Does Derrick Rose dig the triangle offense? 'S--t, do I have a choice?'

Derrick Rose considers his options, and reacts. (AP)

After coming back from the All-Star break with a blowout loss at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks have taken a turn toward the respectable of late. They’ve won two of their last three games to improve to 25-36, and took their lone defeat on a buzzer-beater by DeMar DeRozan in a game they once led by 17 points.

Whether such a turn is actually advisable for a Knicks team once again caught between approaches is up for debate. New York sits four games out of a playoff spot and four games away from having the fourth-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick in May’s 2017 NBA draft lottery; the latter would seem more beneficial for the long-term outlook of a franchise that should be rebuilding around 2015 No. 4 pick Kristaps Porzingis, though the former might be a more pressing goal for a franchise that hasn’t seen the postseason since 2013. Whichever way you lean in that debate, though, the Knicks have looked a bit friskier since returning from the break — a period that, coincidentally or not, dovetails with the team allegedly making a more concerted effort to veer back toward team president Phil Jackson’s preferred triangle offense.

That move has drawn praise from Porzingis, who said “we should have been playing from the beginning of the season.” Derrick Rose, though? He doesn’t sound quite so enthused. From Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:

Derrick Rose has a philosophy now with the triangle, a system still like a foreign language to the point guard: “Don’t F’ it up.” […]

Let’s just say, Rose remains reluctant in his embrace of Phil Jackson’s system.

“S–t, do I have a choice? Do I have a choice?” Rose said when asked if he’s warming up to the triangle. “I just want to win games. Winning takes care of every category for an athlete.” […]

“I still don’t have the feeling yet of the entire offense, but I pick and choose while I’m out there. You think, ‘Don’t F’ up the game.’ That’s a great way to put it,” he said. “Just don’t mess up the game and looking at a lot of film, you learn. That’s what great players do. I believe that I’m great. Great players find a way no matter what situation they’re put in.”

Rose’s chilly attitude toward the triangle isn’t new. As a ball-dominating point guard most comfortable working off high screens who rarely hits 3-pointers and, over the last two seasons, hasn’t even been interested in taking them, Rose never seemed an especially solid match for a triangle-heavy attack. The fit grew more awkward after Rose spent much of the Knicks’ preseason fighting rape allegations in a civil trial, taking him away from the team during the preseason practice time during which coach Jeff Hornacek would’ve been installing the scheme.

Dan Devine.

Full story at Yahoo News.