The white-haired gentleman sitting on the Chicago Bulls' bench, with clipboard in hand, is none other than the legendary Fred "Tex" Winter. The name may not mean that much to the casual basketball fan, but within NBA circles, Winter is a legend.

At 75, he is one the great innovators of the game and is the architect of the offense that has carried the Bulls to five NBA titles in the last seven seasons. Sure, they have Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who certainly make things easier, but the Bulls are also perhaps the smoothest-operating team in the league because they have a system. It's called the triple post, or sideline triangle offense, and Winter has devoted more than 50 years of his life perfecting it. When something works in the NBA, other teams usually try to copy it.

When Golden State won the 1975 NBA title utilizing all 12 players on the roster, that started the trend of utilizing the full roster. When Detroit in 1989 and 1990 featured a three-guard offense with Isiah Thomas, 

Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson, a number of teams tried to copy them, many of them successfully. But the triple post remains almost the exclusive property of the Bulls. A number of teams have attempted to copy it, but there are so many nuances to it that only its inventor, Winter, has been able to tap its full potential. Other teams may have tried it, but gave up on it when their players couldn't make it work for them.

It sure has worked for the Bulls, however.

"You have to have a system in this league if you want to win," said Washington Wizards coach Bernie Bickerstaff, "and the Bulls have the best system of all in their triangle offense. They have the personnel to run it and everybody knows their role. They've been together so long that it's second nature to them now." 
 

The initial cuts of Chicago's triangle offense. View veteran coach Don Casey's play diagrams and animations explaining the Bulls' use of Tex Winter's triangle offensive concepts: Chicago's players "read and react" to the defense based on basic rules of action set in motion by an "entry pass" from the wing. This initial pass can go to the post, "up-top", or to the corner.

The triple-post offense is so encompassing that Winter has even written an entire 226-page book on it. It was first published in 1962 and sits on virtually every coach's bookshelf, from the high school level on up.

It was such an innovative piece of work when it was first published that Winter got a letter from a Kansas rancher requesting his help. 

"He wanted me to send him a copy because he said a triple-post fence was just the innovation he was looking for to help him with his herd of cattle," said Winter. Winter couldn't help the rancher much, but he certainly has had his hand in making the Bulls the favorites to win their sixth title of the '90s this season. In simple terms, the Bulls' triple post is the most complicated, yet effective half-court offense in the NBA, and it isn't a coincidence the Bulls are the only team to utilize it as their main offense.

"It's the way we teach it, not what we're teaching," said Winter. "You can't copy it because you can't teach something you don't completely understand." When it comes to the triangle offense, Winter did, indeed, write the book. It all goes back to 1946 when Winter was playing for Southern California under coach Sam Barry, and alongside two future NBA greats and later coaches, Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum. They played what was called a center-opposite offense. Winter took its basic principles and made his own innovations, and the sideline triangle was born.

"I did an awful lot of experimenting and it has evolved over the years," said Winter. "Because of it, we call a lot of plays. We key off the ball, but we have special things we can incorporate into the offense. It's given us stability and consistency."

The offense also utilizes Jordan's skills perfectly because it keeps everyone else involved when he has the ball. "We space, but we don't isolate," said Winter.

"It's an offense we're all comfortable with," said Jordan.

The advantages of the triple-post offense are countless.

"It's actually triangles all over the floor, and theoretically any five players can be at any spot," said former Bulls assistant coach John Paxson, who also won three championships with the Bulls as a player executing the triple-post offense. "Everything starts with the pass to the post. We talk in terms of penetration and a pass to the post is penetration. The offense has a wide variety of cuts off it and it is all dictated by how the defense plays.

"That's what's difficult about defending this offense. If you defend it one way, there's a counter, and if you defend it another way, there's a counter for that, too."

According to Winter, it's fundamentals that provide the groundwork for the triangle offense.

"Set offensive patterns are designed primarily to create good scoring opportunities -- the fundamental purpose of all offenses," Winter wrote in the opening chapter of his book. "Methods used in accomplishing this prime objective vary widely. There is an athletic axiom, however, on which all coaches agree: 'It's not the system, but the execution of the system that counts.' Convinced that this is an indisputable, self-evident truth, we seek to obtain proper execution through the medium of good fundamentals. Systems can succeed or fail on the execution of the minute details of the basic fundamentals. Such details can mean the difference between a great player and an average one, or between winning and losing teams. The first objective of the coach and players should be a complete mastery of the individual fundamentals."

With fundamentals as the backdrop, Winter says the triangle offense is predicated on the seven principles of sound offensive basketball:

   Penetration;
   Spacing [everyone is 15-20-feet apart, but in scoring position];
   Movement of the ball and the players, with a purpose;
   Good rebounding position and defensive balance on all shots;
   It's a five-man concept with options to pass to any of the other four      players;
   The offense counters the defense;
   It utilizes the individual talent of the players.

"Teams that defend the triple post well are the teams that make it difficult to get into the offense," said Paxson. "The Knicks and, for years, Detroit, defended it well because they'd put pressure on and grab and make it difficult to make cuts. That's when having great offensive players like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen shows." 

David DuPree is a staff writer for HOOP magazine.

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