Jeff Hornacek says he’s pleasantly surprised by Phil Jackson not interfering with Knicks’ offense

Derrick Rose spoke of Phil Jackson’s grumpiness when the Knicks incorrectly ran a triangle play in practice.

But, to me, the far bigger story than New York’s offensive blunder was a team president interrupting a practice. Plenty of coaches would resent any executive – even one who coached his teams to 11 championships – addressing players during practice.

Jeff Hornacek apparently isn’t one of those coaches.

Hornacek, via Ian Begley of ESPN:

“Phil’s been great. He’s not trying to take over and make us do anything. He’s given us the leeway,” Hornacek said after practice Sunday. “There are some things that we do that aren’t the triangle stuff [such as] our early [offense]. Quite honestly, we thought he would say, ‘Let’s not do that.’ Or, ‘Let’s not do that option.’ But he hasn’t said that at all.”

There have been questions whether Jackson would force Hornacek to run the triangle. That Hornacek thought Jackson would veto other types of offensive plays says something.

But as long as Hornacek is willing to say he’s on the same page as Jackson, this partnership has a chance. If Hornacek actually feels this way, that bodes even better.