Kristaps Porzingis? latest winter slumber should terrify Knicks

Call him Mr. November.

The Knicks have a lot of issues, but none more concerning than what to make about Kristaps Porzingis? third straight post-Christmas decline.

The entire franchise is built upon Porzingis becoming a superstar for the ages, contending for greatest-Knick-ever status. And while he should become a perennial All-Star, the franchise needs him to be more than Pau Gasol ? or Paul Millsap.

The Knicks (19-23) are losing now not because Porzingis doesn?t have enough help. They?re losing because he isn?t doing enough.

The 7-foot-3 Latvian has not played like an All-Star since December, hitting another wall. His recent ?so tired?? remark in Washington will be cited until the 22-year-old snaps out of this post-November funk.

Porzingis? core strength, stamina and genetic makeup are relevant issues, with a third straight fade after brilliant play in October and November. During his rookie year, it was revealed he had been diagnosed with anemia during his Spanish League days. Porzingis took iron to combat the ensuing fatigue and still does.


In fact, when his publicists unveiled his new endorsement with ?Zing Bars? in November during 30-point-a-night MVP-level start, the press release stated Porzingis? fanaticism on eating healthy stems from battling anemia at age 15.

In his first year, Porzingis hit the rookie wall in February but that was certainly understandable as he had yet to endure an offseason pounding weights.

Last season, coach Jeff Hornacek?s overuse caused Porzingis to develop Achilles tendinitis, never to play the same that year.

The 2017-18 season started with such a bang ? perhaps sharper than opponents after an August and September training and starring in the European Championships for Latvia. That could be taking its toll physical and mentally ? all that basketball that began with Latvia?s training camp in late July.

Since December, Porzingis is shooting just 39.4 percent to bring his shooting percentage down to a middling 43.2 percent, his scoring average to 23.6. Symbolically or not, Carmelo Anthony, in his final season as Knick, shot 43.3 percent ? a number that was unpleasing to Hornacek.

Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 pick of the same draft in 2015, are often compared. Towns looked so much more a complete player Friday in Minnesota, it was scary. Towns was one assist away from a triple-double. Porzingis is averaging 1.3 assists per game.

Which brings to mind Porzingis saying before his sophomore campaign that posting a quadruple-double was a goal. There was none of that ****y banter after the Knicks dropped to a season-worst four games under .500 on Friday. A portrait of congeniality, Porzingis was dejected. On the court, too.

With teams firing double teams at him whenever he puts the ball on the floor, Porzingis has looked frazzled. The ball was stripped on his dribble for three turnovers Friday. A fourth time his breakaway layup got broken up by Jimmy Butler and finished a rotten 6-of-19 shooting.
He?s been slow to anticipate the pressure. Physical guards have him off balance. He?s getting frustrated guards are cheating off point guards Jarrett Jack and the frigid Frank Ntilikina.

Europeans carry a reputation among NBA coaches of playing with more guile and teamwork. Porzingis hasn?t looked like a basketball Einstein since December. Porzingis admitted he has ?to be smarter?? in bracing for double coverage.

Scott Roth, who coached Porzingis and Willy Herangomez in Spain, made a revealing remark during the All-Star break last year.

?People are more surprised by Willy, but I?ve always said Willy was an overall better basketball player at the age Kristaps was, as far as feel for the game and how he moves and passes,?? Roth told me.

Agent Janis Porzingis long has been concerned about his brother regressing in New York ? which will determine his free-agent future.
Maybe this is partly Hornacek?s fault. Maybe he needs to get Porzingis in more favorable spots, closer to the rim. Maybe the coach has to reduce his minutes for increased efficiency. Porzingis played a career-high 44 minutes against Chicago, followed by 36 in Minneapolis.

Maybe Tim Hardaway Jr.?s return will be beneficial ? as Hornacek predicts ? because Porzingis still is money on catch-and-shoot 3s. Maybe Trey Burke helps. Maybe Hornacek has to hire a big-man coach.

Maybe Mr. November will never become Mr. June in New York.

Marc Berman (NY Post)

https://nypost.com/2018/01/13/another-porzingis-winter-slumber-should-terrify-knicks/

Doesn't surprise me, his game hasn't changed in 2 1/2 seasons. Still a good not great 3 pt shooter ranking 61st in 3pt % and no post game to speak of. I thought his early hot start was due to him taking contact better due to his off season strength training in the summer but the book on him is the same as past seasons, body up on him, take away his air space and bother his jumper.

He also hasn't stepped up his rebounding perhaps because of Kanter but it could also be that lack of physicality. He's also fallen off in defensive RPM from 16th last season to 33rd among PF this season which surprised me since I thought he improved on that end this year.

NY-Post. Move along nothing to see here.

I am trying not to sound like a porzingas apologist.

the only thing faulty in porzingas' game is that he plays for the new york knicks and in new york.

What people want is flash scoring and flashy dunks and deep threes etc etc etc.

Lets look at the real picture here folks that no one including mark berman's bum as$ refuses to research.

Porzingas has Averaged about 1.5 more rebounds per game in January than he did earlier in the year.

He also is averaging a top 3 in the league average of 2.5 blocks per game in January.

and he is shooting 43 percent from three while still averaging 37 mins per game.


You see I could see if his shot falling off meant other areas of his game are falling off then I would have something to complain about.

but when a player notices his shot isnt falling and still leads the league in blocks as well as ups his rebounds and three point percentage I find it hard to be terrified.

DontForgetDerekHarper said:

I am trying not to sound like a porzingas apologist.

the only thing faulty in porzingas' game is that he plays for the new york knicks and in new york.

What people want is flash scoring and flashy dunks and deep threes etc etc etc.

Lets look at the real picture here folks that no one including mark berman's bum as$ refuses to research.

Porzingas has Averaged about 1.5 more rebounds per game in January than he did earlier in the year.

He also is averaging a top 3 in the league average of 2.5 blocks per game in January.

and he is shooting 43 percent from three while still averaging 37 mins per game.


You see I could see if his shot falling off meant other areas of his game are falling off then I would have something to complain about.

but when a player notices his shot isnt falling and still leads the league in blocks as well as ups his rebounds and three point percentage I find it hard to be terrified.

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Not sure where you got your numbers from but these are from www.basketball-reference.com

basketball-reference only shows the data for the entire season, it can't be splitted per month; that would be a nice feature to have

rady said:

basketball-reference only shows the data for the entire season, it can't be splitted per month; that would be a nice feature to have

Click to expand...

You can get that data from the split stats on the site. Just looked at the month of JAN, shooting 43% 3s but 38.8% overall. 38% overall is terrible, Brandon Jennings put up those kind of numbers. Bottom line for me is we haven't seen the massive improvement in his game after his great start, won't even be in the picture for most improved player this year.

Yeah, you're right. Overall, his numbers are lower in all chapters except for the 3pt% and steals

Played less games in January; dont look at totals.
Geniuses.

average wise his blocks are amazing, rebounds are up and his tp pct is up.

my point is he is increasing his overall production at the expense of less scoring.

I am debunking this article.

38 percent from three at 7 foot 3 is incredible btw. I am not sure what your expectations are.

again,

Porzingas biggest flaw is that he plays in new york.

New York fans and their expectations are insane.

hes average 23 ppg and a leader in the league in blocks in his first full season as the go to guy on our team and we are complaining.

I dont know how young/old you all are; but I will say that it makes me cry inside to hear knicks fans do the same thing to kristaps that they did to ewing.

Knicks fans destroyed ewing year after year after year; only to give him a standing ovation whenever he came back to the garden post retirement.

I am not yet comparing porzingas to ewing but the pattern is almost identical in terms of how good ewing was earlier in his career; unfortunately the knicks were losing in his first few seasons so fans went crazy bashing his every mistake.

fast forward to today and we are doing the same thing with quite possibly the best young prospect we have had in the orange and blue since ewing was drafted in 85.

My whole point is settle down people, enjoy the fact we have a youthful big who can drop 30 any night, dominate defensively and shine a light on a terrible franchise.

Its funny, you ask any one around the league, other teams fans and listen to other teams announcers and players they all cant believe how good porzingas is.

the only group who doesnt believe

are the fans of his own team.

im out.

DontForgetDerekHarper said:

Played less games in January; dont look at totals.
Geniuses.

average wise his blocks are amazing, rebounds are up and his tp pct is up.

my point is he is increasing his overall production at the expense of less scoring.

I am debunking this article.

38 percent from three at 7 foot 3 is incredible btw. I am not sure what your expectations are.

again,

Porzingas biggest flaw is that he plays in new york.

New York fans and their expectations are insane.

hes average 23 ppg and a leader in the league in blocks in his first full season as the go to guy on our team and we are complaining.

I dont know how young/old you all are; but I will say that it makes me cry inside to hear knicks fans do the same thing to kristaps that they did to ewing.

Knicks fans destroyed ewing year after year after year; only to give him a standing ovation whenever he came back to the garden post retirement.

I am not yet comparing porzingas to ewing but the pattern is almost identical in terms of how good ewing was earlier in his career; unfortunately the knicks were losing in his first few seasons so fans went crazy bashing his every mistake.

fast forward to today and we are doing the same thing with quite possibly the best young prospect we have had in the orange and blue since ewing was drafted in 85.

My whole point is settle down people, enjoy the fact we have a youthful big who can drop 30 any night, dominate defensively and shine a light on a terrible franchise.

Its funny, you ask any one around the league, other teams fans and listen to other teams announcers and players they all cant believe how good porzingas is.

the only group who doesnt believe

are the fans of his own team.

im out.

Click to expand...

Exactly on point.

DontForgetDerekHarper said:

Played less games in January; dont look at totals.
Geniuses.

average wise his blocks are amazing, rebounds are up and his tp pct is up.

my point is he is increasing his overall production at the expense of less scoring.

I am debunking this article.

38 percent from three at 7 foot 3 is incredible btw. I am not sure what your expectations are.

again,

Porzingas biggest flaw is that he plays in new york.

New York fans and their expectations are insane.

hes average 23 ppg and a leader in the league in blocks in his first full season as the go to guy on our team and we are complaining.

I dont know how young/old you all are; but I will say that it makes me cry inside to hear knicks fans do the same thing to kristaps that they did to ewing.

Knicks fans destroyed ewing year after year after year; only to give him a standing ovation whenever he came back to the garden post retirement.

I am not yet comparing porzingas to ewing but the pattern is almost identical in terms of how good ewing was earlier in his career; unfortunately the knicks were losing in his first few seasons so fans went crazy bashing his every mistake.

fast forward to today and we are doing the same thing with quite possibly the best young prospect we have had in the orange and blue since ewing was drafted in 85.

My whole point is settle down people, enjoy the fact we have a youthful big who can drop 30 any night, dominate defensively and shine a light on a terrible franchise.

Its funny, you ask any one around the league, other teams fans and listen to other teams announcers and players they all cant believe how good porzingas is.

the only group who doesnt believe

are the fans of his own team.

im out.

Click to expand...

I don't think there's anything major to stress over other than the fact he is actually slowing down past 2 mos(FAX). The difference from he and Ewing, and it's a biggie...EWING showed almost Day 1 stepping onto the Garden floor a team could be built around him, there is cause for reservation with #kporzee if he's a true #1 or a really good #2.

It?s a trend with Kp that he gets gassed halfway through the season and cools down. It is simply because he has the stamina of a big man. Also hornacek prefers small rotations so he over plays KP in first 3 quarters and kp gets gassed by the 4th and doesn?t perform. A lot of it also a mental thing with Kp reincarnating Melos selfishness and thinking jocking every shot will win a game when it only leads to 0 chemistry in the offense.


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But the Dude has dropped 25 and 26 in his last two games.

explain to me how he is gassed when he is increasing his production of hustle stats.

you all are fools if you believe that him being gassed is the true reason for this discussion when in reality it is the microscope that new york media is; creating a vacuum for all things negative when it comes to losing sports teams.

We have not lost one game this year because of porzingas.

we have lost on coaching, when hornacek decides to bench kanter down the stretch, play lance thomas for too long; or not adjust matchups throughout games when teams go small or big.

This entire thread and article is blasphemy as far as I am concerned and it unfortunately lets our subpar coach off the proverbial hook.

DontForgetDerekHarper said:

But the Dude has dropped 25 and 26 in his last two games.

explain to me how he is gassed when he is increasing his production of hustle stats.

you all are fools if you believe that him being gassed is the true reason for this discussion when in reality it is the microscope that new york media is; creating a vacuum for all things negative when it comes to losing sports teams.

We have not lost one game this year because of porzingas.

we have lost on coaching, when hornacek decides to bench kanter down the stretch, play lance thomas for too long; or not adjust matchups throughout games when teams go small or big.

This entire thread and article is blasphemy as far as I am concerned and it unfortunately lets our subpar coach off the proverbial hook.

Click to expand...

When he shoots under 40% and can?t handle a double team then he hurts the team..it?s the Carmelo anthony syndrome that he gets into. And he doesn?t even put up shots in the 4th and becomes non existent..I was at the pelicans game..he had 3 points in entire 4th and overtime combined..and he played almost every minute of the 4th and overtime! It?s a combination of both hornacek mismanaging and Kp personal struggles and if it wasn?t for Beasley bailing out Kp a bunch of times then we would have lost even more games


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You are arguing things that I agree with Paul..

and btw I miss you man; just remembered the good old days with metrocard and the original KO crew. We were crazy back then.


but back to my point; I agree with porzingas' flaws.

I just think that we are all missing the big picture here.

the dude had six blocks last night, filled up the box score and we lost because the team as a whole didnt start playing until the fourth quarter.

Lance thomas useless again



You cant have that box score and start in the NBA.

Hornacek is poisoning our starting lineup with Lance Thomas every night.


on the flip side back to Kristaps

Porzingas had 3 steals 6 blocks and 9 rebounds last night.

Numbers like that on the road do not just happen.

especially for a player that we are all forgetting, spent the last two seasons with multiple coaches, trying to carve his way while playing with the likes of Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony; in a fault triangle offense, while coming from europe to NY.

As far as I am concerned Kris is thriving this year under the circumstances.

we have a top 10 big man in the league who is 22 and just getting started.

I am not sure why we cant just enjoy the ride this year and get on his case when and if he is still doing the dumb youthful things he is doing when he is 25 or 27.

DFDH and Paul if you had a do over in that draft would you draft KAT or KP?

I'm a fan of Porzingis as evidenced by my sig and avatar but anyone can be criticized, it's up to him to prove his critics wrong. All Star game is coming up, lets see if the fans, players and recognize him and vote him on the team. The Knicks make a playoffs lets see if he comes up big like the Brow did in his one playoff appearance.

Where have you guys been btw, you both make infrequent appearances, I'm guessing you're involved with another website like Coolclyde is on Facebook.

DontForgetDerekHarper said:

You are arguing things that I agree with Paul..

and btw I miss you man; just remembered the good old days with metrocard and the original KO crew. We were crazy back then.


but back to my point; I agree with porzingas' flaws.

I just think that we are all missing the big picture here.

the dude had six blocks last night, filled up the box score and we lost because the team as a whole didnt start playing until the fourth quarter.

Lance thomas useless again

15

0-0

0-0

0-0

0

0

0

3

0

2

0

1

-9

0

You cant have that box score and start in the NBA.

Hornacek is poisoning our starting lineup with Lance Thomas every night.


on the flip side back to Kristaps

Porzingas had 3 steals 6 blocks and 9 rebounds last night.

Numbers like that on the road do not just happen.

especially for a player that we are all forgetting, spent the last two seasons with multiple coaches, trying to carve his way while playing with the likes of Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony; in a fault triangle offense, while coming from europe to NY.

As far as I am concerned Kris is thriving this year under the circumstances.

we have a top 10 big man in the league who is 22 and just getting started.

I am not sure why we cant just enjoy the ride this year and get on his case when and if he is still doing the dumb youthful things he is doing when he is 25 or 27.

Click to expand...

you still remember the good old days of KO online...I don?t post as much as I use to but when the team pisses me off I get back on my high horse

You mentioned KP last night on the defensive end and on the boards..I agree that when he is effecting the game on those ends then his value sky rockets. However, most of the time he is just a glorified Andrea bargnani that is scoring at a high clip but isn?t acting like a 1A option in clutch time.

Kp needs helps offensively and having a lineup with lance Thomas and jack scoring under 5 points most nights just won?t cut it.

We need youth and talent with KP..Ntilikina, Beasley and the young guys like Burke and baker that play hard and can effect both ends of the floor

The issue is that KP is the leader..he starts blocking shots and all of a sudden the team wakes up..when he?s off and bricking he becomes nearly useless because he is not always consistent defensively and on the boards..he has shown up the way we hoped in glimpses but his slumps kill the team



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tiger0330 said:

I'm a fan of Porzingis as evidenced by my sig and avatar but anyone can be criticized, it's up to him to prove his critics wrong.

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The issue is that everything has to go overboard in NYC. There is a profound lack of patience and even worse, an owner that caters to that which leads to a situation in which no GM/president/coach can ride out a storm in order to built a legacy based on a winning team-oriented culture. Porzingis is 21 years old, has been surrounded by a dysfunctional locker room for his first two years, was mentored by a numb nut who relied on isos only and who is clearly unable to adapt his game. Let them grow. The same goes for Frank. Playing as a pure pointguard in the NBA is a tough thing to do. He is too careful, yes, but playing the PG is the toughest thing you can ask from a rookie in the NBA. The only thing that can stop the two of them from having a great career together is impatience by the fans and consequently management.

tiger0330 said:

DFDH and Paul if you had a do over in that draft would you draft KAT or KP?

I'm a fan of Porzingis as evidenced by my sig and avatar but anyone can be criticized, it's up to him to prove his critics wrong. All Star game is coming up, lets see if the fans, players and recognize him and vote him on the team. The Knicks make a playoffs lets see if he comes up big like the Brow did in his one playoff appearance.

Where have you guys been btw, you both make infrequent appearances, I'm guessing you're involved with another website like Coolclyde is on Facebook.

Click to expand...

I?ve been boiling like a volcano and now I?m erupting on my KO online rant
Lol

I would draft Towns. He is a pure center and is consistent defensively and on the glass unlike KP. Porzingis has more range and is more of a heat check guy but towns just does it all every night. The fact that KP isn?t fit to play center because of his style and skinny frame is frustrating because if he was a center he would be unstoppable offensively.

Towns is averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds on a team with multiple scorers. On the knicks he would average more ppg, same rebounds and over 2 blocks..I?d go
With towns


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Paul1355 said:

I’ve been boiling like a volcano and now I’m erupting on my KO online rant
Lol

I would draft Towns. He is a pure center and is consistent defensively and on the glass unlike KP. Porzingis has more range and is more of a heat check guy but towns just does it all every night. The fact that KP isn’t fit to play center because of his style and skinny frame is frustrating because if he was a center he would be unstoppable offensively.

Towns is averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds on a team with multiple scorers. On the knicks he would average more ppg, same rebounds and over 2 blocks..I’d go
With towns


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Nice analysis of KAT. So far the better player, he's been criticized for his D this year but overall has been a more impactful player imo. Would have been nice if the Porzingod we saw the first 10 or so games played in last 35 but he came back to earth. We haven't seen his upside and we're going to see a leap in his play someday, still think he can become a better 3 pt shooter and he can develop a post game.