New York Knicks: Is Phil Jackson Recreating Jeff Hornacek’s Past Situation?
Jeff Hornacek is having déjà vu with the New York Knicks. The front office is taking over the team, which could cause locker room problems in the future.
The New York Knicks made many different transactions over the offseason. However, hiring Jeff Hornacek was one of the bigger headlines created.
Hornacek coached the Phoenix Suns between 2013-14 and 2015-16. He’s been a target to coach many teams since he led the Suns to severe overachievement in 2013-14 with 48 wins.
The Knicks started off great, primarily because of the offense they were running. New York started off 14–10 and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference at the time. Since the Christmas loss to the Boston Celtics, Jackson changed the scenery.
Despite starting off well, the Knicks are 14-37 since Christmas Day.
Carmelo Anthony told Marc Berman of The New York Post that he and the team had trouble transitioning from one offense to another during the middle of the season.
"“I think everybody was trying to figure everything out, what was going to work, what wasn’t going to work,’’ Anthony said in the locker room at the former Delta Center. “Early in the season, we were winning games, went on a little winning streak we had. We were playing a certain way. We went away from that, started playing another way. Everybody was trying to figure out: Should we go back to the way we were playing, or try to do something different?’’"
The front office didn’t seem to pay attention to what Anthony said in his interview.
The front office is executing plans to leave Hornacek’s offense in the first half of the season and move along with the triangle. Since the front office made the decision to move away from the up-tempo offense, history repeated itself for Hornacek.
The president held a formal practice for the guards so they could perfect the triangle offense. When Jackson pulled that meeting for the triangle, he put Hornacek in the same position as the coach found himself in two years ago.
The front office told the players and team that the focus of next year would be the triangle offense. Hornacek told Ian Begley of ESPN that the Knicks are going to exclusively run the triangle offense next year.
Former New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher told Al Iannazzone of Newsday that:
"“Jackson’s presence and insistence on running the triangle made it challenging for players to understand who was coaching the team.”"
Jackson becoming more hands-on with the young core could weigh big in the locker room.
Jackson should let Hornacek run the team so that players can trust the system they’re being taught. It’s also important for players to learn from the head coach because you want your players to trust your head coach.
If Jackson continues to be more hands-on, then the locker room will not be won over by Hornacek. Hornacek had recent problems with the locker room in Phoenix, and most were derived from the actions of the front office.
Hornacek was fired from the Phoenix in the middle of the 2016 season because of the ramifications of the front office’s actions. Players were not listening to him or buying into the system, as told by Gerald Green to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.
"“Jeff was really good in Phoenix. The only thing with Jeff, to me, is he didn’t control that team,” Gerald Green, who played under Hornacek for two seasons in Phoenix, told the Daily News. “He had to listen to the front office guys a lot. And by him having to do that, it messed up his coaching style, messed up his groove.”"
Green believes that Hornacek would have experienced more success had the front office let him coach the way he wanted to.
"“I think if you let Jeff have more control of the team as far as letting him calling his own plays and letting him play who he feels like he should play, he’d do great.”"
President Jackson only gave the first half of the season to let Hornacek control the offense.
Hornacek once told Bondy that his offense could work, “If the offense repeated itself.” Jackson doesn’t seem to have given the Knicks a chance to run the Hornacek offense for a long enough time to create a fair and accurate evaluation.
Hornacek ran his system on a full-time basis during the 2013-14 NBA regular season, when Phoenix won 48 games, but the front office took over after witnessing that success.
"“First year, the front office really wasn’t being as in control as they were the second year,” Green told The News. “The first year they kind of let us play because they thought we were going to be sorry anyway. Then they realized we weren’t sorry, and they started to take control of the team instead of letting Jeff do what he did the first year.”"
Green’s words are ironic because Hornacek appears to be going through a similar situation in New York.
Jackson signed the right players in the offseason to run Hornacek’s offense. Derrick Rose is a fast-paced player, while Courtney Lee and Justin Holiday are solid 3-point shooters.
Hornacek has the right players to run his offense. However, the front office seems to have wanted to see this roster execute the triangle.
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Jeff Hornacek had an offer to be Steve Kerr’s lead assistant with the Golden State Warriors, Instead, Hornacek took the head coaching job in New York.
Did he make the right decision to join the New York Knicks?