New York Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis Is The Future

Twelve games. Twelve regular-season games is all it took for first-round draft pick Kristaps Porzingis to turn draft-day boos into chants of “POR-ZIN-GIS!” at Madison Square Garden. And though making declarative statements in the first month of a new NBA season is something that should typically be avoided, I’m going to make one anyway:

Kristaps Porzingis is the future of New York Knicks basketball.

This may feel like an over-reactionary statement, with the Zinger coming off a 29-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday night. But based on what we’ve seen from the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, this 7-foot 20-year-old has an absurdly bright future in this league.

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Through the first 12 games of the season, Porzingis — who was seen as something of a project not long ago — is averaging 12.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 25.8 minutes per game. He’s starting at power forward for a team that’s currently at 6-6, and even though he’s only shooting 40.7 percent from the floor and 25.6 percent from three-point range, he’s been nothing short of delightful so far.

While most rookies struggle posting respectable shooting percentages, Porzingis has had few problems adjusting to the speed of the pro game.

The Knicks’ young building block has already come fractions of a second away from his first game-winner. He’s reached 15 rebounds once already, helped spread the floor with his perimeter shot and displayed solid footwork and instincts, both on the glass and when it comes to protecting the interior.

HE EVEN HIT ‘EM WITH THE DREAM SHAKE:

Again, it’s a lot easier to prematurely declare Porzingis the savior of Knicks basketball coming off a night in which he tallied a career-high 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-2 from three-point range and 7-of-7 from the foul line.

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But the buzz around this kid is not unwarranted. He became the youngest Knick ever to reach 25 points and 10 rebounds in a game. The victory over Charlotte marked his fifth double-double on the season. Current Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony even declared (accurately) that Zinger’s big night would be “the first of many.”

But perhaps the best part is that this unassuming young man seems to be a genuinely good person who just wants to endear himself to the diehard sports fans of New York with good old-fashioned work ethic. Maybe you have to have that mentality to win over a crowd of people that booed you on draft day, but it’s truly noteworthy that this 20-year-old wants to play in the Big Apple because he “loves pressure.”

Even when he’s not posterizing opponents with monster put-back dunks….

He’s been a beast on the offensive glass, scrapping for loose balls, finding a way to extend possessions and putting the ball back up through the contact. Not bad for a scrawny seven-footer who’s only going to get bigger and stronger!

Porzingis is not perfect. He’s not a particularly efficient shooter yet, he still needs to work on his defensive positioning and as time progresses, he’ll need to learn to be more assertive on offense since his skill set (and developing post moves) will require more touches in the future.

But those are typical learning points for any rookie, and Knicks fans have to be encouraged by what they’ve seen from the Zinger both on and off the court. At only 20 years old, this lanky, 7’3″ big man is already winning over his critics and turning boos into cheers. These fans aren’t just cautiously optimistic, they’re positively smitten.

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This kid is far better than anyone expected at this point in his young NBA career, and he’s only going to get better. It may not happen overnight, but as Melo continues to age and eventually walks away from the game of basketball, the Kristaps Porzingis Show is going to become prime-time entertainment at Madison Square Garden for the foreseeable future.