Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy go back and forth on the merits of the triangle offense

Phil Jackson, for years, was a bit of a jerk to Jeff Van Gundy. Also, for years, Jeff Van Gundy was a bit of a jerk to Phil Jackson.

Van Gundy probably lobbed the first salvo, tossing out the not-as-appropriate-in-2014-as-it-was-in-1997 characterization of Jackson as “Big Chief Triangle,” in reference to Jackson’s utilization of both the triangle offense, and Native American anecdotes as teachable mini-tomes to pass onto his players.

Jackson, among the basketball coaching fraternity, then crossed a few lines by interviewing for Van Gundy’s job in 1999 as an underachieving New York Knicks team was working in its lowest moments. That interview was revealed during a live broadcast of a Knicks playoff game on NBC, and to Van Gundy’s credit that same Knicks team went on to overachieve and make the NBA Finals despite entering the playoffs that season as an eighth seed.

From there, things became chippier and chippier, especially in the year 2000, via Pro Basketball Talk:

Phil Jackson, never forget, used to be the Big Man on Campus in high school and in college. That sort of thing never leaves you. He can be the sort of smug, smiling sort of guy that keeps you at arm’s length.

With that in place, within a span of a few years, Jeff Van Gundy went from an unheralded assistant coach to a media darling. Lauded by national magazines (back when that meant something) as a bit of a basketball savant who would forgo the trappings of stardom and memoir advances in order to study game tape and sleep in his office. Ask anyone who covered the New York Knicks during Van Gundy’s time with the team, and they’ll tell you that his tone and tenor completely changed throughout the course of his run from 1996 to 2001.

That doesn’t mean either person is wrong in their estimations of the other’s work, it’s just what relative stardom does to people.

Nearly 18 years on, Jeff Van Gundy is still being asked about the triangle offense, and Phil Jackson’s influence. While he was reasonable in his measured take about Jackson’s preferred system in a recent conference call pitched to promote ESPN’s coverage of the NBA this season, he still managed to get a few passable digs in:

I heartily disagree with that last statement, as respected and at times ESPN-employed basketball minds like Doug Collins, Mike Brown, and Del Harris had their go with the same rosters that failed at winning with just about the same rosters that Jackson won it all with.

Players do win games. Organizations don’t, systems don’t, and sometimes it comes down to the former Ron Artest somehow grabbing an offensive rebound in the waning moments to clinch things. Sometimes it comes down to Bobby Hansen nailing corner threes in the deciding quarter of a championship-clinching game with Michael Jordan on the bench. Sometimes it comes down to Steve Kerr, on the road, pulling out an offensive rebound off of his own missed shot.

Why were those players in the positions that they were in at the time? I’ll let you make the call on that.

Phil Jackson responded with to Van Gundy’s comments with … an emoji. Because this is 2014, and this is what we do now.

Yes, the triangle offense works better with great players in position to run it. Same thing with a UCLA flex offense, a drive and kick offense, a pick and roll-heavy two to three, or a bastardized motion offense. Everything works better with Hall of Famers lining up. Byron Scott, Mike Brown, and Randy Wittman’s offenses would even work better with the superstar players Van Gundy listed above.

Phil Jackson isn’t after a championship this year, though. He’s not after one the next year and he’s probably resigned to the fact that he’s not going to be able to lure a series of free agents in the upcoming offseasons. What he’s out to do is prove that someone like Carmelo Anthony – every hack sportswriter’s go-to pick as a 1980s-styled, selfish, James Spader-as-a-bad-guy-star – can work and thrive in an offense that is constantly derided as an “equal opportunity” offense.

“Equal opportunity,” despite the fact that Michael Jordan shot 22 times a game in this offense. Despite the fact that Kobe Bryant once averaged over 35 a night in this offense.

Jackson is trying to create a culture that extends beyond his reach, something that rewards a city and a fan base that embraced him some 46 years ago. It’s not about how J.R. Smith or even Jose Calderon (a ball dominating point guard that, on the surface, would fit about as well in the triple post as well as J.R. Smith would) work in 2014, but how things flow in 2018 with Derek Fisher still at the helm. Conference calls and 2014-15 predictions aren’t the point. The point is to establish order. Jackson may fail in this endeavor – James Dolan still writes the checks, after all – but the pursuit is noble.

Jackson understands that basketball, and New York fans, deserve this sort of attention to detail. MJ, Pippen, Kobe, Shaq and Pau may not be walking through that door anytime soon, but that’s just fine. Anything is better than what came before, to be sure, so any coach or system would help here; but those sorts of low expectations aren’t what New York deserves.

Systems alone don’t win championships, but New York deserves a system. It won’t help them contend for a title in the next few years; but, sadly, Knicks fans are used to waiting things out. Luckily, they have someone in place that understands that life doesn’t flow some 48 minutes at a time.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops