Derrick Rose said he “wasn’t trolling.”
Rose never took a flight to Chicago but whether he was grounded by the Knicks is up in the air — pun intended.
Rose attended Saturday’s morning shootaround before the Knicks faced the 76ers at the Garden. On Friday, Rose said twice to reporters he had to hurry up the interviews because he had a flight to catch. He added it was to Chicago.
Knicks officials responded later, saying Rose was joking.
Before the Sixers game, Rose, asked to clarify, didn’t sound playful.
“I don’t even want to talk about that, bro,’’ Rose said. “I’m here. I wasn’t trolling either, bro.”
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The conspiracy theory is the Knicks nixed Rose’s attempt to get an overnight visit with family. Before the game, Jeff Hornacek grinned and said: “He was messing with you. He didn’t go anywhere.’’ Rose went AWOL on the Knicks in January, missing the New Orleans game, for which he was fined $250,000.
Hornacek confirmed the Knicks are running more triangle in recent weeks — not on Phil Jackson’s urging, he said — but partly to help the defensive format. It’s an old theory of triangle supporters. Roland Lazenby, Jackson’s biographer who wrote a recent bio on Kobe Bryant, told The Post recently: “One of the main points of the triangle is to maintain enough floor balance to allow people to get back on defense. No easy baskets. Tempo gets controlled. That’s the big ups to the offense. You can win a lot of games just by getting back consistently and not allowing easy transition baskets.’’
With the Knicks floundering on defense all season, Hornacek is turning to his offense for answers.
“We’re running it more,’’ Hornacek said. “Part of it is we can help defense and be in better position. When Derrick drives to the basket, we’re stuck in the corners. We were having a hard time getting out of the corners and they’d run back on us in transition. We have two guys up higher (in the triangle).’’
Sixers first-year GM Bryan Colangelo wasn’t with Philly when he scouted Willy Hernangomez and Kristaps Porzingis in Sevilla.
“Two great pieces,’’ Colangelo said.
In the 2015 draft, the Sixers passed on Porzingis at 3 for disappointing Jahlil Okafor and traded Hernangomez on draft night after taking him 35.
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