Kristaps Porzingis is the best, which isn’t an offhand distinction we throw around lightly when it comes to players who represent the New York Knicks.
In an essay penned for The Players’ Tribune, the 21-year-old skyscraper talks a lot about his playing days prior to joining the Knicks. He touches upon his family, the homesickness/anemia he labored through while playing in Spain and how his life has changed since arriving in New York.
Porzingis also addresses a personal goal that he has. And where most guys would talk of winning MVP, earning a Hall of Fame induction or receiving countless All-Star nods, the Knicks’ sophomore has something else in mind, too:
In terms of personal goals, I can’t predict what I’m going to do. There are goals for myself and goals for my team. I believe that we have to make the playoffs, and that’s my focus. Just gonna put this out there, though: One day I’d like to get a quadruple double, points, assists, rebounds and blocks. Melo got close to a few triple doubles last year — as the wing player in our offense, he’s in a good position to do set everyone up — so I know it’s possible in our system. Ten blocks, though … I don’t know.
Dope. Like, this is just dope.
Who says this? It’s such a unique goal. Players don’t just come out and say, “Shit, I really want to tally a quadruple-double.” And yet Porzingis, at the age of 21, barely one season into his NBA career, has already been thinking about it extensively.
What’s crazier is you can totally see it happening, in a skill-set vacuum. Recording double figures in points and rebounds is nothing for Porzingis; he’s done it before. Getting 10 blocks also doesn’t seem like it would be a huge deal. He is a 7’3″ asparagus spear and had five games where he blocked five or more shots last season, including two during which he racked up seven in fewer than 36 minutes of action.
It’s getting 10 assists that seems like the steepest goal as of now. Porzingis is a willing passer, but he doesn’t have the ball in his hands enough. And that’s not about to change with the arrival of Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings. His career high in assists at the moment is four, so even if he’s given free reign, he has a long way to go.
Then again, we’d be remiss if we counted out his quadruple-double dreams already. Porzingis has destroyed perception of himself thus far, and it’s entirely plausible he’ll one day start passing like Tim Duncan, just so he can chase this goal.
