Race to Respectability: Building Dream Offseasons for NY Knicks, L.A. Lakers

The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are still giants when it comes to their fan bases and financial worth. But neither team made the playoffs this year, and now turn their attention to hopes and dreams for the offseason.

Knicks columnist Sara Peters and I have been debating the finer points of our respective basketball beats over the past several months. We covered a multitude of topics, including New York’s early promise, the youth movement for both teams and who our next head coaches should be.

For the Lakers, one answer came quickly with the hiring of Golden State Warriors’ assistant Luke Walton. But Phil Jackson is still grappling with the notion of sideline leadership on his own turf.

There are plenty of other salient points to consider for the months ahead, including free agency and overall team philosophies. Thus, Sara and I come out of our corners swinging one more time, as we each try to gain an edge in the race back to respectability.

Isn’t Jackson’s coaching “indecision” really about his beloved Triangle and a refusal to change?

Peters: Here’s the generous answer first: The hiring hold-up has more to do with coaching philosophy than offensive strategy—but for Jackson, the two are inexorably linked.

When coaching, he helped players reach their full potential by showing them the magic of being part of something bigger than themselves. A team-first offense is essential to that philosophy and the triangle fits the bill.

So, it isn’t the triangle itself that’s of utmost importance, but what it represents.  Besides, it’s early to proclaim the triangle dead. The Lakers won a championship with it only six years ago, and its core tenets of ball movement and player movement haven’t gone out of style.

Here’s the less generous answer: The hiring hold-up has nothing to do with the triangle and everything to do with Jackson’s ego. He wants to hire someone exactly like himself, and won’t trust a coach who does things differently than he would.

Nobody in New York would argue if Phil Jackson literally cloned himself, then hired his clone. The man’s coaching cred is pristine. Exquisite.

But there’s nobody like him. His cronies and protégés won’t succeed just by following orders, because they don’t have his gifts and because a head coach must have their own voice, not be a mouthpiece for a GM. Jackson must stop trying to coach from the front office and let the new guy run the court as he sees fit.

What’s realistic from Walton in year one?

Murphy: I expect renewed hope and excitement, and a faster brand of roundball. Luke has said he’ll bring a free-flowing offensive philosophy that borrows freely from other systems.

“I don’t think the triangle’s the most appropriate offense for the players that they have in place right there,” Walton said per ESPN’s Ethan Strauss. “So I think I’m going to bring more of the style and spacing that we use up here, which has elements of the triangle, that philosophy.”

The young Lakers core can’t wait to get started, and per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, have been texting each other daily about it.

“It’ll be fun for us all to get up and down with everybody and sharing the ball,” power forward Julius Randle said. “That’s going to be big for us this year.”

This is the smartest move the Lakers front office has made in …

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