The famed triangle offense has a new critic, sort of.
Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas, fresh off a preseason contest against the New York Knicks over the weekend, spoke about the offensive system. It’s a shape that was made very famous by Knicks team president Phil Jackson and there have been differing reports on how much the offense will be used with his team this upcoming season. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek says players get frustrated running it, Phil Jackson says modern NBA players can’t execute it properly yet the Knicks offense will feature the triangle. This just sounds like a mess involving shapes.
No matter if there is a heavy influence of the triangle in coach Jeff Hornacek’s offense or not, there is one player who is a skeptic of the system. A former player of Hornacek’s with the Phoenix Suns, Isaiah Thomas.
Following from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
“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….
“(Hornacek will) 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.”
To Thomas’ point, the offense did succeed with those three guys leading the helm for Phil Jackson’s squads but in fairness, it’s hard to win an NBA championship without elite talent. It’s hard to pinpoint a team who didn’t have an elite star in the last 30 years of NBA champions. Maybe – and this is a big maybe – the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons didn’t have one dominant elite talent but their starting lineup might have been one of the best over their time atop the NBA. It’s not the triangle offense that makes it hard for teams to win, it’s a lack of elite talent.
This also harkens back to possibly the root of Thomas’ fair criticism. Is Carmelo Anthony that elite talent the triangle offense can go through? He has the skills and offensive abilities to be considered an elite player when he’s at the top of his game but how much longer does Melo have to reach those heights? Last season was a look at a different Melo with his increased assist numbers, as he played more of a facilitator role. Will we see much of the same alongside Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah? Only time will tell.
