New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek asks: why can’t Kristaps Porzingis be one of the Top 5 players in the NBA?
The most critical aspect of Jeff Hornacek‘s tenure as head coach of the New York Knicks will be how he develops Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis is the future face of the franchise, and has already begun turning heads.
During his introductory press conference, Hornacek outlined how he plans to utilize Kristaps Porzingis, and asked an interesting question: why can’t he be the best player in the NBA?
That may seem outlandish, but Porzingis is unlike any player we’ve ever seen before. He’s physically overwhelming at 7’3″ with a 7’7″ wingspan, and has a rare combination of athleticism, shooting range, and defensive prowess
Thus, coach Hornacek asked a question that many Knicks fans have quietly pondered: what’s stopping Porzingis from one day becoming the best player in the NBA?
Hornacek says of Porzingis' size, skill set: "Why can't he be a top-5 player in this league? Why can't he be the top player in this league?"
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) June 3, 2016
Fandom aside, there’s not much standing in his way.
In 2015-16, Porzingis became the first rookie in NBA history to record at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 75 3-point field goals. He’s a 7’3″ power forward who can play center, switch onto perimeter players when defending the pick-and-roll, and shoot the 3-ball.
Porzingis also made 81 3-point field goals, which is the most by any player 7’2″ or taller in NBA history—and he set that record as a rookie.
Defensively, Porzingis held opponents to 41.7 percent shooting from the field during his rookie season. He was No. 8 in the NBA in blocks per game and blocks per 48 minutes, and cracked the Top 20 in defensive field goal percentage at the rim.
At 20 years old, Porzingis is already a plus defender who can hit the 3-ball, shoot the lights out from midrange, terrorize teams on the offensive glass, and has shown the ability to operate from the post.
Hornacek plans to put every one of those skills to use, per James Herbert of CBS Sports.
"“You don’t see a guy 7-3 that can do multiple things,” Hornacek said. “And in our offense, you could see him in some high pick-and-rolls out of the sets we have, fading for 3s. At 7-3, I still believe you can get him on the post, and if a team wants to try to play him with a small guy and get up into him, then we can throw him down there and take advantage of his height in there.“When you have a guy at 20 years old and see what he can do already, there’s gonna be high expectations,” Hornacek continued. “And we’re gonna help to push him to get to those levels.”"
That sounds like a coach with a plan and a vision, and that’s something to get behind.
Whether you’re a Knicks fan or not, there’s no way around how dynamic Porzingis’ game is. He’s been compared to Dirk Nowitzki offensively, but even if he fails to reach that high of a level as a scorer, he’s already a better defensive player than Nowitzki ever was.
That’s no slight on Nowitzki, who’s one of the game’s all-time greats, but in his first year with the team, Porzingis helped the Knicks rank No. 1 in defensive field goal percentage at the rim.
If coached and developed properly, Porzingis could easily become one of the league’s elite players. Whether he becomes the best player in the world or not, he has all of the tools to be a dominant force on both ends.
The fact that New York just hired a coach who acknowledged the need to develop Porzingis is a very promising sign.
For what it’s worth, this is the same Jeff Hornacek who played with Karl Malone during both of his MVP seasons.