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If the Knicks provide a blueprint, Kristaps Porzingis will build
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

If the Knicks provide a blueprint, Kristaps Porzingis will build

No one was surprised when the New York Knicks dropped their first three games of the season. One glance at the roster could leave one perplexed for hours trying to figure out the direction the team is heading. Unfortunately for Knicks fans everywhere, this lack of direction, this lack of a semblance of cultural identity has been the only constant in the city that remains the mecca of basketball.

The Knicks have a bizarre point guard situation, the insane lack of shooting, the complete disregard for defensive stalwarts and the billions of dollars they’re throwing at the three centers on the roster – and then they have Kristaps Porzingis. In New York City, Porzingis is what tomorrow looks like. It only makes sense that Manhattan’s newest prince is a 7-foot-3 skyscraper, the team's One World Trade Center to a skyline of orange and blue, taller than necessary humans.

And those humans came together to win their next three games, and everyone was surprised. After a blowout of the Nets, the Knicks recorded wins over the Cavs on the road and the Nuggets at home on a back-to-back. During that three-game stretch, Porzingis averaged 33 a night and did all the things you’d expect from a franchise superstar, and received MVP chants to boot.

What Porzingis has not received, however, is a blueprint on how to best lead the Knicks into the future of the NBA as a team that can define an epoch. Until then, the Knicks will continue to be just the Knicks. Yes, Porzingis is going to need help on the court, but he’s going to need even more help from the organization in building a new way of thinking about, well, everything. Kristaps’ combination of size and skill set make him a perfect contemporary ballplayer, but his franchise could limit his legacy because of its unwillingness to separate itself from the way we thought about the future in the past.

A single player cannot carry the burden of a franchise searching for a place in a league that has moved on from it, but cannot exist without its presence. The Knicks exist in form, but they continue to seek their function. Over the past two decades, the Knicks have touted basketball teams without an identity. You could not watch a single set, a single play, a single player and say, “ah, yes, this is New York Knicks basketball.”


Former Knick Carmelo Anthony talks with forward Porzingis during a game against the Kings on Dec. 19, 2016.  Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

The team tried to tie its identity to Carmelo Anthony, but failed miserably to build around him – a project that was purportedly doomed from the start. Melo was traded from Denver to a Knicks team that all but gutted every vital organ that would help Anthony survive the next x-number of seasons. For six and a half years, the Knicks have played a Melo brand of basketball instead of building hoops disposition that was uniquely their own.

There were the D’Antoni years, the Woodson years, the Fisher project and the Hornacek hiring. Phil Jackson tried to bring an antiquated offensive philosophy into a league driven by space and pace and all of it was filtered through what Melo meant to the city. There’s no harm in tying your franchise to an all-world talent, but it’s harmful if you allow him to dictate the culture. Even Kobe Bryant had to make adjustments to his game because of the way the team ran its business.

Culture isn’t everything, but it gives young talent a north star. Not every transformative player in an organization is going to travel the same route to reach superstardom, but in cities like San Antonio, the youth, at the very least, knows the direction it needs to go. You can see the how the seeds of cultural foundations grow into consistent success in cities like Atlanta (longest streak in consecutive playoff appearances after San Antonio) and Golden State (well, you get it).

For the Knicks and Porzingis, this year begins a new chapter, a new opportunity to start from the ground floor and build something that we might see as an augury of success half a decade from now. To build not just a championship contender, but a franchise set to contend for as long as Porzingis is in New York, they’re going to have to remain patient. And that patience is going to have to come on two fronts.

As of right now, the Knicks control all of their first-round picks over the next four years. Furthermore, they own six second round picks over the same time. We’ve seen teams have success building through the draft and there are young teams now set up with nice futures because of the young talent they have now. They should value the power those picks have for their future instead of cashing them in to see how they can improve in the now.

They should also be patient with Porzingis. The kid is 22 years old and has the spotlight all on his own for the first time in his career. By all accounts, he’s already becoming a fantastic leader. Forward Lance Thomas said that Porzingis is “in tune with everyone. In the past, guys have always had their groups of people they hang out with. But he's everywhere. He's over there [hanging out] with everyone." Kristaps also took his offseason workout regimen rather seriously.


Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks goes through a workout as part of Basketball Without Borders Africa at the American International School of Johannesburg on August 3, 2017 in South Africa.  Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

During the summer, Porzingis worked out five hours a day split between morning and evening sessions. His Instagram account was littered with his workout videos, and not all of it was weight lifting. He mixed track and field sessions with time in the pool and even added boxing to the mix. When he discussed the work he put in, he told Men’s Fitness, “It’s going to be a huge summer for me, to get better and come into next season stronger. Last summer I was still learning what I wanted to do, what I wanted my routine to look like. This year it’ll be clearer – when I want to work out, how long, what I need to work on more, what I need to focus on. It’s a little clearer what I want to do this offseason.’’

Through seven games, you see a noticeable difference in his play. The scoring immediately comes to mind. Heading into this season Porzingis had only recorded three 30-point games; this year, he already has five. Defenders aren’t pushing him off his spots with the same frequency, he’s more decisive and turning the ball over at the lowest rate of his career with a usage percentage 11 points higher than his career average. He has the gall to pull the trigger from the Madison Square Garden half court logo and confidence to close out a dangerous Nuggets team down the stretch.

Porzingis is still flawed, especially on the boards. For a kid with his athleticism and size, just under eight rebounds per contest feels awfully underwhelming. He’s also going to have to see the floor much better. He’s recorded more turnovers than assists in each of his first two seasons, and is on pace to do it again this year. A part of the reason his assist rate was so low had to do with the design of the offense combined with how long guys like Anthony and Derrick Rose held the ball in their hands. The onus is still on him to recognize when shooters are open. So much of passing for big men is feel. Kristaps is going to see more double teams this season than he ever has in his life, and he’s going to have to feel not only the second defender, but feel how his teammates respond to the extra space.

All of this comes with time, and time is only afforded to young players when front offices are patient with both the roster building and the players they're building around.

The Knicks have to realize that Porzingis is only going to continue to improve as a leader and a scorer. Playing in New York, he’s going to be easy to market, and if he continues to score at this rate, he can hold the city in the palm of his hands. But none of that matters if the team can’t build a culture of winning around him. He has the tools to build anything the Knicks want, all he needs is a blueprint.

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