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New York Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis Is A Basketball Anomaly

By Maxwell Ogden

Dec 20, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New York Knicks may have been chided for drafting Kristaps Porzingis, but team president Phil Jackson found a basketball anomaly in the 7’3″ sensation.

Dec 20, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /

Say what you will about Phil Jackson, but without him as team president, the New York Knicks wouldn’t have Kristaps Porzingis. No one—not the fans, the media, nor the players—went into the 2015 NBA Draft asking the Knicks to select Porzingis.

The scattered few who called for Porzingis to be the next star of the Knicks were doing so based off of YouTube highlights and rumored measurements with minimal other data.

The fans and media had a field day when Carmelo Anthony went to a New York Yankees game with Justise Winslow. Those same individuals hypothesized that it was half past time for the Knicks to embrace the need for a star-caliber point guard and select Emmanuel Mudiay.

There were even crowds in favor of Willie Cauley-Stein, praying for Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell, and pondering whether Frank Kaminsky could be worth the reach.

Guilty as we all were of thinking in this way, it didn’t take very long before Porzingis turned critics into fans. The decent individuals have apologized and swallowed their pride, and even those who haven’t are singing his praises.

100 games into his NBA career, Porzingis has already established himself as a basketball anomaly. Here are five examples of what makes him so special.

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