NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks couldn’t get easy baskets this season.
They ranked 30th in points off of drives and last in drives per game in 2014-15. They also ranked 29th in shots at the rim and 29th in free throw attempts per game.
Phil Jackson seems to be well aware of all of this.
“We need a player that wants to go to the basket," Jackson said on Tuesday.
Could he find such a player in this year's draft? Jackson will have a top pick in June after the Knicks finished with the second-to-last record in the NBA (17-65), and could select someone to bolter his backcourt like D’Angelo Russell, Emmanuel Mudiay and Justice Winslow.
Jackson also will have approximately $25 million to spend in free agency this summer, when guads Reggie Jackson, Rajon Rondo and Goran Dragic are expected to hit the open market.
Jackson noted that he doesn't necessarily need to bring in a guard who can penetrate, so he could also go after a slashing wing player.
Billups not sold on triangle: Jackson said he plans to use the triangle offense as a selling point with free agents this summer. At least one former NBA player thinks that’s a bad idea.
“I don’t know about that triangle,” ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups said on the “The Knicks Blog with Anthony Donahue” radio show. “The game is just different now. ... Look at the point-guard position right now; these guys are playmakers.
“They come down, they score, they’re playmakers. They need pick-and-rolls. You put one of those guys in the triangle offense, where it’s kind of just slow down, pass, cut -- it’s no real NBA playmaking ability. It’s no pick-and-roll stuff, it’s no pindown to the post, no counteraction. Obviously that offense won a lot of championships. But it was curtailed to the personnel that they had.”
Billups added: “You look at Shaq in the triangle -- there’s really no big man in the game like that today. It’s a guard’s game. The game is small, it’s a guard’s game. I got my reservations about the triangle, I really do.”
Jose "confident" about next season: There has been speculation that the Knicks will try to move on from Jose Calderon and Tim Hardaway Jr. this summer, but Calderon is hoping to bounce back next season.
“Jose came in confident in his exit meetings about having a much better season next year," Jackson said. "He was bothered from Day 1 by an Achilles situation that continued to bother him to the point that he had to sit it out. So we have that situation to deal with."
It's unclear where Jackson stands on Hardaway Jr. Knicks head coach Derek Fisher mentioned several times this season that Hardaway didn't play with enough consistency. But the coach always chalked that inconsistency up to Hardaway Jr.'s inexperience.
Jackson referenced Hardaway Jr.'s inconsistency on Tuesday: “We know [he] has been both good and average at certain times during the year and has a bright future."