Kristaps Porzingis is the most important player on the Knicks in a number of ways. He’s the most talented young big man the franchise has had in some time. He’s marketable, and fans love him. And, more importantly, he’s a franchise player and young leader the Knicks need to build a franchise around.
Keeping Porzingis healthy is a huge priority for the team, especially after he suffered a non-contact ankle injury earlier in the season. But the man responsible for keeping Porzingis strong and healthy is not an employee of the Knicks organization.
The New York Daily News published a feature about Porzingis’ personal trainer, Dr. Carlon Colker, on Thursday. The trainer is described in detail as an incredibly muscular guy who asked the writer, Stefan Bondy, to try pushing him over multiple times.
Porzingis raves about Colker and the way he’s managed his strength and stamina, especially over the last offseason.
“At this point, he just knows my body really well,” Porzingis told the paper. “He knows what I need all the time — when I’m tired, when I’m not, whenever.”
Porzingis said he went through extensive tests in Spain over the summer where it was determined he was “overtraining” and getting tired too easily. But now, he seems very happy with the training program he’s on, with an emphasis placed on resting.
It’s not all fun and video games, though.
“When KP first came to me, it was about a lot of injuries because of a disconnection. He stayed away from the basket, he shied away from the inside. For good reason. Because if he went inside to diversify his game, he would get banged up and hard,” says Colker, who works at two local hospitals and from his personal office in Greenwich, dubbed ‘Peak Fitness.’ “Because KP’s body wasn’t ready. The physical language wasn’t there. The wires weren’t connected yet.”
Colker’s past doesn’t present an entirely rosy story, though. He was implicated in an Ephedra scandal and he himself calls his workouts “unusual.” Still, what seems to be important here is that Porzingis is happy and he trusts Colker. So it seems that Knicks fans have to trust him, too.
