I wont lie.. the thought of a skinny jumpshooting Euro does not sit well with me at pick 4, but he averaged 11/5 and a block while shooting 55% in the 2nd best BB league in the world. The scouts, everyone who's followed him says the same... he's pretty much a sure thing to be a good player with star upside.

I think about building blocks and Monroe just turned 25, is very good scoring in the post, an excellent ball mover and excellent rebounder. Not a rim protecter, but certainly a lane clogger and powerful guy. He's very good at center, not a good fit at PF. However if you look at him and Porizingis as a pair there is youth, versatility and plenty of upside as a group.

Still leaves A LOT of help needed in the backcourt which currently looks like this:
PG Jose
SG Galloway
bench: THjr
unsigned: Shved

TripleThreat wrote:A lineup of Porzingas, Monroe, Melo ( forced to play the wing in this scenario) and THJr and Calderon will at some point have to share the floor together in this scenario.

No offense, but I refuse to see a starting front line defense of Melo, Monroe and Porzingas as a "good fit"

You know how in video games, sometimes you can put the Player 1 on God Mode against the computer opponent. Meaning no matter what you do, you can't die.

That frontline defense is like basically giving any player on any other team offensive God Mode on the Knicks.

A fringe 15th man like Dwight Buycks could drop 60 points on that frontline defense.

If you score 100 a night but you allow the opponent to score 150 a night, that's not progress.

Stein is another option and he will definitely improve our defense playing with monroe....but people will question the offense.

I think its going to be hard to add monroe and not have some holes somewhere. I dont want melo guarding a SF....who really a tall SG. I rather have harris or Carroll type at SF. Let melo abuse the slower PF....the problem is what type of center works with melo at PF? Marc Gasol, Aldridge, Stein, Monroe

What helps the defense is Monroe's rebouding at the 5. He's very good there.

You still have money to spend also.

Rebounding improves, floor spacing improves, frontcourt gets much younger and there is some versatility there

As you can see if Porzingis had more minutes those numbers would have been exactly the same. So in conclusion, Porzingis is a top two way player in this draft, perhaps #1 overall two way player. A true stretch forward/center. He would compliment Monroe 100% better than WCS.

P.S. Willie "Thrill" Stein. Really ? Seems a bit full of himself and when compared to Krisp, whose family is all basketball i think WCS will not realize his potential as much.

for the guys blasting these ideas like triplethreat, I would prefer to start my rebuild around Marc Gasol, Jimmy Butler and Towns, but those guys arent coming here and arent options. We have to look at whats available, who makes sense to bring in and how do we put those guys in a position to suceed.

fishmike wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:A lineup of Porzingas, Monroe, Melo ( forced to play the wing in this scenario) and THJr and Calderon will at some point have to share the floor together in this scenario.

No offense, but I refuse to see a starting front line defense of Melo, Monroe and Porzingas as a "good fit"

You know how in video games, sometimes you can put the Player 1 on God Mode against the computer opponent. Meaning no matter what you do, you can't die.

That frontline defense is like basically giving any player on any other team offensive God Mode on the Knicks.

A fringe 15th man like Dwight Buycks could drop 60 points on that frontline defense.

If you score 100 a night but you allow the opponent to score 150 a night, that's not progress.

No... its not.

On offense it opens up thing a bit, and that's important to me if we have Anthony and Monroe on the same front line. Not necessarily in love with Monroe, but if you bring him in to pair with Anthony, you have to have someone who can consistently hit from the outside.

Don't know if Porzingis is ready to be at the 5, yet, but I don't see him getting bullied on D by the 4s in the league for the most part. His length and athletic ability alone will give him a natural advantage if a smaller 4 tries to take him low.

A good post-up player is a vanishing breed, which is why OK4's skills are so coveted these days. Look what Mosgov is able to do in the post as a defender by just staying in front of his man putting his arms up and going up vertically, and he does not have great agility in the pit. Against most players in the post, especially with the rules protecting offensive players, this might be the way to go at this time in the NBA. At center, Monroe can at least do this. I would not want him playing PF too much, to be honest, unless he comes in slimmer and quicker.

Monroe is not a shot blocker, but at 6'11"(w/shoes) and a 7'2.5" wingspan, and with a strong base, he is better at center at this point unless he comes in much slimmer. To be effective, IMO, he has to be a positional/stay in front of your man defender. Porzingis averages 1 BPG, and he almost averages 1 SPG, despite playing about 21 MPG. With his length, relative quickness, and lack of strength at this point- he would seem to be most useful as an off the ball defender.

A Calderon and THJ tandem does not exactly inspire defensive confidence, though. Expect they will see limited time together.

jbeachboy wrote:whats difference between porzingis and bargnani?

-BBall IQ (Bargs is an idiot, where as Porzingis grew up around ball, and his parents were professional ball players)
-Work ethic (Bargs is a bum, Porzingis actually works hard)
-Passion for the game (Bargs has no passion for anything)
-Shooting (Porzingis looks to have the potential to be a great shooter- he's already a good one. Bargs can't shoot)

etc etc- please tell me why you think they are the same, Splat? because they are tall and white and from overseas?