When in Atlanta, coach Mike Woodson was rightly criticized for just running too much “iso Joe” offense for Joe Johnson. In New York it was better, if only because injuries forced him to put Carmelo Anthony at the four (which worked better) but one would not use the word “unpredictable” when describing the Knicks offense.
Now Derek Fisher (as the disciple of Phil Jackson) is bringing the triangle offense to New York. Anthony can fit well in that offense if he moves the ball.
Iman Shumpert is pumped the offense is coming to New York because it will give him something to do, he told ESPNNewYork.com.“The way it’s set up, you can start three guards, it really doesn’t matter. Everybody’s going to get touches, everybody gets opportunities to cut,” Shumpert said of the triangle offense. “It’s constant action going on. So I think that I’ll be able to capitalize on that and I’ll be able to use my athleticism a lot more than standing in the corner.
“I know this year in the offense I will have a lot more opportunities to cut and get to the basket,” he added. “I just want to work on the strength of my leg. Been working on that and being able to pull up off one or two dribbles [and working] on corner [3-pointers] and open 3s.”
Shumpert has spent this off-season working hard to recovering from surgery on his left knee. He should be good to go full speed when the season starts.
The triangle offense is all about spacing and motion — If being run properly (as Tex Winter envisioned) it has constant ball movement and guys cutting and moving off the ball. In the offense you can lob into the post (think Shaq with the Lakers) or run pick-and-rolls — and you should run in transition — but when those actions happen other actions keep spacing on the floor.
Knicks fans will start to see the offense evolve over the course of the season — your actions in the offense is predicated on how the defense responds to an action, it takes time for all the players to get on the same page, making the same reads. There will be rough patches.
But it’s going to be better for the Knicks long term. We know it can work. It just needs total buy in.
Sounds like Shumpert is in.