NBA commissioner Adam Silver gave a rather honest assessment of the New York Knicks' new Triangle offense last week, but Knicks president Phil Jackson wasn't too thrilled with the commissioner's comments, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York.
Phil Jackson wants Adam Silver to stop talking about the Triangle
Jackson wasn’t too thrilled with Silver’s assessment of the Knicks’ new offense.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Silver was asked about the Knicks’ new offense last Thursday, and he said the team was still in the process of learning it:
“I watched the Knicks’ game last night,” Silver said with a laugh. “Clearly, they’re still learning the triangle. I still don’t understand it. But they’re learning it. But that’s what the game is all about. You have a new coach; you have a new president of basketball operations in Phil Jackson; you have a couple new players on the team.”
Considering how the Knicks have played thus far, that's a fair statement. New York is scoring just 99.0 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 21st in the league, per NBA.com. The Knicks are also playing at a snail's pace, getting nearly two possessions less per game than the next slowest team. Carmelo Anthony is off to a rough start as he gets comfortable in the offense, which is contributing to some of the struggles.
But Jackson wasn't happy with Silver's comments, saying before the Knicks' 91-85 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday that too much focus is being put on the system:
“I wasn’t so humored by the commissioner actually jumping in on top of that, too,” he said. “He doesn’t need to get in on that. There’s enough focus on [the] triangle. It’s not anything. It’s a system. It’s simple basketball. Just play the game. We’re over the triangle; let’s get to business and play the right way.”
The Knicks have talent on offense, although two players that could help in Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani have been out due to injuries. Still, New York has the ability to be better even without those two, and it's fair to say learning a complex new system is factoring into the poor offense.
Even Jackson himself admitted the team isn’t close to their “execution capability” and the struggles are “ a part of the process,” which points to a learning curve for the Triangle. Considering all the hoopla surrounding Jackson’s hiring and the subsequent hiring of Fisher to implement the Triangle, there’s going to be a lot of focus on how the offense works whether the Zen Master likes it or not.
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