WEST POINT, N.Y. -- New York Knicks great Willis Reed has spent the past few days sitting beside Phil Jackson, observing the team’s training camp practices.

He likes what he’s seen thus far.

"I really believe that we’re going to have a great improvement in our performance this year on the court," Reed said Friday. "Everybody seems to be working hard. I think the level of skill, you’ve got a lot of young players who have pretty much been in the league and have got some experience. They’ve got potential."

Reed was also at West Point last fall for the Knicks training camp. Most – including Jackson – expected the Knicks to compete for a playoff spot last season.

But the team won a franchise-low 17 games in a nightmare campaign.

So what went wrong?

"I just don’t think there was good chemistry, and I think that was a problem," Reed said.

The Hall of Famer, who won two titles with the Knicks, sees a different mindset among this year’s group.

“I just think the chemistry is better. And that’s always a positive,” he said.

Only four Knicks remain from last year’s training camp roster. Gone are J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Andrea Bargnani and Amar’e Stoudemire.

They’ve been replaced by Robin Lopez, Kyle O’Quinn, Derrick Williams, Arron Afflalo, Kevin Seraphin and Sasha Vujacic. The Knicks also added rookies Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant in the draft.

“These guys seem to like playing together. They seem like they’re a good group of people together,” Reed said.

Reed predicts that Porzingis, the 7-3 rookie who missed the morning practice Friday due to knee soreness, will end up in the starting five.

“He’s got to get stronger, learn the game, but he’s got very good skills,” Reed said. “Now it’s a matter of him learning how to play our game. I think he can do something that most guys his size don’t do well and that’s shoot the ball.”

KP sits again: The Knicks are taking a cautious approach with Porzingis’ sore knee. They held him out of practice Friday morning to rest it. He’s missed two straight practices due to the injury.

Porzingis said Friday that he no longer feels any pain in the knee and he expects to practice Saturday. But he also said Thursday that he’d be practicing Friday. The Knicks have insisted, though, that the injury is minor and they are just being prudent.

“He’s probably frustrated, I guess with me and our training staff, because we’re telling him that he can’t (practice),” Coach Derek Fisher said of the rookie. “It’s not that he doesn’t want to (practice). It’s not that he can’t move or he couldn’t participate. We’re seeing really good things from him. We want to see that for 82 games during the season and not for 35 days during the preseason.”

Fisher sees Vujacic as a leader: Fisher hopes that Vujacic, his ex-teammate with the Los Angeles Lakers, can serve in a leadership role for the Knicks. New York inked Vujacic to a one-year guaranteed contract over the summer.

“He’s much more of a leader since we played together. Those are things that we’re looking for from him,” Fisher said. “I think he’s helped a lot of our guys to feel more comfortable with what we’re trying to do offensively because Sasha recognizes where the shots are, where the plays are that can be made. He’s kind of a guy you can copy offensively in terms of when you’re open you should be shooting the ball, you don’t have to second-guess yourself, just go out and play with some confidence. That’s who he is.”