So maybe it wasn’t Phil Jackson that made Kristaps Porzingis skp his year-end exit interview with the New York Knicks.
According to longtime sportswriter Peter Vecsey, formerly of the New York Post, it may have been head coach Jeff Hornacek who ruffled the unicorn’s mane. The Big Lead’s Ryan Phillips broke down the report:
According to a report by Peter Vecsey, Hornacek rode Porzingis hard last season and their feud culminated in explosive fashion. Willy Hernangomez is Porzingis’ best friend on the team, and at one point, Hornacek reportedly cornered the Spanish big man and told him to tell Porzingis to “stop playing like a pu**y.” That led Porzingis to skip out on his exit interview and basically shut down any relationship with his head coach.
Vecsey does note that he’s heard Porzingis and Hornacek are back on speaking terms, either through text or through Hernangomez. We’ll see how long that lasts.
This is just bizarre. And, if true, absolutely stupid.
Hornacek had to know that Porzingis and Hernangomez were basically besties. What was there to gain from bashing him to a friend? Literally nothing.
The Knicks, for their own sake, are lucky that Hornacek and Porzingis have hashed out this purported beef. But, as ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported, there continues to be “distance” between the 22-year-old and the organization.
Perhaps this has to do with the Hornacek stuff. Maybe it doesn’t. Some, if not most, of it definitely falls on Jackson for implementing an inconsistent vision and then publicly copping to Porzingis’ place on the chopping block ahead of the draft.
Basically, no matter how much validity you place in this report, the Knicks remain the Knicks.
