nixluva wrote:This is one of the most exciting aspects of the hiring of Hornacek. His impact on KP and his development. We've talked about this before but Phil got JH for KP. The time is now to make sure KP's game is developed and maximized properly. This could be the combination to make it happen. JH and his concepts could be great for KP and by extension all of our young talent. It's gonna be so interesting to follow the progress of this team from now on.

by Maxwell Ogden 4 hours ago Follow @MaxwellOgden

New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek asks: why can’t Kristaps Porzingis be one of the Top 5 players in the NBA?

The most critical aspect of Jeff Hornacek‘s tenure as head coach of the New York Knicks will be how he develops Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis is the future face of the franchise, and has already begun turning heads.

During his introductory press conference, Hornacek outlined how he plans to utilize Kristaps Porzingis, and asked an interesting question: why can’t he be the best player in the NBA?

That may seem outlandish, but Porzingis is unlike any player we’ve ever seen before. He’s physically overwhelming at 7’3″ with a 7’7″ wingspan, and has a rare combination of athleticism, shooting range, and defensive prowess

Thus, coach Hornacek asked a question that many Knicks fans have quietly pondered: what’s stopping Porzingis from one day becoming the best player in the NBA?

Hornacek says of Porzingis' size, skill set: "Why can't he be a top-5 player in this league? Why can't he be the top player in this league?"

In 2015-16, Porzingis became the first rookie in NBA history to record at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 75 3-point field goals. He’s a 7’3″ power forward who can play center, switch onto perimeter players when defending the pick-and-roll, and shoot the 3-ball.

Porzingis also made 81 3-point field goals, which is the most by any player 7’2″ or taller in NBA history—and he set that record as a rookie.

Defensively, Porzingis held opponents to 41.7 percent shooting from the field during his rookie season. He was No. 8 in the NBA in blocks per game and blocks per 48 minutes, and cracked the Top 20 in defensive field goal percentage at the rim.

At 20 years old, Porzingis is already a plus defender who can hit the 3-ball, shoot the lights out from midrange, terrorize teams on the offensive glass, and has shown the ability to operate from the post.

Hornacek plans to put every one of those skills to use, per James Herbert of CBS Sports.

“You don’t see a guy 7-3 that can do multiple things,” Hornacek said. “And in our offense, you could see him in some high pick-and-rolls out of the sets we have, fading for 3s. At 7-3, I still believe you can get him on the post, and if a team wants to try to play him with a small guy and get up into him, then we can throw him down there and take advantage of his height in there.

“When you have a guy at 20 years old and see what he can do already, there’s gonna be high expectations,” Hornacek continued. “And we’re gonna help to push him to get to those levels.”
That sounds like a coach with a plan and a vision, and that’s something to get behind.

Whether you’re a Knicks fan or not, there’s no way around how dynamic Porzingis’ game is. He’s been compared to Dirk Nowitzki offensively, but even if he fails to reach that high of a level as a scorer, he’s already a better defensive player than Nowitzki ever was.

That’s no slight on Nowitzki, who’s one of the game’s all-time greats, but in his first year with the team, Porzingis helped the Knicks rank No. 1 in defensive field goal percentage at the rim.

If coached and developed properly, Porzingis could easily become one of the league’s elite players. Whether he becomes the best player in the world or not, he has all of the tools to be a dominant force on both ends.

The fact that New York just hired a coach who acknowledged the need to develop Porzingis is a very promising sign.

For what it’s worth, this is the same Jeff Hornacek who played with Karl Malone during both of his MVP seasons.

http://dailyknicks.com/2016/06/03/knicks-jeff-hornacek-believes-kristaps-porzingis-can-be-elite/

Don't we all think that?? I know i do.

Kemet wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:We all knew KP will be elite. Once we get a better backcourt he will be pretty unstoppable

I didnt know that!
I watch a player be booed on draft night to come out HUNGRY in August summer league, plus came-out extra hungry in November n December to start the regular season to make mockery of all of us that booed on draft night .. Plus at the start of the season Porzingis received so much HYPE HYPE HYPE! Plus receiving a lot of NY super-star media attention took the hunger out of Porzingis performance early in January.
The months of January February March Porzingis star-talent n strong Hunger disappeared

Or....maybe he hit the so-called "rookie wall"? You know, a good percentage of all rookies have trouble with in their first year.

It wasn't a foregone conclusion that KP would be elite. He was definitely considered a high risk high reward pick and nobody would've batted an eye had he faltered.

New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek asks: why can’t Kristaps Porzingis be one of the Top 5 players in the NBA?

How does this conceivably reflect Jackson's commitment to unselfish TEAM achievement (?)

Hornacek hasn't shown me anything good so far . . .