Phil Jackson will bring the triangle offense to the New York Knicks and players who embrace the system will likely get the most playing time. With so much turnover this season, Jackson hinted at how the rotation sets up.
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The New York Knicks disappointed last season, leading into a major change in both the front office and on the court. Enter Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher and the triangle. Jackson quickly traded Tyson Chandler in a package that netted Jose Calderon and is encouraging star Carmelo Anthony to embrace the new way.
All of this change makes it difficult to predict who will start for the Knicks this season, but Jackson offered some hints.
Phil says Dalembert and Calderon "will probably start." That leaves position battles at SG and SF, assuming Fisher is of the same mind.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) October 12, 2014
So with this it seems like Calderon will start at point guard, as we expected all along. Dalembert seems like the only capable center on the roster, so he gets the job by default.
J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. (and possibly Cleanthony Early) are competing for the wing positions.
What was interesting is that Begley said the small forward job is open. Maybe that was am mis-type, or maybe not. Anthony played plenty at the 4 last season, but the triangle typcially requires more of a post presence.
Add that with his comments that he hopes Anthony will run the floor more, rather than take the ball up the floor, and that could mean Anthony could play power forward in the triangle.
The Knicks don’t have many good options. They could always play Andrea Bargnani at power forward, but that trade has been a disaster. They also signed Jason Smith over the summer, but he’s pretty much limited to setting picks and face-up shooting.
If Fisher and Jackson want to put the best five players on the floor, that could put Calderon, Smith, Shumpert, Anthony and Dalembert on the court to start games.
This team severely lacks a post presence, but Anthony did play a lot more in the post early in his career. He’s gravitated more and more to the perimeter these last few years but I believe he can still be a shot creator from the block.
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