Kristaps Porzingis Could Be Steal of the Draft For New York Knicks
Kristaps Porzingis was booed when he was selected fourth overall by the New York Knicks, but proclaimed he would turn those boos into cheers. He is only 12 games into his career, but he has already succeeded on that goal.
On June 25th, the New York Knicks selected Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. On June 25th, Knick fans around the world were banging walls, burning jerseys, and creating YouTube videos about the pure ludicrousness of picking the big man. On November 19th, today, Knicks fans around the world are remorseful, and kissing the feet of their new superstar.
Porzingis is averaging 12.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, while playing about 25 minutes. Those averages rank third and second among rookies, respectively. The seven footer dropped 29 points, while grabbing 11 boards in a victory against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night, showcasing his skills to the league. The Latvian production on the court is silencing the abundance of critics that thought he would not be able to play at the NBA level.
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“Zinger” as they call him, is not just a scorer, but an absolute work horse on the court. The kid hustles on every play, and you can clearly see that when you watch a game. When a shot goes up, four Knicks are running back to play defense, but not Porzingis. The big man crashes the boards like no other, and actually comes down with the rebound more often than not. He leads all rookies with three offensive rebounds per game.
One stat I like to use is PIE, or player impact estimate. This statistic measures the percentage of game events a player achieved. Porzingis ranks third among all rookies with a 25.7% PIE, behind Karl-Anthony Towns and T.J. McConnell. He also ranks fourth among rookies with a 25.3 usage percentage, which measures the percentage of a teams offensive possessions that a player uses or is involved in.
He ranks second in rebounds percentage, the percentage of rebounds a team grabs when the player is on the court, behind Towns, at 25%. No surprise, he ranks first in offensive rebound percentage, and ranks fourth among rookies in the offensive rating category, which measures the amount of points a team scores while that person is on the court. The first rookie on that list? Jerian Grant. He should be starting, but I already wrote that article.
The best part of it all, is that he is only 20 years old. He was 19 when he got drafted. The fact that this young kid from a foreign country has been able to come to America, play in the best basketball league, and succeed, is remarkable. That and the way he has been able to tune out the many critics and doubters, and fans who were booing and swearing at him every since draft night. Imagine being 19, and on the happiest day of your life, the night you get drafted, to have the whole arena boo at the fact that their team selected you in the draft. Thats a tough spot, but Porzingis has shown that he is one hell of a tough kid.
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I am team Porzingis. He definitely, in his small sampling, has proved that he will be a force for years to come. Only time will tell, but he could be among the best big men in the league in a few years.