Kristaps Porzingis likely to start at power forward for Knicks in Wednesday’s preseason opener
BY STEFAN BONDY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 4:54 PM A A A

Kristaps Porzingis is set to make his Garden debut on Wednesday in a preseason tilt.

Kristaps Porzingis is easily spotted on the streets of New York, or anywhere really, because he’s taller than 99.999 percent of humans.

Knick fans have learned to recognize him as something other than the unknown entity they booed on draft night. The 20-year-old is now the savior.

“Yeah people see me and say, ‘K.P., you better be healthy and bring us a championship.’ Stuff like that,” Porzingis said.

Welcome to New York kid. No pressure. Just end a 43-year drought.

Following a summer wave of hype and hope, the 7-3 Latvian is making his Garden debut Wednesday in the preseason opener – an exhibition against Brazilian team Paschoalotto/Bauru. Coach Derek Fisher indicated that Porzingis would start at power forward, but he stopped short of a commitment.

“I think we’re pretty close and we’ll talk (Tuesday evening) as a staff about what we feel about Kristaps,” Fisher said.

Porzingis, whose only previous game experience in the U.S. was during Summer League, acknowledged he has to keep his emotions in check.

“I’m not nervous, I’m just excited,” said Porzingis, who looked a little nervous after Tuesday’s practice. “The atmosphere is going to be great.”

Knicks fans have come a long way since booing the selection of Kristaps Porzingis in June.

“Probably the fans know me a little better,” he added. “And now I just got to prove that I can play on the court, not just talking. So tomorrow’s the first day, the first step. I have to play as hard as I can… My first official game in the NBA. This is a dream come true, for sure, and especially to represent New York. And to play my first game at MSG will be a dream come true.“

Fisher leaning towards starting Porzingis is a bit of a surprise considering the Knicks already have a big center in 7-footer Robin Lopez. But the coach likes the idea of establishing a Twin Towers dynamic in the paint, deterring opposition from driving while gobbling up boards.

“Their ability to protect the rim,” Fisher said. “Kris is a versatile offensive player so there are a lot of things we can do with him on the floor, not necessarily a traditional big lineup. He plays like a big in some respects but he’s also a stretch (power forward) in some respects. So that’s the attraction to why we drafted him as well as he likes defending and changing shots. Robin’s a really good passer from the high post, great rim protector and great offensive rebounder. So when we have that kind of size on the floor hopefully we can punish teams on the interior offensively and defensively. But we still have floor spacing because of Kristaps ability to shoot the ball.”

Of course, the size can leave the Knicks susceptible to transition points on kick outs from the opposition. Fisher addressed that conundrum while working in a little dig at the team’s star, Carmelo Anthony.

“Kris runs (back on defense) well. Melo can run well -- we just got to see if we can encourage him to run every time,” he said, smiling.

I believe Lopez, KP, Melo is our best front court combination.

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=52476&page=2

Fisher must have read my post earlier today.

blkexec wrote:

I believe Lopez, KP, Melo is our best front court combination.

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=52476&page=2

Fisher must have read my post earlier today.

fitzfarm wrote:I'd have to say kp should start from day one.. Kid is the most skilled and he is the future face of the franchise..also between him and Lopez teams will be very afraid to go inside. Kp also opens up the floor for Melo with sharp shooting. I still see him only averaging 25 min a game at first but maybe 30 to 35 towards the end of the season

Best line up
Lopez
Kp
Melo
AA
Grant

Also in the east that's a playoff starting 5

mreinman wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:I'd have to say kp should start from day one.. Kid is the most skilled and he is the future face of the franchise..also between him and Lopez teams will be very afraid to go inside. Kp also opens up the floor for Melo with sharp shooting. I still see him only averaging 25 min a game at first but maybe 30 to 35 towards the end of the season

Best line up
Lopez
Kp
Melo
AA
Grant

Also in the east that's a playoff starting 5

pretty bad at guard

nixluva wrote:

mreinman wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:I'd have to say kp should start from day one.. Kid is the most skilled and he is the future face of the franchise..also between him and Lopez teams will be very afraid to go inside. Kp also opens up the floor for Melo with sharp shooting. I still see him only averaging 25 min a game at first but maybe 30 to 35 towards the end of the season

Best line up
Lopez
Kp
Melo
AA
Grant

Also in the east that's a playoff starting 5

pretty bad at guard

Man WTF are you talking about? Why would that be "pretty bad" at the guard spot? In what way? Afflalo is hurt right now anyway but as a tandem I don't see anything wrong with that combo if that's what they went with. We don't have any bad guards this year IMO. I think it's probably going to be Jose and Sasha for tomorrow.

Agreed 100 percent

After AA is healthy

Sg AA,Galloway, Greek
Pg grant,Jose trade bait Caldron, I hope Travis mvp of ncaa T gets third pg

That's above average back Court esp with j steal of draft. Natural leader grant .

fitzfarm wrote:A 23 year old rookie in grant is not going to suck he's a pros pro . Only reason note dame was relevant .. Kid wills his teams to victory

you need to stop overrating our rookies. How about letting him prove himself first.

I like the pick a lot but smartly, I have very low expectation from him as a rookie.

CrushAlot wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:

nixluva wrote:

mreinman wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:I'd have to say kp should start from day one.. Kid is the most skilled and he is the future face of the franchise..also between him and Lopez teams will be very afraid to go inside. Kp also opens up the floor for Melo with sharp shooting. I still see him only averaging 25 min a game at first but maybe 30 to 35 towards the end of the season

Best line up
Lopez
Kp
Melo
AA
Grant

Also in the east that's a playoff starting 5

pretty bad at guard

Man WTF are you talking about? Why would that be "pretty bad" at the guard spot? In what way? Afflalo is hurt right now anyway but as a tandem I don't see anything wrong with that combo if that's what they went with. We don't have any bad guards this year IMO. I think it's probably going to be Jose and Sasha for tomorrow.

Agreed 100 percent

After AA is healthy

Sg AA,Galloway, Greek
Pg grant,Jose trade bait Caldron, I hope Travis mvp of ncaa T gets third pg

That's above average back Court esp with j steal of draft. Natural leader grant .

I agree. I think the afflalo signing was a really good one. I also think the impact of a healthy Jose is being underrated.

haha ... did you ever think that perhaps some of you are homers :-)

how do you think our back court is rated by non knick fans? Pretty bad.

Our front court is good though.

nixluva wrote:

mreinman wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:A 23 year old rookie in grant is not going to suck he's a pros pro . Only reason note dame was relevant .. Kid wills his teams to victory

you need to stop overrating our rookies. How about letting him prove himself first.

I like the pick a lot but smartly, I have very low expectation from him as a rookie.

WTF makes you're take smart? How do you know how the kid is gonna perform? He's got talent and he's more mature than most rookies. What in particular do you think is gonna stop Jerian from having a good rookie year? No one is saying he's gonna be perfect but he can have a good ROOKIE level season. It's not impossible as you seem to be implying. You sound like you've never seen a player have a good rookie season.

wtf? its a fukking prediction .... geez