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Knicks News: Kurt Rambis Calls Out Kristaps Porzingis’ Shot-Selection

By William Lee

Feb 20, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) and head coach Kurt Rambis against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Knicks defeated the Timberwolves 103-95. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 20, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) and head coach Kurt Rambis against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Knicks defeated the Timberwolves 103-95. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kurt Rambis calls out Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis for his shot-selection. “There are shots out there that he takes that I flat out don’t like.“

Kristaps Porzingis is having an astonishing rookie season, averaging 14.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks. Winning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month each and every month.

Despite this, interim head coach Kurt Rambis is still riding the 7’3″ Latvian hard. After scoring 18 points against the Orlando Magic Friday night, Rambis criticized the prized rookie about his shot-selection, as per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

"“He is talented. There’s no getting around that,”“At some point he is going to be phenomenal but he is still going through a growth process. There are shots out there that he takes that I flat out don’t like. We are working on his decision-making in those situations.”"

Now it is true, that Porzingis takes some ill-advised quick shots at times. Although, this is also true for all rookies. The most egregious of those shot-selections is probably deep three-pointers attempts.

These Stephen Curry three-pointers look great when they go in, but when they don’t… it is incredibly maddening…  There is no doubt that stepping in would increase the percentages of converting the shot. Although… Porzingis is actually slightly better further away, converting 34.2% from 25-29 ft., while converting on 33.8% from 20-24 ft per NBA.com.

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While it is incredible that Porzingis can hit such deep bombs from beyond the arc, should he be attempting them so frequently? We have to keep in mind that those 30 ft. shots by Curry are horrible attempts for any other player. It kind of feels like Porzingis is just showing off his skills, why not just step in for a better shot?

What Rambis would also like to see more of from the rookie is an increase in production from the low-post.

"“It is very typical of young players. That is part of the process they go through. We are still working and encouraging him to be more productive whether it is the elbow or the block.”"

Of course Rambis would say this because he was the one originally tasked with mentoring and developing Porzingis’ post-game. Currently, Porzingis is taking 24.37% of his shots in the restricted area, and 17.43% of them in the paint (non-restricted area), as per NBA Savant. And Porzingis has been no slouch, he has displayed glimpse of greatness in the post. Remember Porzingis’ dream shake?

Porzingis though already knows he needs to improve his post-game. Luckily for him and the New York Knicks, he has Carmelo Anthony to learn from. #BullyBall

"“If you look one year back I had barely any post game at all, so that’s something I still need to work on a lot and I have a great guy to learn from on our team: It’s Melo,”“So in the offseason, even during the season, he’s always there for me to be able to learn from him, so that’s something I’m going to be working on and I’m happy to have him as somebody to learn from.”“Whenever I ask him something he obviously helps me and, you know, just sometimes I pull up a beauty on Instagram,”“And even now, like in the back I showed him the one that he dunked and he told me what, how, why he went in that moment and why he was able to get that dunk.”"

It is great to see Anthony taking his big brother role to the rookie seriously. This is actually one of the biggest reasons to keep Melo in my opinion. Many fans want the Knicks to trade away the superstar but Anthony still has value, especially to Porzingis. Recently, amid all the losing and trade rumors for Anthony, Porzingis stated that he would not want to lose him.

"“Obviously I wouldn’t want to lose him,” “He is who he is on our team. He’s very special.”“And we need him to do big things in the future, especially for me. I love playing alongside him, so that would obviously not be something that I want.”"

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It would be incredible to see Porzingis continue to improve in the post, and hopefully dominate down low some day. Although, I do not foresee him abandoning his outside game anytime soon. For one he has a sweet jump-shot, and much like Dirk Nowitzki (who many compare him to), he probably won’t figure it out for a while.

When Nowitzki first came into the league, it was his outside shooting that made him standout, attempting nearly five three-pointers per game in his early years. It wasn’t until after the failures of the 2006 NBA Finals and the 1 Vs 8 seed debacle the following year, that Nowitzki constantly used his now iconic one legged-fadeway move.

Since then his three-point attempts had gone down, until recently, where his lost of athleticism – once again has him setting up from beyond the arc more frequently. This is all to say, Porzingis will most likely follow the same trajectory in development.

Next: NBA Rumors: Ty Lawson Seeking Buyout, Should Knicks Gamble?

Now if Porzingis followed Nowitzki’s trajectory of winning a NBA Championship as well, that would be a dream come true to all Knicks fans.

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