As the New York Knicks inevitably struggle to meet the unreasonably high expectations that have been set before them, both internally and externally, remember this: They still have Kristaps Porzingis.
Even if he suffers a sophomore slump or sees his role in the offense marginalized by the ball-dominant Derrick Rose, Porzingis, still just 21, is a bright spot this team can look to for years to come. New head coach Jeff Hornacek, in fact, has already boarded the Kristaps Porzingis bandwagon after just one practice, per Basketball Insiders’ Tommy Beer:
New Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek also walked away with a strong first impression of Porzingis after the team’s initial practice.
“We want all our guys to be versatile; KP has the ability to go inside [and] if we can just get him the ball somewhere in that paint, with his length, he can just turn around and shoot it,” Hornacek said. “Depending on the match-up, if he’s setting a screen and he pops, he is shooting the ball extremely well. That’s a weapon.”
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“I think it’s going to make teams trying to make a scouting report against him say, ‘What do we do? Do we put a small guy on him? Do we put a big guy on him?’ That’s why it’s fun to have players with that versatility,” Hornacek said. “Go ahead, put a small guy on him and we’ll take advantage of him inside. And if you put a big guy on him, he’ll take them outside. KP’s got all that.”
The key for the Knicks from hereon is keeping Porzingis involved. They have another star-level offensive mouth to feed, minus the superstar-level production, in Rose. His arrival jeopardizes the equilibrium of the Carmelo Anthony-Porzingis pairing that proved so effective last season.
Porzingis’ health is also an issue. He missed 10 games as a rookie, a seemingly innocuous number, but 7’3″ asparagus spears who can defend point guards for seconds at a time are unnatural occurrences, even by the NBA’s preternatural standards.
With all that in mind, Porzingis, if healthy, is a superstar prospect. And that’s something the Knicks and their fans can look toward once it becomes clear, as it will, that this team isn’t yet championship material.
