Highlights from Jeff Hornacek's interview with Boomer and Carton

Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek got himself a prime DRIVE TIME interview Friday morning on the Boomer and Carton show. In a related note, my dad used to know Boomer Esiason's dad through the insurance industry.

Feel free to listen to Hornacek's homespun yarns of basketball right here!

Among the topics they covered:

- Hornacek talked to Carmelo Anthony before he was even hired. Melo is working out at his own gym, and Hornacek has asked his people about taking some time to watch him work out. Smart move: If you don't get Melo's permission before watching him at the gym, he might file a restraining order.

- On Kurt Rambis: "I talked to Kurt. I have a very good feel for his abilities ... And I would love to have him on the staff." Ian Begley quoted sources as saying the Hornacek hiring caught Rambis off-guard, so he's going to have to swallow some pride here. Whatever.

- The front office has "always had the mentality" of spending big and will be looking into handing out a max contract. Please don't hand out a max contract, Knicks, even if you have the cap space.

- Hornacek expects Arron Afflalo to opt out. Peace.

Let us end on this wonderful Hornacek quote on the dreaded Triangle offense:

"If the guys just realize they don't have to think about their positioning. Natural basketball players, they pick up on where the spacing is on the floor. If you told three guys to go to the left side of the floor, they're not gonna go stand together -- one guy is probably gonna go to the corner, one guy is gonna get on the block, and the other guy is gonna be up high on the slot spot ... so that is the exact Triangle position. I think they make it more complicated than it is."

A nice follow-up question would have been: "Who do you mean by they?" Hornacek seems to understand that an offense should feel more natural to the players, and there have been times over the past two years when the Knicks have looked like musicians reading sheet music to play a song they've never heard before. Hopefully he can un-complicate some things and make the offense feel more natural next season.