Last Wednesday, for example, the Knicks dined at the mess hall. Jason Smith, one of the team’s new centers, said watching 4,400 cadets eat lunch in 20 minutes left an impression, calling it “incredible.” Fisher said the team’s practice that afternoon was particularly sharp, and he did not think it was an accident.

“Asking where they come from, what they’re about, what it takes to make it through this — man,” Smith said of his mess-hall experience. “I’m nervous for them.”

From the outside looking in, it might have seemed like a strange mix. Jackson, after all, is known for being more counterculture than conformist. But it was his idea to move training camp to West Point, and from a basketball standpoint it made perfect sense: The triangle is all about order and structure. It also hinges on each player maintaining proper spacing — generally 15 to 18 feet — and becoming part of the whole. The metaphors, then, were impossible to miss.

Clarence Gaines Jr., a basketball adviser for the team, offered a glimpse of practice by posting a series of photos on Twitter. One was of a dribbling drill, and another was of the two-line passing drill, which Gaines described as an ode to Tex Winter, an early innovator of the triangle and one of Jackson’s coaching mentors.

“Fundamentals being taught & emphasized!” Gaines wrote for one post. In another, he cited how order and discipline were “important from start to finish.”

For the players, the back-to-basics routine was almost refreshing. As Amar’e Stoudemire put it, “These fundamentals we’re learning, I feel like I can teach my son them.”

Iman Shumpert recalled doing two-man passing drills in high school, and even some in college. But in his first three seasons with the Knicks? Not so much, he said. He found the refresher course to be useful.