Former New York Knicks point guard Brandon Jennings gave his candid thoughts about the team to The New York Daily News.
The New York Knicks have had enough problems already, but former Knick Brandon Jennings just through more wood into the fire. Jennings opened up about what’s going on in New York and possibly let us know why free agents wouldn’t be attracted to the Knicks.
Jennings opened up about what’s going on in New York and possibly let us know why free agents wouldn’t be drawn to the Knicks.
The Knicks went through a lot of drama this season from Phil Jackson exposed Carmelo Anthony game to Derrick Rose going AWOL to the fans booing their favorite player and to the Knicks not making the playoffs with a talented roster.
The locker room and the team future for the club were unclear, and Jennings let us know about it.
The fan favorite Jennings Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that he wanted to be in New York, but it was a lot going on in the locker room.
“It was just too much going on behind the scenes that I didn’t understand.”
Brandon Jennings has a different type of game where he can shoot good when he’s on, or he can make it like an all-star game with his flashy passes. Jennings is a fast uptempo type of point guard, and he couldn’t use his full potential because of the offense New York ran.
Everybody have been asking questions like will players like to execute the triangle or will free agents be scared to come to New York because of the triangle well Jennings told the New York Daily News the reason why he left, and he partially answered that question.
“I think what just happened was they were just going in a different direction. I wanted to play fast. I didn’t really understand the triangle,” Jennings said.
The backup point guard felt like if everything would have kept constant than the team would’ve been better than what they are now. New York was 14-10 and was in 4th place with that record; now they have the sixth worse record in the NBA at 27-43.
“It was just different. Every day it was just something different,” Jennings said. “It was just like, if we could just stick to what we could do, we’ll be fine. So at times, you’d just come into practice and you didn’t know what was going on.
The former backup point guard said the triangle would work, but in this league, he feels you have to score and get up shots. Derrick Rose had a problem with the triangle as well where he called it “random baskets, every” and Kristaps Porzingis said it was “confusion” in the offense. Jennings had a hard time running the triangle.
Phil Jackson isn’t running away from the triangle; every player would be evaluated at the end of the season on how well they performed in the triangle. Jackson held a guard only informal practice, and he was active in the Knicks team workout. Earlier today, Hornacek indicated that the team would be committed to run the triangle all next year.
“I think that was my biggest thing. I really didn’t understand it. I’m not saying it doesn’t work. I just felt like the way the game is being played today, I just felt like you got to score. You got to score. You got to get up shots. When I came to New York, I wanted to put on a show every night. I wanted to put up shots with nice passes and things like that. So I guess it just wasn’t the right timing.”
Brandon Jennings went further and talked about how the team would go to games and did not understand the game plan.
Additionally, he said the team shouldn’t use the triangle because of the type of players the Knicks have. He told New York Daily News that the coaches didn’t make the right plays to get players in the right rhythm.
Jeff Teague came out and told reporters that the triangle isn’t for a point guard like Derrick Rose, Teague said it was easier to guard the explosive point guard when they run the triangle.
Jennings agreed with Porzingis, who said, “I think it was pretty easy to tell from the inside that we’re not that good of a team.”
“Anybody who is watching the game, you know if you’re watching the game. When the ball got to the pinch post it was never. …,” Jennings said, speaking in general terms. “You got Derrick Rose, who can score, who can do things. You have (Porzingis). Guys could never really find their shots or find their rhythm. So it was like, something’s wrong with that. You have Derrick Rose who can get to the rim with ease and score. But even he was out there lost. That’s how I looked at it. I looked at it that he didn’t know what was going on. KP, he was trying to come into his second year trying to find himself, and he couldn’t really find a rhythm either. So it’s definitely difficult.”
Jennings feels like the Knicks should build around the two young big men, Porzingis and Hernangomez. Hernangomez is averaging 7.2 PPG and 6.6 rebounds.
“That’s who they should build a team around, those two,” Jennings said.” That’s just my personal opinion because they’re very young, they’re very good. I mean, Willy, in a couple years, he’s going to be probably one of the best big men. He reminds me of Marc Gasol.”
If the triangle is going to keep players away from the Knicks than New York shouldn’t commit to it and James Dolan should consider hiring another president that does not focus on running the triangle system. Rose, Porzingis, Jennings, and Teague already spoke bad about the triangle, and I expect future free agents already hear bad things about the triangle.
What would the upcoming draft players feel like when they have to switch up their whole game plan on the triangle? The offense that’s in the New York system is causing locker room issues and is not bringing out the full team potential. The triangle comes with a lot of baggage.
In 58 games with the Knicks, Jennings averaged 8 points and five assists (team-high). He was one of the fan favorites because of all the flashiness he uses to do. Most fans wanted to bring him back because he can pass the ball better than any guard that’s on the team. New York waived Jennings because he wanted more minutes and it was confusing in the locker room.
Another reason why they let go of him because the Knicks was already moving towards rebuilding and they wanted to sign rookie Chasson Randle. The former Knick backup point guard is now on the Washington Wizards, and he’s averaging 2.8 PPG, dishing out 5 Assist, and shooting a horrid 25%.
