The New York Knicks got torched by the Boston Celtics in their preseason debut leaving many wondering whether or not the new triangle system that Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher introduced to the team when they took over New York basketball would ever work. The Knicks seemed lost and confused numerous times in the game resulting to a 41 percent shooting night along with 28 turnovers.
Clearly, the Knicks roster are not accustomed to this new system of offense and J.R. Smith thinks it might take until January before they figure things out as reported by Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork:
"It's going to take a few months," Smith said after the Knicks' 20-point loss to Boston in their preseason debut. "Over the course of the year, understanding where everybody is going to be, [understanding that] 'some like it here, [some] like it like that.' It's going to take awhile."
Smith also made some interesting observation on his team's new offense stating that it was more complex that they used to playing, He noted movement, fluidity, and collective effort - something that the Knicks haven't showed in a while - at the heart of the system.
It clearly is a big adjustment for the Knicks who have moved from one offensive system to the next from Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun style of play, to Mike Woodson's one-on-one, isolation schemes, and now Phil Jackson's famous triangle. It can also be a frustrating ordeal for the Knicks especially with players like J.R Smith and Carmelo Anthony who are accustomed to having the ball in their hands to be effective in offense - contrasting to the triangle's mantra of ball movement. The triangle doesn't require a lot of dribbling and ball pounding which means that Melo, Smith, and the rest of the Knicks roster will have to adjust to this kind of flow offense.
Perhap's Phil Jackson's philosophy of "mindfulness" would help them in their quest in perfecting the triangle? Jackson has reportedly started instilling the principle of mindfulness to the Knicks roster and an instructor has been introducing the team a type of meditation that emphasizes the importance of staying in the moment per ESPN.
There's a mindfulness training program that's very logical and very calm, quiet, and we've started the process with this team, and [first-year head coach] Derek [Fisher is] all for it. He's a proponent of it. And yet I think that it's kind of what I am inserting in here as part of what I think has to happen because I know what effect it [has]. I think it's very difficult sometimes for a coach to do this because it's so anti what we are as athletes.
We're about action; we're about this intense activity that we've got to get after. And this mindfulness is about sitting still and being quiet and controlling your breath and allowing you to be in the moment, and yet it's so vital for a team to have this skill or players to have this skill. To be able to divorce themselves from what just happened that's inherent to them -- a referee's bad call, or an issue that goes on individually or against your opponent. You've got to be able to come back to your center and center yourself again.
Instilling the principle of mindfulness might just be worth a shot especially after seeing the Knicks struggle under the triangle.
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