Mainstreet,
The Suns tried the triangle offense years ago before DA and looked terrible. It seems very few coaches can master it.
It was pretty stupid when the Suns tried it - they had no one with significant exposure to the triangle. That, like Frank Johnsons fling the 'pinch post motion offense' (Princeton) was pretty much predictably doomed to fail.
Shaw has upward of 10 years exposure so its not a comparable situation. But I still think Shaw would have trouble implementing it unless he could bring an assistant with him who also has a good bit of experience with the offense. If he gathered all the other assistants for the summer and the two them got those coaches on board, he might have a reasonable shot. The FO would have be behind it as well because the team would be in 'training camp' mode for months.
I remember when Phil and Winter brought the triangle to LA, many basketball guru's said it wouldn't work with a dominating center like Shaq - the Bulls used a rotating trio of modestly talented players at C most of the time, if you recall. As it turned out, a dominating C fit it to a T.
I'm not close to an expert on the offense but I've read a fair amount about it's principles of operation and I don't see that a Kobe or Jordan is required to make it work. On the other hand if you don't have some very talented players that fit it fairly well it won't make you a contender. It gives you a little edge because its something other teams play against very seldom yet its not a gimmick like small ball.
Heck, if half the teams used it and half used traditional NBA style offenses, I wouldn't give any odds at all that the 'triangle' teams would win more than half the time.
