New York Knicks: Evaluating Kristaps Porzingis and How He Can Improve

Kristaps Porzingis has proven to be the New York Knicks’ best draft pick in over 20 years. His potential is rising despite a rough rookie season.

He’s had a tough season, but Kristaps Porzingis has still proven himself as a much needed piece for the New York Knicks. There are still a handful of games left for New York to play this season, which means more opportunities for Porzingis to develop his skill before heading into the off-season.

The perks that surround Porzingis are quite evident: He’s extremely tall, has quality shooting form and has the ability to send shots back in time with his excellent timing on blocks. However, it’s going to take some honing for Porzingis to really optimize his role on this roster.

He may be tall, but he doesn’t quite have the strength to do all the right things on the court. For example, Porzingis is interchangeable between the power-forward and center positions. Though he has the height to shoot over the top and the ability to put the ball on the floor and make a smart basketball play, Porzingis doesn’t have the strength to back down player at both positions.

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Porzingis has shown obvious difficulty when backing players down — Draymond Green being one of the prominent ones. Porzingis needs to be able to improve his back-to-the-basket game if he wishes to better his field-goal percentage near the basket. According to Basketball-Reference, Porzingis is averaging below 40 percent on field-goals from three to sixteen feet away from the basket. Though some of those field-goals come from shots facing the basket, one must take into account the amount of times Porzingis has successfully posted up and scored from a turned-around position.

He’s fully capable of driving with the ball and finishing at the rim, and perhaps that’s where his game might remain. However, if he really puts the effort in and gains enough weight to balance out his lanky frame, then Porzingis can start to score down low without fail.

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Just as importantly as improving on the offensive end, Porzingis needs to solidify his role on defense. This is where gaining some weight can help as well. Since he can be put at multiple positions, Porzingis has been put up against guys that can back him down with ease. Per NBA.com, Porzingis allows 51 percent of field-goal attempts to be scored within six feet of the basket. A bulk of that scoring is possible because of how weak Porzingis is compared to the players that are forcing their way inside the paint.

Despite his blocking ability, Porzingis is unable to hold his ground against the tougher players in the league, and he needs to be able to do that in order to make his defensive presence more dominant. And of course, staying out of foul trouble goes hand-in-hand with being able to keep players from getting to the basket. With a bit more strength and better focus on block timing, Porzingis can easily become the best defender the Knicks have seen in this millennium.

Aside from his play on the court, Kristaps has worked so well for the Knicks because of his personality. Everyone on the team likes him and encourages him to do better no matter what mistake he makes. It is always apparent that his team is talking to him and teaching him when he heads to the bench. I think the most important relationship Kristaps could have made was with Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is the leader the team needs, and since he likes Porzingis, he has someone to guide for the time being.

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To become as deadly as possible, Porzingis needs to prepare his body for the next level of development. Although his rookie year has been solid, there is still so much growth for Porzingis.

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