New York Knicks: 5 Reasons They Might Be Legit

1. Rise Of The Unicorn

Melo is undervalued, and you won’t find bigger Stans for his place among the NBA’s all-time greats anywhere else on the interwebs, but there’s no question about it: The New York Knicks are transitioning into Kristaps Porzingis’ team faster than anyone anticipated.

In just his second NBA season, the Zinger is making the leap, averaging 20.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He’s shooting an efficient 47 percent from the field and is knocking down 39.1 percent of his three-pointers as well.

With Rose, Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah joining the party, there were concerns about whether Jeff Hornacek would be able to get Porzingis enough touches. It was a struggle early on, but the Knicks are slowly but surely realigning their priorities to get their future franchise player as many looks as possible.

Melo is still the better scorer when it comes to being able to create his own looks, but the biggest reason the Knicks have been so competitive so quickly is Porzingis being even better than advertised at age 21.

He’s topped the 25-point mark six times in 20 games already this year, he’s become an absolute terror at the rim as a shot-blocker and if the Knicks ever embrace their small-ball identity with KP at the 5 and Melo at the 4, this team could be scary moving forward.

The presence of Noah prevents KP from playing his most effective position at center, and the length of Noah’s contract means this issue isn’t going any time soon, unless Noah is banged up or the Knicks somehow decide/manage to trade him.

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But regardless of where Porzingis is playing for now, it’s become abundantly clear that he’s the new face of the franchise. The transition from Melo to KP was inevitable, but it’s coming a lot sooner than expected, and that’s only good news for a franchise that’s needed this kind of restart around a younger superstar for decades now.