C's Isaiah Thomas: Triangle doesn't work without a Kobe, Shaq or Jordan
The Celtics guard isn't exactly bullish about the Knicks running the triangle offense
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3 min read
Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas is not a fan of the triangle offense, which the New York Knicks are kind of, sort of running under coach Jeff Hornacek this season. He told the New York Daily News' Stefan Bondy that, for teams that don't employ legends like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, there's no point in trying to teach everybody the system:
"I just think if you don't have Kobe or Shaq or Michael Jordan, the triangle doesn't work," the Celtics All-Star told the Daily News.
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Thomas, 27, believes his former Suns coach will find his way in New York, with or without the triangle.
"He'll figure it out, even if he does do it a little bit. I see they're trying to run it every now and then," said Thomas, who torched the Knicks in four games last season while averaging 26.8 points and 7.5 assists. "I mean, it might work. Just hopefully not against us."
Thomas said he liked playing for Hornacek in Phoenix because the plan was to push the ball and spread the floor. Hornacek has said he wanted to do the same thing with the Knicks, though they'll run the triangle after dead balls against set defenses.
Outside of Phil Jackson's Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, nobody has successfully run the triangle offense in the NBA. While it has certainly influenced modern NBA offenses, its influence can be seen more in how teams value ball movement and player movement rather than direct imitators. When Jackson disciples Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons and Derek Fisher tried to implement it, results were ugly.
Thomas is far from the only person who believes that you need superstars to bail you out if you're going to commit to trying to run an equal-opportunity offense based on fundamentals, screening and passing. Here's former Bull Horace Grant discussing how it worked in Chicago, via the New York Times' Nicholas Dawidoff:
"You need intelligence to run Triangle," Grant said. "We have great one-on-one athletes out there in the N.B.A., but to be as one, you need to know your role in Triangle. When the defense shuts 10 options down, we have 10 more. If a pass goes to the corner, we as a team know where to set screens, where to cut. Pass goes into the post to Bill Cartwright, we know all the picks on the other side of the floor.
"It was a smooth operating machine. Baryshnikov in action! Picasso painting! A beautiful thing! Having Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen helped, too. Shot clock's at four, it all breaks down, then Jordan time."
Theoretically, Carmelo Anthony is supposed to be New York's version of Jordan -- when the offense breaks down, Anthony time. Anthony, however, has not exactly had a great time the last couple of years, and at the end of last season, told reporters he was sick of saying the word "triangle."
More recently, Anthony said that he's happy with the changes Hornacek has made to the offense, via the New York Daily News:
"I love it. I love playing in kind of with the ball in my hands throughout the course of the game. It's something I've always kind of done and felt comfortable with. It's just like the last couple of years with the offense we've been running we didn't run much pick and rolls. It wasn't that type of offense," Anthony said. "I think now with the pace we're trying to play, the way we're trying to play, implement more of that style of play. That's going to call for me to have the ball in my hands a little bit. Playing pick and roll, try to figure out the defenses, use mismatches. I'm all for it."
Perhaps the perception of the triangle is more important than the actual utility of it these days. As Hornacek recently said, players generally don't like to run it. Fair or not, it is largely seen as a relic, and something that stifles the creativity of playmakers like Thomas. If Hornacek does indeed only use it occasionally, that is probably a good thing for the future of the Knicks.
