Winter, Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum were teammates who all played under Barry and imbibed his system. But the respective game plans of both Sharman and Hannum never progressed beyond the center-opposite patterns.

After Winter graduated in 1947, he became an assistant coach under Jack Gardner at Kansas State. Gardner had also played at USC and wanted a Barry disciple to help run Barry's system. Besides Gardner, Phil Woolpert at San Francisco and Pete Newell at California also played for Barry and perpetuated the center opposite. But after he succeeded Gardner, it was Winter who evolved the center opposite into the full-fledged triangle.

Later, as a head coach at Marquette and then back at KSU, Winter's teams used the triangle to great advantage. And as coach of the Houston Rockets, Winter sought to utilize the triangle — or what he frequently calls the "triple-post offense." Too bad that Elvin Hayes couldn't/wouldn't get the hang of it.

When Winter hooked up with Phil Jackson, PJ made some adjustments in the triangle that made it more suited to NBA action.

Motta was just one NBA coach who used parts of the triangle on a strictly part-time basis. However, in order for the offense to be fully functional, a team needs to make a full commitment to it.