Hornacek may send assistant to work with Rose during rape trial

Jeff Hornacek is willing to take drastic measures to ensure Derrick Rose learns his new offense.

With Rose stuck in Los Angeles until the verdict or final ruling of his rape trial, Hornacek is considering sending an assistant to California to teach his starting point guard his "Triangle Aspects" system.

"If we get a word that he’s definitely going to be there next week then we’ll look to send someone out there," Hornacek told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

Despite the fact that Rose's trial is expected to last at least two weeks, Hornacek is hoping to get his point guard back in the coming days, a sign the Knicks' bench boss doesn't quite understand the severity of Rose's case.

"Our hope was that he would be done on Monday or Tuesday and maybe be back. It is what it is," Hornacek said. "He’s got to deal with that."

Related: Hornacek won't install offense until Rose returns from rape trial

While having an assistant in Los Angeles could help, Hornacek is willing to accept that New York could start the season slow as the Knicks continue to get accustomed to his new system.

"We’d all like to get off to a great start but we’re not going to panic if it doesn’t go well. We know we’re going to get better as the year goes on, that’s the goal," Hornacek said. "The goal is to get in the playoffs. We feel if we can improve throughout the season that we can get there. And when we do we have veteran guys that have played in big games before and we’ll take our chances then."

New York will tip off their season on Oct. 25 against the defending champs at Quicken Loans Arena.