Throughout his distinguished career in the sport of basketball, we have seen many different sides of Knicks president Phil Jackson. There’s Phil, the Zen philosopher. Phil, the triangle guru. Phil, the championship collector. Phil, the social media gagster. Phil, the shade-thrower. Now we’re seeing Phil, the cynic.
In Monday’s latest installment of the ongoing series “The Phil Files” by Charley Rosen of ESPN, Jackson opened up about his concerns with Knicks lottery pick Kristaps Porzingis. “Like Shawn Bradley, who was nevertheless a pretty good player, KP might almost be too tall for the game,” said the Zen Master. “What I mean is that his core strength might never be good enough, and that he might not be able to get low enough to get himself into prime defensive position to body power rebounders or drivers.”
The Latvian’s slender frame (officially listed by the Knicks at 7-foot-1, 220 pounds) and tendency to shy away from contact had been a big concern even well before Draft Day 2015. For Jackson to essentially call his prized young rookie the next Shawn Bradley (the forgettable 7-foot-6 dunking dummy) means that those concerns are very real.
In the piece, Jackson predicts the 20-year-old will put on at least 10 pounds of muscle before the season commences. But with Porzingis’ frail-looking, almost emaciated body type, he’s probably gonna need a lot more work in the weight room than that. After all, this is a guy whose legs Jay Bilas described on draft night as “toothpicks.” Without the bulk to support his massive vertical dimensions, Porzingis’ learning curve may be abnormally steep once NBA size is thrown his way.
Fortunately, in an NBA undergoing a fundamental reassessment of the big man, we could be moving into an era that plays to Porzingis’ strengths rather than one that exposes his weakness. As traditional lineups centered around post-up players become eschewed in favor of small-ball, Porzingis might not have to bang with burly bigs down low. Instead he can focus all his efforts on what he does best. The Latvian’s ability to create his own shot, pop out after setting screens, and operate as a spot-up guy from deep give him some serious value in today’s NBA. His mobility, lateral quickness, and aptitude for making up ground with his length/body control on the defensive end more than make up for his scrawniness as well.
And despite his seeming skepticism, Jackson remains confident in Porzingis’ talents. “He can score,” said Jackson, “but his natural bent is to be a team player. On defense, he can block shots from behind and is quick enough to stay in front of guards in screen-roll situations.”
The No. 4 overall pick likely will never be able to bully guys in the post. But with a healthy influx of frontcourt bruisers into The Big Apple this offseason (Robin Lopez, Kyle O’Quinn, Kevin Seraphin, etc.) and a league that will allow him to focus on his strong perimeter game, Porzingis might not need to.
For what it’s worth, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did his damage at an official playing weight of 225 pounds. While Porzingis has a ways to go to live up to that (to say the absolute least), he just needs to put enough meat on his bones to simply survive in the NBA. If he does that, these concerns of traditional Euro softness and Jackson’s “Shawn Bradley 2.0” comment will soon be a distant memory.
H/T Yahoo Sports
