Brian Windhorst is a big Kristaps Porzingis fan, and so, it seems, is his ESPN colleague, Marc Stein. Steiny Mo, an unrepentant Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki fan, spoke with the big German for a recent ESPN feature about the exciting Knicks rookie. In the piece published Friday, Dirk says of KP:
“He is for real.”
So far, Porizngis has played 13 games. That is a very low number. For his career, the Latvian rookie has never played more than 33 games in a single season, despite playing in the top European league (the Spanish ACB is considered by most as the best level of competition outside of the U.S.) for Cajasol Sevilla. That means KP — his preferred moniker, as we told you over the summer — hasn’t ever played more than your average Division 1 college basketball player who didn’t get an invite to the Big Dance.
“He is long. He is athletic,” Dirk tells Stein. “He is tough. He’s got a touch. He can put it on the floor.”
All of these things are true. He is well over seven feet tall, and he’s shown a unique ability to handle the ball despite that length; his putback dunks are already the stuff of legend.
“He is for real,” Nowitzki repeats. “Sky’s the limit.”
That’s great Nowitzki is so high on the rookie, and that New York Knicks fans are agog at what they’ve seen so far this season. But we’re not even in December. In fact, we’re not even past Thanksgiving. December is more than a week away, and we’re really worried that the hype, specifically the type of hype you can only find under New York City’s media glare, will blind KP’s arduous path ahead.
Because it’s not easy to play through an 82-game regular season, and it’s ever harder to slog through that six months only to play the most challenging basketball in the world during the NBA playoffs. But the accolades and the testimonials just keep coming, even from people who should know better.
As Stein notes his piece, Kristap’s first three weeks have been incredibly impressive. He became the youngest Knick in franchise history to record a 25-point, 10-rebound game; his early pace has him averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds, one block and one steal per 36 minutes, and only Robert Parish, Hakeem Olajuwon and Anvydas Sabonis have done that as NBA rookies. That’s terrific. But, again, time.
Scott Roth coached in Dallas when Nowitzki was drafted in 1999 and in Memphis in 2001 when Pau Gasol arrived. He was also hired by Sevilla to help KP adjust to the top ranks of the ACB. His enthusiasm for Porzingis is a tad more reserved than Stein or Nowitzki, but he’s also just as excited at what the Knicks power forward might actually become.
Roth thought Porzingis would “be an All-star in two to four years.” And while he knew KP “always had the toughness,” he “thought he would need more time for his body to catch up to him.
“He always had the toughness,” Roth tells Stein. “He’s always had the willingness to take the hit. He’s never shied away from contact. But the big surprise to me, to this point, is his rebounding. He’s holding his own around the basket.”
In Spain, KP only averaged 11 points and five rebounds in around 20 minutes a night, but Roth has an idea why he’s exceeding those numbers in his first 26 days at the NBA level.
“His numbers are better [in the NBA] because there’s a big difference in style of play,” Roth says. “Also because the refereeing is so much better, which gives him more freedom of movement. In the ACB, teams knew they could be physical with him and body him all the time and the refs would just let it happen.”
While his willingness to mix it up in the paint appears in stark contrast to the antiquated notion that European players possess less physical and mental resiliency than their American counterparts, it’s impossible not to view all the reverence for his first few weeks with a healthy dose of hesitance.
He’s so young, and the season is so young, not even a legend like Dirk can know where KP will end up. By the new year, Porzingis will be in uncharted territory for longevity and frequency of games; playing 3-4 games a week for six months can wear out even the toughest and best conditioned NBA veterans.
If we let KP get past the rookie wall in late January, then maybe we can start ascertaining where he’s headed these next few years. But lets hold off on crowning him Dirk’s heir apparent. All of us have to let him grow up a little bit, and find his way in his rookie campaign. Lets try to be a little more patient. If Dirk and Roth and Stein and Windhorst and countless others are offering up such paeans to his talent so early in the season, it stands to reason KP deserves that patience because he really might be special. But, like everything, time will be the ultimate arbitrator. Lets give him it.
(ESPN)
