth from Jeff Hornacek’s speedy, modern offense to Phil Jackson’s moderately paced triangle.

It’s no shocker Anthony indicated he was liking the up-tempo “early offense’’ that Hornacek carried with him from Phoenix and president Jackson accepted upon Hornacek’s unforseen hire. The plan – now foiled – was to blend the two attacks in what Hornacek termed in training camp as “triangle aspects.’’

In the week leading into the All-Star break, the order came down from above to reemphasize the triangle, and Anthony now says it was “hard to readjust a whole system on the fly.”

After their fourth-quarter flop Wednesday night in Utah, Anthony — who rested his sore left knee and did not play Thursday night against the Warriors, the second half of a back-to-back — declined to acknowledge next season’s training camp, perhaps because he doesn’t know which team’s training camp he’ll be a part of.

Hornacek had alluded to training camp at the Wednesday morning shootaround, suggesting the Big 3 – Anthony, Derrick Rose, Kristaps Porzingis – can lead a team into the playoffs only if the trio changes and buys into the pass-cut-read-react triangle system. None of the three is known for his passing ability.

Hornacek says he regrets throwing too much at his players last training camp, and Anthony seems to regret the flip-flopping on offense as his Knicks tenure looks like it could be entering its final 11 games with the Trail Blazers on tap Thursday night.

“I think everybody was trying to figure everything out, what was going to work, what wasn’t going to work,’’ Anthony said in the locker room at the former Delta Center. “Early in the season, we were winning games, went on a little winning streak we had. We were playing a certain way. We went away from that, started playing another way. Everybody was trying to figure out: Should we go back to the way we were playing, or try to do something different?’’



Anthony suggested he liked the Hornacek way.

“I thought earlier we were playing faster and more free-flow throughout the course of the game,’’ Anthony said. “We kind of slowed down, started settling it down. Not as fast. The pace slowed down for us — something we had to make an adjustment on the fly with limited practice time, in the course of a game. Once you get into the season, it’s hard to readjust a whole system.’’

The first-year Knicks coach won’t disagree, but as a good company man, he does as told. Jackson encouraged Hornacek to go back to his system, underscoring that it could help the team’s shoddy transition defense because of its two-guard front.

The Knicks stand at 27-44 after losing the first two games of their West Coast trip. In a telling tweet, Anthony’s wife, La La, posted a picture of their son Kiyan at a game with the message: “There’s ALWAYS something to smile about.’’
 
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Jeff Hornacek: Triangle offense 'probably' was a turnoff for free agents last summer

GREEENBURGH, N.Y. -- Jeff Hornacek was answering questions about free agency from reporters after New York Knicks practice on Friday. The topic of the triangle offense came up, and Hornacek acknowledged what seemed obvious at the time: Last year's free agents were wary of the Knicks because of the triangle.

“I think it probably was,” Hornacek said when asked if the triangle was a "hang-up" for potential free agents last summer. “I think we truly believed that we could blend it [into Hornacek’s preferred offense]. And we found out that probably wasn’t great.”

In his first season as the Knicks' coach, Hornacek, at the suggestion of then-team president Phil Jackson, tried to blend elements of the triangle offense into the offense he ran with the Phoenix Suns. It didn’t work well for the Knicks, who lost 51 games in 2016-17 and missed the playoffs. It also impacted the way free agents looked at the Knicks last summer.

“Most of the teams, if you look around the league, most of the teams play the same way. There’s not a lot of difference in how teams play,” Hornacek said. “It’s getting certain guys, with their abilities, to put them in those positions [to succeed].”

Regarding free agency going forward, Hornacek believes the Knicks will receive greater consideration from players because of Kristaps Porzingis.

“You’ve got to look at, ‘Are we ready next year?’ With KP coming back probably a little later, no. But the pieces are being laid down,” Hornacek said. “You have Porzingis, and a lot of guys around the league have talked about wanting to play with him. They know he’s a great player. And what we were able to do without him this year, getting a lot of guys experience, they see the pieces. And sometimes that’s all it takes is one guy, one year and then another guy another year, and then you’re all right. So I think that’s the selling point. ... I think it’s a great city to play in.”

If Enes Kanter opts in to his $18.6 million contract for 2018-19, the Knicks will likely have a tax-payer's exception to use (worth $8.5 million annually) as their highest offer in free agency this summer. So, barring a trade, they won’t have the chance to sign a star player. But Hornacek doesn’t believe the Knicks, who have missed the playoffs for five straight seasons, are "far off" from contention.

“I don’t think it’s a five-, six-year process,” Hornacek said. He added, "If you look at down the road, I don’t think it’s that far off. You have a cornerstone piece in KP, you have some other really good players already on the team.”

Of course, it’s unclear whether Hornacek will be the one coaching any players the Knicks add this summer. Hornacek has one year remaining on his contract and was not hired by Knicks GM Scott Perry, so it would not be a surprise if Perry and team president Steve Mills decided to part ways with the coach after this season.

Mills and Perry have said they will evaluate everything -- including the coaching staff -- following the season.
 
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