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It’s Time to Stop Stalling and Move Kristaps Porzingis to Center
- Updated: December 25, 2016
NEW YORK — For all the promise the New York Knicks have shown this season—a 16-13 record, one of the top marks in the Eastern Conference—they’re still a team littered with flaws.
Their defense—which has allowed 107.5 points surrendered per 100 possessions, the NBA’s sixth-worst mark—has been atrocious. Their mediocre offense is putting up 104.6 points scored per 100 possessions and ranks 14th in the league.
They and the Memphis Grizzlies are the only two NBA teams with winning records and negative point differentials, though the record of 2.9 points per 100 possessions that the Knicks are being outscored by suggests theirs might be a bit of a mirage.
Yet there’s still much to like about these Knicks, still reasons to feel optimistic about their chances going forward. They have two top-25 players in Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis. Derrick Rose seems to be getting more comfortable by the day. Also, they play in the lowly Eastern Conference, where mediocrity is rewarded and time is not of the essence.
But if the Knicks plan on challenging the Toronto Raptors and separating themselves from the Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics and the rest of the East teams idling in the middle of the pack, some tweaks must be made.
Luckily for head coach Jeff Hornacek, the answer is right in front of him; he needs to pull the trigger and start giving Porzingis more minutes as the lone big man on the floor.
It’s not just that Porzingis’ future is clearly at center, serving as a sort of hybrid version of Dirk Nowitzki, Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert: floor spacing and playmaking on offense, rim protection on defense. It’s that the Unicorn is everything a team could want from its big man, especially as he continues to add muscle to his rail-thin 7’3″, 240-pound frame.
“I’m very impressed with what I see from him,” Los Angeles Lakers forward Luol Deng told Bleacher Report. “I think a lot of times, when rookies come into the league, they get all the praise and pressure from New York.
“He’s done a good job just working on his game. He’s a lot better this year. They’re doing a good job working on his talent. He’s one of those players that’s always a mismatch and is going to keep getting better.”
Thing is, sliding their star over to the 5 could solve many of the Knicks’ issues as well.
Take the woeful defense, for example. Porzingis has emerged as one of the league’s top rim protectors this season. He’s swatting away 1.8 shots per game and, more importantly, holding opponents to an ugly 41.5 percent shooting at looks near the rim—the top mark among the league’s big men who see regular playing time.
“His length always bothers people,” Deng added, just a few days after watching Porzingis reject seven shots against his Lakers. “Before that game, we spent a lot of time talking about being careful around him near the rim.”
The problem is that 62 percent of Porzingis’ minutes on the court have come alongside another big man, according to Basketball-Reference.com. That means he’s spending a major chunk of his time and energy awkwardly chasing stretch 4s along the perimeter as opposed to camping out near the rim.
“We have three capable centers in [Joakim Noah], Kyle [O’Quinn] and Willy [Hernangomez], [who] played really well in Denver, so if we play KP more at the 5, it kind of takes away those minutes for those guys,” Hornacek said recently.
“They’re kind of splitting those minutes anyway, but you know, [playing Porzingis at center is] an option that we’ve gone to a couple of times, and sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it hasn’t been great.”
Hornacek’s logic is sound. The Knicks are deep at center, and Porzingis is also not yet ready to absorb the nightly beating that comes with playing the position.
Still, a bit more flexibility from New York’s coach in this area could work wonders for his team. Just look at the reasons their defense has been so bad.
Only …
