The coexistence of Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis in the Garden spotlight has been a success thus far. Now it has to last.

The Latvian rookie has become an instant fan favorite after hearing draft-night boos and is the biggest reason for optimism after a last season’s dreadful 17-65 campaign. Anthony has found his footing after a slow start following knee surgery last season and has played a significant part in the team’s modest, yet noteworthy, 6-6 beginning.

Anthony has received criticism outside the organization for how he treated Jeremy Lin during/after the Linsanity craze. And Amar’e Stoudemire has not been shy about taking pot shots at his former teammate’s unwillingness to share the ball.

“I think he’s trying what he can do to win and trusting his teammates and the talent,” NBA TV analyst Grant Hill said of Anthony.

“And so, it is good to see. He could easily say we are going through a rebuilding stage. There’s a lot of new faces, but he’s got the support. [Langston] Galloway has been huge and [Anthony has] been picking and choosing his spots. What I like is that he’s making good basketball plays and balancing that with his aggressiveness. I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen.”

But it’s Porzingis who has been on the receiving end of the Garden’s “MVP” chants and featured on back pages. Anthony has been nothing but gracious and supportive of Porzingis in comments.

“I like his toughness, his willingness to get in there and mix it up,” Hill said of Porzingis, who had 29 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday against the Hornets, while Anthony — rather quietly — had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

“He’s had some good putbacks. He’s a player. The key things for the Knicks is that they continue to work hard and believe in themselves, not get too full of themselves. It has been one of the pleasant surprises this year.”

While most are just getting to know Porzingis, Fran Fraschilla, who went from St. John’s coach to ESPN’s foreign scout, has been salivating over the big man’s talent for some time.

“You can tell the kid wants to be in New York, he wants the pressure and people are finding out he’s a little tougher than we thought,” Fraschilla said. “He’s 20 percent of what he’s going to be in five years — that’s the scary thought. He’s not even right for that offense right now because everything goes through Carmelo. At a certain point in his career, he’s going to be the focal point and he’ll be a superstar.”

That’s why Fraschilla was one of the few who thought the Knicks were wise to use the No. 4 pick on the European, even though it was widely unpopular among fans, while ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith nearly had a stroke over the selection.

“You go into the NBA. It’s a man’s league and that’s why so many rookies struggle. But he did a lot of his struggling as a young player in the [Spanish] ACB League,” Fraschilla said.

“We saw that toughness and he wasn’t going to back away from rough physical play and it’s serving him well right now.”

But, yeah, I hope Melo realizes that people will take notice if he continues to facilitate and make his teammates better.

Fraschilla thinks Porzingis can have success in the post in Year 1 -- with a caveat.
“[He's] not going to be effective against the best post defenders in the league,” Fraschilla says. “He’ll be able to post up second-unit guys because of his size. You put a 6-9 power forward on him, because he’s going to be a stretch 4, and he can post those guys up and score over them. But he’s going to be mauled by the Z-Bos [Zach Randolph] of the world.”

Have not seen him getting "mauled" yet. Sure he's been scored on, and looked like a rookie at times, but I don't recall watching a game and thinking he was not ready physically for the NBA. Very raw post game, but you can see he has some moves he can work on.

Simply amazing how most folks, including myself, miscalculated his ability to battle around the basket, and he is rebounding better than he ever did in Europe.

You always like to see the comments from former players- they obviously have a much better gauge about what they are seeing than writers or one of us.

Charles Smith, who was at a recent Knicks game, was quoted as saying that in 3 years or so, KP would be a top 10 player in the league. Not sure if this is going to be true, but a lot of ex NBA players seem to be noticing the kid.

Hopefully this is a rebirth for Anthony. He can be a much more efficient player and have more energy at the end of games if the kind of play we've been seeing can continue. If I was him I would challenge myself and set a goal of 5 assists/game and a shooting % in the high 40's (which would mean better shot selection) . I think he's been showing that this is possible, and not only will guys like Gallo and KP will benefit, but Melo will face fewer double teams, so he can be more successful scoring.

Also heard some talk show guys talking about a two man game with Anthony and KP playing off each other. I know some had the midrange shot, but these guys should work well together 17 feet and in.

A lot to think about...hopefully things continue to evolve for this team and we're not just going through an early season optimism stage.

WaltLongmire wrote:Most ironic thing I take from the article, although not touched upon, is that Fraschilla, who pushed for Porzingis more than any analyst- and was the guy who really got me looking more closely at the Latvian, thought that KP was going to have physical issues early on and that he would get pushed around.

Fraschilla thinks Porzingis can have success in the post in Year 1 -- with a caveat.
“[He's] not going to be effective against the best post defenders in the league,” Fraschilla says. “He’ll be able to post up second-unit guys because of his size. You put a 6-9 power forward on him, because he’s going to be a stretch 4, and he can post those guys up and score over them. But he’s going to be mauled by the Z-Bos [Zach Randolph] of the world.”

Have not seen him getting "mauled" yet. Sure he's been scored on, and looked like a rookie at times, but I don't recall watching a game and thinking he was not ready physically for the NBA. Very raw post game, but you can see he has some moves he can work on.

Simply amazing how most folks, including myself, miscalculated his ability to battle around the basket, and he is rebounding better than he ever did in Europe.

You always like to see the comments from former players- they obviously have a much better gauge about what they are seeing than writers or one of us.

Charles Smith, who was at a recent Knicks game, was quoted as saying that in 3 years or so, KP would be a top 10 player in the league. Not sure if this is going to be true, but a lot of ex NBA players seem to be noticing the kid.

Hopefully this is a rebirth for Anthony. He can be a much more efficient player and have more energy at the end of games if the kind of play we've been seeing can continue. If I was him I would challenge myself and set a goal of 5 assists/game and a shooting % in the high 40's (which would mean better shot selection) . I think he's been showing that this is possible, and not only will guys like Gallo and KP will benefit, but Melo will face fewer double teams, so he can be more successful scoring.

Also heard some talk show guys talking about a two man game with Anthony and KP playing off each other. I know some had the midrange shot, but these guys should work well together 17 feet and in.

A lot to think about...hopefully things continue to evolve for this team and we're not just going through an early season optimism stage.

I didn't think KP would have too many problems in the post, because the old school centers like Shaq or bruisers like Barkley were phasing out. KP thin frame and all around game is now the norm. So he's entering the league at the right time.

blkexec wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Most ironic thing I take from the article, although not touched upon, is that Fraschilla, who pushed for Porzingis more than any analyst- and was the guy who really got me looking more closely at the Latvian, thought that KP was going to have physical issues early on and that he would get pushed around.

Fraschilla thinks Porzingis can have success in the post in Year 1 -- with a caveat.
“[He's] not going to be effective against the best post defenders in the league,” Fraschilla says. “He’ll be able to post up second-unit guys because of his size. You put a 6-9 power forward on him, because he’s going to be a stretch 4, and he can post those guys up and score over them. But he’s going to be mauled by the Z-Bos [Zach Randolph] of the world.”

Have not seen him getting "mauled" yet. Sure he's been scored on, and looked like a rookie at times, but I don't recall watching a game and thinking he was not ready physically for the NBA. Very raw post game, but you can see he has some moves he can work on.

Simply amazing how most folks, including myself, miscalculated his ability to battle around the basket, and he is rebounding better than he ever did in Europe.

You always like to see the comments from former players- they obviously have a much better gauge about what they are seeing than writers or one of us.

Charles Smith, who was at a recent Knicks game, was quoted as saying that in 3 years or so, KP would be a top 10 player in the league. Not sure if this is going to be true, but a lot of ex NBA players seem to be noticing the kid.

Hopefully this is a rebirth for Anthony. He can be a much more efficient player and have more energy at the end of games if the kind of play we've been seeing can continue. If I was him I would challenge myself and set a goal of 5 assists/game and a shooting % in the high 40's (which would mean better shot selection) . I think he's been showing that this is possible, and not only will guys like Gallo and KP will benefit, but Melo will face fewer double teams, so he can be more successful scoring.

Also heard some talk show guys talking about a two man game with Anthony and KP playing off each other. I know some had the midrange shot, but these guys should work well together 17 feet and in.

A lot to think about...hopefully things continue to evolve for this team and we're not just going through an early season optimism stage.

I didn't think KP would have too many problems in the post, because the old school centers like Shaq or bruisers like Barkley were phasing out. KP thin frame and all around game is now the norm. So he's entering the league at the right time.

Even some of the stronger looking PFs are weak down low offensively.

Specialization trumps the complete game, I suppose.

herkyJerky wrote:"And Amar’e Stoudemire has not been shy about taking pot shots at his former teammate’s unwillingness to share the ball." LMAO what a joke. You can count on one hand how many times that dude passed the ball in a single game. Talk about ball-stopper?

As for Grant Hill, he doesn't annoy me like a lot of the other analysts, so I'm happy to hear it from him.

herkyJerky wrote:"And Amar’e Stoudemire has not been shy about taking pot shots at his former teammate’s unwillingness to share the ball." LMAO what a joke. You can count on one hand how many times that dude passed the ball in a single game. Talk about ball-stopper?

As for Grant Hill, he doesn't annoy me like a lot of the other analysts, so I'm happy to hear it from him.

EXACTLY::::))))))

Its like that kid that always makes tons troubles and he behaves ok for a couple of days ...