5 reasons Jeff Hornacek is right man for Knicks
By John Buhler
3. Offensive-minded head coach.
Unless a complete rebuild is agreed upon by management, general manager, and head coach, the best way for a bad team to get out of its quagmire is to hire a head coach that will get the most of its respective players.
Being that the Knicks are more likely to gravitate towards being an offensive-first team, it makes a ton of sense to hire an offensive-minded head coach like Hornacek. Hornacek was an outstanding jump shooter with the Iowa State Cyclones before carving out of a great NBA career with mostly the Suns and the Jazz.
His Suns teams were playing at their best when they went up-tempo on offense with several ball handlers on the court. Trying to make things work with three starting point guards (Bledsoe, Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic, and later Knight) was a short-lived success that ultimately proved catastrophic.
It’s an example of Hornacek using what he had to work with to his advantage. It wasn’t tactics more than it was injuries and frankly ego that derailed the Suns’ high-octane point guard driven offense the last few years.
The two best players that Hornacek inherits with the Knicks in Anthony and Porzingis are offensive-first players. They may have to meet halfway with pace (Knicks are slow, Hornacek likes to speed things up), but if they can find common ground offensively, hopefully not through the outdated Triangle, this could be a better coach/team pairing than initially perceived.
Next: 2. Knicks' point guard play will improve.