Derrick Rose, are you going to embrace triangle? “Do I have a choice?”

The New York Knicks are embracing the triangle offense again because... well, Phil Jackson. I mean, they are selling that offensive balance will help their sad transition defense, but there are a lot of ways to improve floor balance. This is Jackson’s need to prove himself right about the triangle in today’s NBA.

Derrick Rose, like most more traditional point guards, is no fan of the triple-post offense. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News asked Rose how he’s embracing the offense this time around.

“S--t, do I have a choice? Do I have a choice?” Rose said when asked if he’s warming up to the triangle. “I just want to win games. Winning takes care of every category for an athlete.”

The Knicks are 3-7 in their last 10 games and four games out of the final playoff slot in the East with 21 games to play. The Knicks are not headed to the postseason. Again.

Which means this embrace of the triangle is more about future seasons as this one. Rose is on a one-year contract, and the sense around the league is he and the Knicks will happily part ways this summer. If he were going to stay and adapt to the triangle, that would need to start with knocking down threes, specifically catch-and-shoot threes. Rose is shooting 22.8 percent on threes overall and 22.1 percent on catch-and-shoot opportunities this season (via Synergy Sports). However, Rose said he ould hit threes if he wanted to.

“I could shoot them now, I just don’t want to,” he said. “I don’t have time to be dealing with the critics that come with all that. So I’d rather be efficient than just try things.”

Rose remains efficient as the pick-and-roll ball handler and when used that way he can still be a solid NBA starting point guard. He’s no longer a game changer, but he can make plays in the right system. That system is not the triangle.

It’s going to be an interesting off-season in New York if building a triangle team is really the goal.