Pen has not been put to paper just yet in New York, but all signs point to Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks making Jeff Hornacek their new head coach. With a host of candidates interviewed and Jackson’s preferences mostly kept under wraps, Hornacek’s hiring came as a relative surprise to most, but it also might just work for New York.
David Blatt, Kurt Rambis, and Frank Vogel were all thrown around as candidates with serious mutual interest for the Knicks’ head coaching position, but it is essentially a done deal that former Phoenix head coach Jeff Hornacek will take the reigns.
Hornacek doesn’t immediately jump off the page as an ideal candidate for Jackson. For starters, Jackson said he would “probably” hire someone with whom he had previous connections with. Hornacek has no previous experience working with Jackson, unlike someone like Kurt Rambis, who has plenty of experience with him but did not get the job. And Jackson recently affirmed his intentions to stick with the triangle offense. As coach of the Suns for about two and a half seasons, Hornacek’s offense was predicated on a fast pace and the three ball, not exactly points of large emphasis when working in the triangle.
The first concern isn’t really a concern. It’s surely common practice in many fields to recruit people you are familiar with and know you can work well with together. However, Jackson going outside his own connections should give Knicks fans more confidence in Hornacek’s fit, seeing as his qualifications mean he was able to surpass the first criteria. Hiring an outsider also shows Jackson believes he is truly the best fit going forward, and no ulterior motives can potentially be in play (like they would’ve been had Rambis been hired).
The contrasting styles, on the other hand, are more of a legitimate concern. It is naturally important for the coach to be on the same page as the front office, and of course, the style of play they want to run was surely spoken on at length in the interview. But now the question becomes who will be compromising the most in this situation.
Hornacek is still a relatively inexperienced head coach, his tenure with the Suns being the only one in his career, so his coaching style may not be as set in stone as the one he ran in Phoenix. There is a chance he won’t be set in his ways, but instead be open to going a different way with the Knicks than the Suns.
But Knicks fans should probably hope Jackson was the one willing to compromise, as the general evolution of the NBA seemingly makes the triangle more and more outdated, and subsequently less effective, every year. The uptempo, wide open, outside shooting-based offenses are almost inevitably going to be the future of all NBA teams, as it continues to take the league by storm. It can’t be said with certainty that the triangle will ever have a place in the NBA again. In contrast, the style of Hornacek’s Suns appears to be even more prominent in the upcoming years, and key players like Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis would also fit seamlessly into that system.
A positive for this situation is that Jeff Van Gundy revealed in an ESPN article that Jackson is willing to throw out the triangle.
“The things I’ve heard is that he’s not going to be required to run the triangle,” Van Gundy said of Hornacek. “Which is smart from the standpoint that he’s never taught it before. So you don’t want to come in trying [something] that you’ve never played in or taught. I’m interested in that. But I think it’s an inspired choice.”
Phil Jackson being willing to go away from the triangle is a huge development in New York, and could make the transition under Hornacek a lot more promising.
Jeff Hornacek isn’t an automatic home-run hire like Thibodeau in Minnesota. Hornacek’s time in Phoenix was clearly not a huge success, as he accumulated a 101-112 record in his 2.5 seasons while failing to reach the playoffs. He was a victim of conflicting circumstances. Coming into Phoenix, the expectations were low in his first season. Nevertheless, he and his Suns proved to be much stronger than expected, narrowly missing out on the playoffs and earning Hornacek third place in Coach of the Year voting.
The rebuild was projected to take at least a couple of seasons, but the surprise success prompted the front office to make a series of moves to make them more competitive right away. For a variety of reasons the moves didn’t work out, the Suns tumbled back down the standings, and Hornacek was sent packing.
New York offers him a fresh start and a new chance to make a young team into a winner. His hiring won’t jump off the page for Knicks fans, but that might not be a bad thing. Jeff Hornacek may be just the man New York is looking for to lead them into a new age of basketball.
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