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Should the Knicks try to run a triangle offense?

Note: This is purely hypothetical, I am in no way advocating that D'Antoni switches to the triangle offense, with which he has basically no experience. Take it as a fictional piece that should have been submitted for the Knicktion contest we had over the summer, not as something I'd try to force Pringles to read.

Mike-dantoni-playoffs_medium

Our beloved Knickerbockers, as we all know, are in desperate need of an identity on offense. As we've all read and heard in the past couple of days:

"D'Antoni needs a PG!"

"Nash is what made him so good! He's nothing without an elite PG!!"

So why not try something different while we wait for St. Davis to be our savior in "4-8 weeks" ? Why not the triangle offense?

Star-divide

For those of you that aren't familiar with the triangle offense, here's a basic explanation. Players in the system are as follows: PG, two wings and two players in the post. The basic set-up is this:

Triangleprinciplesa_medium


The point guard ( What a comedian, you might all think, after knowing I just called Toney Douglas a point guard) takes the ball up the court, and both wings (2 and 3) setting themselves up down low. In this case, let's say Landry and Carmelo are our wings. They would then use screens given by the post players to run up toward the perimeter and start setting up the triangle. In our case, Amar'e and Bison would be our post players. The set-up would then look something like this:

Triangleprinciplesc_medium

Let's say the ball would be passed to Carmelo (3) on the right side. And, let's be honest, that's what would happen 90% of the time on our team. DWTDD could then either:

a) Pass to Carmelo and cut toward the right corner

b) Dribble the ball toward the right corner

In both cases, the triangle would now be formed on the strong side. Bison and Landry would shift, creating the proper spacing needed for this offense to run effectively. Here's where things get interesting though. The triangle offense relies on two things: proper spacing and player movement. Watching a properly run triangle offense is a thing of beauty. As an example, I'd like to direct your attention to this video

I counted 6 passes in this one. All of them were designed to get Bynum the ball down low, but the options are limitless. Once the triangle is set up, Douglas could then circle around to the opposite corner, leaving Amar'e and Carmelo in a 2 on 2 situation. Yep, Stat & Melo on the pick and roll, ladies and gentleman. The beautiful thing is, the 1 and 5 ( Douglas and Chandler) would wait along the perimeter to try and rebound the ball if Melo decides to iso and take a shot. Here's what that could look like:

Circletriangleb_medium

To sum it up, it's basically a system that relies on player movement and crisp passes. It could work without an elite passing point guard. We have the dominant big man inside to make this effective. Once the triangle is formed, there are limitless possibilities of what could be done. Thoughts?

I'll leave you with a video of the Lakers running a triangle during their Finals run.





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They should be running Dantonis ssol PnR offense thru Melo, he has PG skills, him and Chandler would be a dominant PnR combo

by Chris3035 on Dec 30, 2011 2:16 PM EST via mobile reply actions  

I disagree

Dominant big man down low, versatile players that can shoot/rebound/handle the rock on the wings (especially once Shumpert comes back). What do you think we’re missing?

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

Vince Lombardi

by moose35 on Dec 30, 2011 5:07 PM EST up reply actions  

You summed it up

“To sum it up, it’s basically a system that relies on player movement and crisp passes.”

Knicks don’t have players who make crisp passes.

by mindfeck on Dec 30, 2011 10:10 PM EST up reply actions  

The triangle offense might work great. It also could be a disaster and make us look even worse than we do now.

The problem is that we will never ever know for sure because D’Antoni is the coach, and that right there is my biggest criticism of him… the fact that he flat out refuses to make adjustments or change his approach no matter what the situation.

No one’s rebounding, no ball movement, guys are chucking, no one’s rotating on defense… he just claps his hands and says, ’C’mon guys." Just keeps pounding his head in the sand.

Thanks for making us a contender, Donnie.

by StarksMiddleFinger on Dec 30, 2011 4:34 PM EST reply actions  

LOL no

they don’t have guys that know how to pass the ball.

Last night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows

by Rorschach44 on Dec 30, 2011 6:13 PM EST reply actions  

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