Maybe Phil Jackson isn't letting the New York Knicks do whatever they want, after all.
While new head coach Jeff Hornacek and star forward Carmelo Anthony said Wednesday the Zen Master had been taking a hands-off approach during training camp - allowing Hornacek to adapt the team's triangle offense - new point guard Derrick Rose said Jackson's patience finally snapped on Thursday.
"He got mad at us one time because we was running the offense and we didn’t throw the ball into the post," Rose told reporters after practice. "He came over, kind of grumpy a little bit. That was my first time ever seeing him like that."
Rose - like many Knicks players over the past couple years - is struggling to understand the ornate offensive system.
"It's complicated a little bit right now because it's new to us," Rose said. "It's foreign. But I think the more we work on it and the way the coaches are putting it into the offense, it's a little bit easier.
"It's like 40 to 50 options on one side of the floor. It's like giving you your space for creativity. It's like if you're doing it the right way, you could do everything you want, you could freelance but you just got to know where you're going."
Hornacek is also looking to increase the pace of the Knicks' attack - the league's seventh-slowest last season - and to find room for creative improvisation within the rules of the triangle.
Meanwhile, Rose feels that one way or another, those parameters will go out the window during crunch time.
"At the end of the game or a game-winning shot or something like that, I don't think it's going to be the triangle," he said. "Either me or Melo will have to create for someone to take the shot.
"We've been running a lot of pick-and-roll. I feel that's my game, pick and roll. Having two people on me, it creates and opens up space for everyone. We're just trying to make things simple and make the easy offense."
We'll see what grumpy Phil has to say about that.
