Kristaps Porzingis Named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month
The monthly NBA awards are out and New York Knicks power forward and all around legend Kristaps Porzinigs has earned his second Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month.
Oh, it’s lit.
New York Knicks power forward and known savior of my personal sanity Kristaps Porzingis has once again been named NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, this time for December.
Over the past month, Kristaps has gone for 12.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and led all rookies with 2.2 blocks. The Knicks went 7-8 over the time period, moving their record to 15-17 coming into the New Year.
Opposite Porzingis is Karl-Anthony Towns, who also won his second consecutive Rookie of the Month in the Western Conference, setting the stage for a fascinating race to Rookie of the Year in the spring.
Kristaps has been a massive difference maker for the Knicks since being drafted fourth overall last year, averaging 13.1 PPG and snagging 8.0 RPG. New York’s offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) soars by seven points when Porzingis is on the court, making him arguably the Knicks most important offensive player outside of Carmelo Anthony.
Amazingly, Kristaps has been even better on the defensive end. The Knicks percentage of blocked shots with Kristaps jumps up two percent compared to when he is on the bench, as well as giving up the least amount of points when Kristaps is on the court of any starter.
To compare Porzingis and Towns is somewhat unfair to both men. Kristaps plays alongside an established star in Carmelo Anthony, which takes away shot attempts, while Towns is in the midst of a much more arduous rebuilding process for the Minnesota Timberwolves, making for a worse team around him.
But this is sports, so let’s throw logic out the window and compare these two monsters!
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Towns has a pretty major edge over Porzingis in personal stats, averaging 16.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, and shooting 52.8 percent. KP has a slight edge on KAT in blocks, with 2.0 a game compared to Towns’ 1.9, as well as just barely winning the turnover battle with 1.7 to 2.1.
The major difference between these two is how their teams use both of them. Porzingis has, statistically speaking, had a far more positive effect on the Knicks than Towns has on the Timberwolves, as Minnesota actually is scoring more proficiently with KAT off the court than on. Plus, the T-Wolves went just 4-12 in December (again, this is not really fair to Towns because the T-Wolves don’t have the pieces around him that the Knicks have around Kristaps, but such is sports talk).
We’re only two months in and it seems like the Rookie of the Year battle is already going to come down to Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns. With Towns leading in most personal categories, but Kristaps dominating the team statistics, it’ll likely come down to the wire between these two. No Jason Whitlock, not the show.
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It’s worth noting that our hero Kristaps had the testicular fortitude to come back after being absolutely eviscerated by Dwight Howard in the Vine below. I’m not saying KAT would have folded up and retired after being jammed on like that, but I am saying that it might have crossed his mind.
If that isn’t proof that I can turn literally anything involving Kristaps into a positive, I don’t know what is.
So here’s to another month of put back slams and monster blocks from Kristaps, oh it’s lit.