Knicks News: Kristaps Porzingis Finishes 2nd In Rookie Of the Year Voting

New York Knicks news is positive today, as Kristaps Porzingis was recognized for his strong rookie season, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Karl-Anthony Towns.

Most of the New York Knicks news recently has been rumors revolving around the head coaching position. But, today a player from this past season was recognized for his play, as Kristaps Porzingis finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting.

Porzinigs finished behind only Karl-Anthony Towns, who was the first overall pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Towns deserved the award, as he had one of the best rookie seasons in the past 40 years, finishing with a 22.5 PER, the fifth best for a rookie in that time span. He averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.7 blocks and 0.7 steals per game, as he is barely scratching the surface of his potential.

The same can be said for Porzingis, who performed at a higher level than anyone could have expected during his rookie campaign. Porzingis went from being booed on draft night to hearing his name chanted at Madison Square Garden during home games as he quickly won over the Knicks faithful.

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Porzingis averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.9 blocks and 0.7 steals per game. He played in 72 games, starting each one of them, and playing 28.4 minutes per game. He was a difference maker on both ends of the court, as his length aided his lack of size and strength on both ends of the court.

Despite being overmatched most nights from a size and strength perspective, Porzingis never backed down. He was not intimidated on the court no matter who was across from him. It will be a pleasure to watch Porzingis grow as a player as he looks like a future cornerstone of the franchise much like Towns.

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The two were clearly the best performers of their rookie class, and it showed in the voting. Towns was a unanimous choice for first place, receiving all 130 votes. Porzingis was clearly second place, receiving 117 second place votes and 12 for third place.

There is a lot of talent in this draft class, as two of the players on that list, Justise Winslow and Myles Turner, were in the starting lineup for playoff teams. Towns and Porzinigs were ahead of their classmates in production though, as both were relied upon heavily in their rookie campaigns and responded with strong play.

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Porzingis is the first Knicks’ rookie to finish in the top-three of voting since Mark Jackson finished third in 1988. Landry Fields just missed out on that designation in 2011, when he finished fourth behind Blake Griffin, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.