Defending Kristaps Porzingis

A lot of people expected the Knicks to do something different with the 4th pick. The likes of Winslow, Mudiay and Cauley-Stein were on the board. Players who offer you something from the very first whistle. However, much to the surprise of theKnicks contingent in Barclays Center, Phil Jackson took a gamble and selected the relatively unknown Latvian out of Spain, Kristaps Porzingis. We even saw a little kid crying, it’s not that bad, is it? History is not on the Knicks side, the last foreigner to make it to All-Star weekend was Yao Ming, who was drafted in 2002.

A year after that the Detroit Pistons selected Darko Milicic second who is possibly the most over-hyped prospect in the history of the draft. he never lived up to expectations and in what is widely regarded as the best draft class in the league’s history, he was the mistake. Keep in mind Detroit had the opportunity to select Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Combined that’s 29 All-Star appearances and 7 championships (if you include Lebron). Oh yeah! thats right three of those guys were on the same team. Back to Darko. For the foreign guy to not work out is almost like a do not enter sign for the rest of the league. No general manager wants to embarrass themselves like that. Thank god that Joe Dumars was part of the Pistons Bad-Boys otherwise he would just be the guy who drafted Darko Milicic. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all Darko’s fault. He was only 18, old enough to be a college freshman and he fell into the wrong hands with Larry Brown. Maybe he would have fit in better in a different system, who knows? All we do know is from that point on nobody has looked at an international prospect quite the same way.

“After I drafted Darko, from that point on, the amount of background we do on every single player that you see us draft is ridiculous. We do as much or more background than any other team in the NBA because of that.-Joe Dumars

The most appealing factor to NBA front offices about a foreign player is their competition level. Unlike college players where you play people more-or-less your age and at a semi-pro level the international game is professional. These players are already pros playing against grown men and adjusting to the lifestyle far before any college athlete. They don’t have papers or classes to worry about. However, in some cases they arrive in the NBA and find the game too fast or the play too physical.

My point is that college players are at-least nowadays being bred and prepared for the NBA the moment they choose a school. Look at Kentucky and Duke, between them they had 9 players drafted. Latvia, a full size country had only one. I know Porzingis played in Spain but what I’m saying is that Spanish and French teams or whatever it may be do not want their best players leaving. People are selfish and obviously Sevilla would want Kristaps to do well but don’t think for a second that they wouldn’t like to keep him. Imagine the damage he could do for them at his peak. College players have to leave eventually and if your good enough to earn a scholarship, chances are you’re heading to the NBA because that was always the plan. College is just a little more exposure.

Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (46) is consoled by a teammate after being assessed a foul during an NBA Summer League game against San Antonio at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

For every Darko their is a Dirk. No, not quite. Dirk Nowitzki is what Milicic was meant to be, what Andrea Bargnani was meant to be, what every foreign player ever drafted was meant to be. You get the point. People love to get caught up in comparisons. Thats the mistake. So much pressure is put on the international players because of who has come before. So many NBA legends have come from college: the likes of Jordan, Kareem, Hakeem (yes I know he is foreign but he went to university in the USA), Shaq and so many more. In comparison, their are far fewer international players who have achieved ”all-time great” status. So when you draft a player and put the weight of the world on their shoulders its a possibility they may not live up to that expectation and thats something you should always prepare for.

In terms of international players succeeding in the NBA, it is quite ironic how the majority of them have been selected out of the lottery. With a few exceptions like Pau Gasol, Dirk and Yao Ming however, you look at the later picks and you get players like Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Vlade Divac, Marc Gasol. I know that lottery picks may have better success when they do workout but on the whole there have been many more successes coming later in the draft.

So lets just go through all the so-called “busts”.

Bismack Biyombo who was selected 7th by the Kings, and was a project. safe to say it still hasn’t quite worked out for him.
Yi Janlian was drafted 6th overall by the Bucks in 2007. He told the organization he didn’t want to play for them and was traded short after. He had one promising year but injuries quickly wore him down and within five years he was back in China.
Mouhamed Sene. Never heard of him? He was drafted 10th in 2006 to the Sonics. His numbers speak for themselves (2.2 points and 1.6 rebound)
Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who was drafted 5th overall in 2002 right off the back of an Italian league championship. Sadly that never translated to the NBA as he never found a rhythm. He played for Denver, Golden State, Minnesota and Phoenix in the space of 4 years.

So why is this relevant to New York? well, in light of the Knicks recent draft pick, I thought I would try and convince myself it was a smart pick. Here we go. Forgive me for falling into the trap but I have to draw some similarities from Dirk. Like Kristaps, Nowitzki was also a project, he was also long and lanky and he will also struggle on defense. Dirk used to be called ”irk” to emphasise the point that he had no “D” (Defense). Unfortunately, Kristaps Porzingis doesn’t contain the letter “d”. Ok thats where the Dirk comparisons stop, as tempting as it is, frankly its unfair on him and all who have come before. I know its a hard pill to swallow when you don’t get what you want but there is nothing we can do about it, as fans all you can do is sit back and hope for the best.

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There is a reason the best players get drafted to the worst teams. For the most part it is to obviously to help a team improve but also for that player to improve himself in a supportive environment. On a bad team you have a larger margin for error, you are allowed to make mistakes. Take Darko for example, he was drafted in 2003 and won a championship in 2004. Being on that highly competitive team could of possibly been a hindrance to his development, harder to live with mistakes and potentially easier to make them. My point being is that coming off last year, how much can you expect? The Knicks and Porzingis will both be growing at the same time, what I mean by that is the triangle may not work at optimum performance for some time. It could be 2 or 3 years until we see a fully functional Knicks team and don’t be disheartened by that because in that same time is when we could possibly see Kristaps transition from his “project phase” into what Phil thinks he can be. Lets just hope.

Picking Porzingis was a gutsy move and one that not a lot of people took kindly to. The future is fragile and don’t be surprised if there is a few bumps along the way. The goal is not win 60 wins but a championship and that takes a lot of time and patience.

The thought of a “bust” to Knicks fans is hardly conceivable and thats why Jackson has taken a leap of faith. As I said before, history is not on the Knicks side, with so much thought of what could be there is cause for concern but that is almost virtually unavoidable.

The new season can’t come quickly enough…

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Defending Kristaps Porzingis and Looking at all Who Came Before

By Jack King | Jul 13, 2015