nixluva wrote:KP also seems to be less inclined to dabble in the night life, which I'm sure a lot of young guys partake of.

Night life is family Parchessi night and pierogis (which I know aren't Latvian, but I'm lazy).

ChuckBuck wrote:I personally think it'll be a race to the wire for both Towns and Porzingis. If the Knicks make the playoffs and KP continues his splendid play than he gets the edge. If he hits the rookie wall, and the team wanes for a bad stretch, then it goes to Towns once he snaps out of his current funk.

Either way, none of the other candidates are even close to sniffing ROY (Okafor, Mudiay, Turner, etc).

L.A. must really feel bummed about their pick. More so than Philly. Kobe would rather crash and burn the franchise down in his swan song, then relinquish the reins to a rookie. Sucks for Russell.

He IS the rookie wall.

bigbasketballs wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Once again, and I'm almost embarrassed to repeat it, because I continually say this- what is going on with KP shows how little many "expert" analysts really know about the players in the draft. This also includes many/most of us, and the guys who are being paid big bucks to make the picks for NBA teams.

I disagree with this somewhat.

KP has been projected as a top 5 pick long before he got on Knicks fans radars (we were looking higher). He was a potential lottery pick the year before.

The hardcore draft guys were pretty much in the ballpark the whole time.

A bunch of narrative crap then took over when mainstream attention turned to the top 4.

Understand I'm not suggesting I predicted this, but i did say KP was no more or less NBA ready than any other of the top freshmen.

Buying into the "two years away narrative" was a failure to whoever bought into it.

And he isn't being physically overwhelmed and hasn't missed a min due to injury. That too is just thumbnail thinking.

Following professional sports should teach you to - if nothing else - have an open mind. The most predictable thing about them is how hard they are to predict.

Even Jackson and Fisher were hesitant to project that he would be playing the minutes he's been playing with the success he's been showing.

I thought he would be playing 30MPG by the end of the year. I think by projected numbers were closer to the 10/6 range, with a few 20 pt games at the end of the year.

I always thought saying he was not as ready as other rookies was foolish, because he had played against better competition than most of the other guys is the draft. A big issue was his weight and strength, and when we found he was up to about 240, that made me think he might be more competitive than I had expected him to be.

I expect a lot of folks who thought he could have some success thought he would be more of a perimeter player, and not mix it up as much, and NONE of us would have predicted the rebounding numbers he's been putting up. Even a guy like Fran Fraschilla, who thought he could be the best player in the draft down the line cautioned people not to expect too much early on.

KP has been projected as a top 5 pick long before he got on Knicks fans radars (we were looking higher). He was a potential lottery pick the year before.

The hardcore draft guys were pretty much in the ballpark the whole time.

Was quite aware of this...I think the issue for some around here was that they fell in love with certain players- Mudiay, Winslow, WCS, etc., while also buying into the common wisdom that the "Big Three" included Towns, OK4, and Russell. And of course there was the Bargs/Weiss factor.

It does seem that we've been fortunate in getting him. Finally a little bit of luck for the franchise.

WaltLongmire wrote:

nixluva wrote:Towns uses way more energy in order to post the numbers he does. KP is much more conservative with how he plays. He's under control and he doesn't waste energy. If you watch him he has learned how to block shots and rebound without jumping. He saves his energy a lot more than people realize by simply using his length. KP also seems to be less inclined to dabble in the night life, which I'm sure a lot of young guys partake of.

I don't see Towns as a night life type of guy during the season...although I have no proof of this.

KG, Prince, and Miller might object to any stupidity by the young'uns, too.

Earlier in the season. It was said the Wolves let there players take a day off. Towns showed up the following day at 9am ready for work.

ChuckBuck wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:I dont see Porzingis hitting a rookie wall because of his experience playing pro ball in Spain. Hard to say if Towns will drop off. Towns doesn't just rely on his outside shot, he has the makings of a great post player. He has other options if his shot isnt falling. Could be close.

Towns already has. Could be early rookie wall, could be Minny struggling to find identity.

But KP will hit some kind of wall eventually.

Its inevitable.

It's what happened to Jerian, and what seems to have happened to Langston (Sophomore wall).

When it happens, I'm sure there'll be "What's wrong with KP" threads galore.

The drop off is what happens when defenses pick out rookie weaknesses and force them out of their comfort zone. Make Jeremy Lin go left. Either they can adapt or the speed and the skill of the nba is too much. Not sure there is a nba response to 7'3 and mobile. I would have said body him up, but that didn't work. He is scrappy. Teams are fouling him less though, so they are learning.

Ira wrote:Both KP and KAT are great rookies. KAT was playing better earlier in the season. KP is playing better right now. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But, as of right now, I'm no longer disappointed that we didn't get the first pick and land KAT.

Not getting the first pick forced Phil to be creative and trade timmy for a 1st rounder.

blkexec wrote:

Ira wrote:Both KP and KAT are great rookies. KAT was playing better earlier in the season. KP is playing better right now. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But, as of right now, I'm no longer disappointed that we didn't get the first pick and land KAT.

Not getting the first pick forced Phil to be creative and trade timmy for a 1st rounder.

nixluva wrote:

blkexec wrote:

Ira wrote:Both KP and KAT are great rookies. KAT was playing better earlier in the season. KP is playing better right now. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But, as of right now, I'm no longer disappointed that we didn't get the first pick and land KAT.

Not getting the first pick forced Phil to be creative and trade timmy for a 1st rounder.

I actually think he wanted to get another pick anyway. He's made sure to get more than one pick in both of his drafts. Let's not forget about Willy. Phil has been pretty aggressive in looking for young talent, tho it seems that some don't really acknowledge it. I think Phil was pretty much done with THJ. I don't think Phil liked his lack of defense or his BB IQ.

fishmike wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:My biggest problem with Krispy is his propensity to settle for 18 foot shots. Step behind the line or drive. Statistically, that 18 footer, while sweet, lowers his TS%. And It takes pressure off the D. I'm just not a fan of the 18 ft jumpshot

who cares? He sinks that shot without thought or effort. Ewing was another big that learned to feast from there. Its easy offense for the same knocks you just mentioned. Want to take 18 footers? Fine... swish, swish swish.. Im not saying it should be a focus but when you shoot like KP does and the defense simply gives it to you make em pay.

I just checked the #s... they are insane. Look at his FG% from that spot:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/porzikr01.html

KP is shooting the long 2 at 53% (33% from 3). Thats fantastic. I have no doubt his 3 pt % will go up, he was really cold there to start the season, but his shot selection has been good. Dont worry about TS%... get good shots and hit em. The rest will take care of itself.

Yeah, his 18-20ft jumper is automatic.

Someone made the good point that players who played in Europe always have an adjustment period to the NBA three, because it's a step back from the European three. Dirk had it - heck Dirk shot 20% his first YEAR. KP shot 20% his first two weeks and then adjusted quickly. Calderon had an adjustment, etc.

He's still learning when and where to shoot, but that 18-20ft shot seems automatic for him. I don't think that's ever a bad shot for him. It also creates tons of space for Melo, Rolo, and the rest of the team if he's hitting that.

In my group I was the one happy when we drafted him. Was I "Nalod the Predictor"? Hell no, but in his work out video when he did the drop step move to jump back on a jump shot to the three point line was awesome. The kind of thing guards do. Not 7-3 guys. That told me a lot that this kid could be different.

Regarding the remaing 15 years on his career I would expect him to fill out and his game changes. I pray he can be healthy in a world most bigs can't stay that way.

I put Regarding skill and length only Kareem, Sampson and KP have shown me this kind of fundamentals at someone over 7 feet. Walton had an amazing motor and nice shot. Ewing could shoot but no handle. Im not talking defense or athletic prowess. There the line gets long. Im just talking fundamentals and ease of shooting and ball movement at an early age. In the Era of DJordan or Javale MCgee with low skill but are great athletes its refreshing to see a big with these skills and its obvious it takes a lot of hard work to get that. Most guys that size get far on their height but the NBA is unforgiving.

We took a chance on this pick and early returns are encouraging.