SHAPE OF THE FUTURE
Knicks’ offense has similar triangle look in first Hornacek practice
ORLANDO, Fla. — Jeff Hornacek’s entire staff was on hand Wednesday at the Knicks’ first summer-league practice. And they still were running the triangle.
Howard Eisley, the former Knicks point guard who played with Hornacek in Utah, is the last of the new coaching additions. Eisley was most recently on the fired Randy Wittman’s Wizards staff and played for the Knicks for three seasons from 2001-04 during an 11-year NBA career.
In a surprise, Hornacek said Westchester D-League coach Mike Miller will coach the Knicks’ summerleague club, which begins Saturday.
“He’s familiar, they run the same stuff [in Westchester],’’ Hornacek said. “Let him do it, and we can observe.”
Though Hornacek didn’t say it, the prospect of former Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis having any duties normally reserved for the head coach, including speaking to the media after summer-league games, may have been too awkward after Rambis failed to land the permanent head-coaching job.
Hornacek said Rambis will be the lead assistant, but more in name than in function — he said he doesn’t have a staff pecking order. Rambis’ official title will be “associate head coach,” as it was before Derek Fisher was dismissed.
“I never considered guys lead assistants. They’re all coaches,” said Hornacek, a former teammate of Rambis’ in Phoenix. “I guess his title will say that. Years ago, I talked to Tom Thibodeau about that. He goes: ‘I don’t like calling guys lead, second, third or fourth. They’re assistant coaches. You want to listen to all of them.”
After the practice, Cleanthony Early, who played in the triangle the past two seasons, confirmed there has yet to be tweaks to the system — other than the emphasis on speeding up the pace so the players don’t always have to fall back into a triangle set.
“It’s the same triangle,” said Early, who hopes to re-sign with the Knicks as a free agent. “I think as far as pushing the ball and not so much as trying to force it into the triangle, [we’re] trying to get the quickest, easiest basket we can get. Sometimes we’d force it into the triangle.”
Knicks president Phil Jackson and general manager Steve Mills watched the practice. Afterward, Jackson huddled with the entire staff at midcourt — uncharacteristically active in mimicking some formations.
“He’s the expert on all the aspects and he’s giving us little hints to add and things to take a look at as we progress with showing them all the stuff,” Hornacek said of Jackson. “He sees things, he’s going to mention it to us. I think that’s great.”