The New York Knicks have struggled all season long, and head coach Derek Fisher thinks he knows why. Fisher was the coaching choice of team president Phil Jackson, and many believe Jackson made the choice because he wanted a coach that would install the triangle offense.
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The triangle is a notoriously difficult offense to learn, and many consider it the most complicated offense in basketball. The offense does not rely on plays; instead, it focuses on patterns of player movements that require every member on the court to understand the offense completely. It often takes players an entire season or more to become fully comfortable within the system, making the Knicks' problematic adjustment a predictable stumbling block.
According to media reports, however, Coach Fisher believes that the complexity of the offense is not the biggest problem. Instead, he believes that the players do not trust the system. Some of the misgivings are understandable because there are several players who are ill-suited for the triangle because they prefer isolation moves to ball movement. It is a flaw that can cripple the triangle.
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"I think there still is some doubt that we can do this the way we're working on doing it," said Fisher before Sunday's game.
"When the pressure goes up, the stress goes up, the tendency to revert to old habits and not sticking with what you're developing now [happens]. It's understandable to be that way, but we just have to continue to stretch out the amount of time that we believe in what we're doing."
New York is currently 4-18, and there does not appear to be much reason to expect things to change. Phil Jackson knew that it would take more than one season to rebuild the Knicks into a triangle team, but how long will impatient Knicks fans be willing to wait?
Below, you can see highlights from the Knicks loss to Cleveland last week.
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