Schmeelk: Knicks Lack Pieces To Make Triangle Work
By John Schmeelk
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Phil Jackson has chosen. The Knicks are going to run the triangle. It doesn't matter who is ultimately named head coach -- though if it isn't Kurt Rambis, many will be surprised. There has been a lot written about the triangle, but there are still misconceptions. There's a lot of what would seem on the surface to be contradictory information out there.
So what's the truth about the triangle? In many ways it is complex.
The triangle in itself is not that complicated. It's a basic set that a team can run different actions from. It shouldn't be hard to learn or execute. The evidence says otherwise. Rambis said himself at the end of the season that it can take a year for a player to figure it out. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. NBA players are not used to playing in a structured system like that, so any player coming to the Knicks has a legitimate period of adjustment. The triangle requires a lot of picks, cuts and movement off the ball if it has any chance of working. Unfortunately, in games, the Knicks have been awful at those things.
Conceptually, you can get open 3-point shots. Players are in position, including in the highly sought-after corner 3. Here's the problem: In reality, this does not happen for the Knicks. They shot the eighth fewest 3s in the league this season, and last year they shot the 10th fewest. Instead, for the Knicks, the triangle offense has created more mid-range shots than any other team in the league the last two seasons. Likewise, the Knicks are at the bottom the league for high-percentage shots in the restricted area the last two seasons.
Part of that comes from the lack of a penetrating guard on the roster that can get to the hoop, though Jerian Grant was kept on the bench despite the fact that's his strength. Another reason for the lack of shots at the rim and behind the arc is the lack of pick-and-roll play within the offense. There are plenty of pick-and-roll opportunities within the triangle, but not the way the Knicks run it. They are near the bottom of the league in pick-and-roll plays called per game.
Most perplexing is that Kristaps Porzingis is an ideal screener in those plays with his ability to dive to the rim and dunk, or pick and pop. The Knicks rarely used him in those plays. Grant ran a ton of screen-and-roll at Notre Dame, but wasn't allowed to do that in the NBA.
Instead, the Knicks are near the top of the league in post-up opportunities and isolations. Given the Knicks' personnel, spare Carmelo Anthony, those shots do not reflect the type of skills of the players on the roster. Asking Porzingis to be a post-up player this young in his career when he doesn't have the strength to stand his ground is counterproductive.
It's true that the Spurs run elements of the triangle. So do the Warriors. Tom Thibodeau ran the triangle a lot when he was with the Bulls. The Spurs, actually, take a lot of the same type of shots the Knicks do. But their personnel is designed to make those kinds of shots, in contrast to the Knicks. In fact, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has altered his offense continuously over the years depending on the talent on his roster. He has one of the best post-up and mid-range players in the league in LaMarcus Aldridge, so he has adjusted his offense to take advantage of his strengths.
Can the triangle win in today's NBA? Probably, but we don't know for sure. What we do know for sure is that it has to be optimized to the team's talent to make it work. We also know the Knicks have not been able to do that. We also don't know if anyone besides Jackson can win using the triangle offense. There is little to no evidence suggesting that Rambis is someone that can do that. Jackson being the team's president and head coach are two very different things.
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It is also hard to find an instance in which the triangle elevated the players within it and made them better than they would normally be. The best instance is probably the 1994 Bulls that lost to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. They were only slightly better than average offensively, however, and won primarily with some of the best defense in the league that year. We know the triangle can win with all-time great players, but can't the same be said of most systems?
The triangle is designed to promote floor balance and transition defense, but again, the Knicks were one of the worst defensive teams in the league. You can also run using the triangle, but the Knicks, especially under Rambis, played slower than anyone in the league.
There's a difference between what the triangle can do and how the Knicks used it. But the conceptualize triangle, when all is said and done, doesn't mean a damn thing. All that matters is how the Knicks execute it, and the first two years of its use in New York has not been promising. In fact, the Knicks played their best basketball the last two seasons when Fisher used less of the triangle. The team was far worse after its "total immersion" under Rambis.
The argument to use a different system than other teams in the league makes sense. The Warriors spread the floor, play small, run the pick-and-roll and hit a ton of 3s. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the chances the Knicks put a roster together that's better at playing that way are slim to none. Eventually, a different style is what's going to dethrone the Warriors, not beating them at their own game. The triangle could be that way, or it might not. If the Spurs find a way to beat the Warriors, the result would be encouraging for a new style emerging in the NBA.
But the Knicks don't have the personnel for it, and they might not ever get there, either. The number of players with the mid-range game to succeed in the triangle are few and far between, especially dominant big men in the post.
Can the triangle win in today's NBA? Maybe. With the right players and coach? Probably. Rambis is not the right coach. The Knicks don't have anywhere near the right players and getting them in the short term is unlikely at best. In fact, their young franchise cornerstone is actually, at least right now, best fit into another system altogether.
A smart general manager would see his personnel and coaching options and pick the people and system that would give the team the best chance to win. Jackson has picked his system and said to hell with everything else. Knicks fans are the ones who are going to pay the price for his stubbornness.
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