Sophomore Impressions 2016-17

[magnumt]

I'm going to leave this here...

Read on Twitter

... And this is just his 2nd Season too!

EVERY single damn analyst & media pundit said he'd be AT LEAST 3 Seasons away.

What happened?!

--Mags

[Dan Z]

Indeed!

You're looking at potentially 6-8 All-Stars when it's all said and done (excluding injuries impacting career).

KAT, KP, DAR, Jah, Turner, Booker, Mudiay, etc (I'm probably forgetting one or two), all have that potential career path. I feel sorry for any GM whose team didn't have a pick that year, especially in the 1st Round.

--Mags

Or a GM who had a 1st Round pick and missed on it. So far Mario H isn't looking so great and WCS is questionable (but both still have potential).

For sure.

I still WCS might do well on a different team. Perhaps more fast paced like the Nuggets or Suns. Maybe even alongside Westbrook on the Thunder.

Didn't Boston have multiple 1sts too?

--Mags

Boston has two in the 1st round. #16 and #28. They picked Rozier and RJ Hunter. Rozier has showed some promise and RJ Hunter was a wasted pick.

I agree with you about WCS and I also think Mario might show something in the future. But imagine the Magic or Kings right now with either Booker or Miles Turner?

[Throwback24]

Porz is the best players on the Knicks, he needs more Shats and Jennings to play next to him fulltime.

[magnumt]

The guy also has put up double digit points in almost EVERY game this Season, scored 20 or more Points in a majority of them, and does it all without EVER being the he focal point in the Offense.

Can you imagine if he was?!

--Mags

Isn't he taking the most shots on the Knicks squad? I think he is the real focal point in the offense, even if Melo is still that "officially"?

No. Not the case at all.

KP does what he does on mostly 14 shots or less in many cases. Which is the real surprising part. The efficiency in such limited time to produce.

Melo usually takes about 17 or more shots, and the other guys sometimes 6-10.

It's only recently that KP has begun calling for the ball more--not always getting it tho. You give him 20 or more attempts and 95% of the time he'll give you 30+ points.

- Carmelo is averaging 22 PPG on about 18 FGAs.

- KP is currently averaging 21 PPG on about 15 FGAs (by comparison, KAT is averaging 22 on about 17 FGAs).

They make QUITE the duo!

That 2015 Draft Class is slowly approaching 2003 status!

--Mags

[magnumt]

Or a GM who had a 1st Round pick and missed on it. So far Mario H isn't looking so great and WCS is questionable (but both still have potential).

For sure.

I still WCS might do well on a different team. Perhaps more fast paced like the Nuggets or Suns. Maybe even alongside Westbrook on the Thunder.

Didn't Boston have multiple 1sts too?

--Mags

Boston has two in the 1st round. #16 and #28. They picked Rozier and RJ Hunter. Rozier has showed some promise and RJ Hunter was a wasted pick.

I agree with you about WCS and I also think Mario might show something in the future. But imagine the Magic or Kings right now with either Booker or Miles Turner?

Turner wouldn't have fit on the current Magic IMO, they would've had to move someone to make it work. Similar to what they had to do with Tobias Harris.

But, a Frontcourt of Turner and Sabonis would've been awesome too. They could've spent the next decade growing together.

Booker on the Magic would've been siiiiiiiiiiiiick tho! He solves ALL of Payton's problems and compliments him PERFECTLY!

--Mags

[MartinsLusis]

Man even with not the greatest situation to be in, hes really emerging as a top talent. I see him really hitting his stride next year, legit 20-10 player. so skilled offensively, its great to have more big men like that

It's ideal if you ask him. He just said the other say he needs Melo around to take the pressure off. I think sometimes us fans have a vision of the way things should be but it's actually the opposite of whats preferred by the players themselves

Or that's something he says because he's clever and realises that it's the right thing to say... We will never know. Melo also freezes him out on offense from time to time.

[MartinsLusis]

Seeing how NY uses Porzingis makes me jealous as a Pacers fan.

Not that I want Turner to be used in the same way, but the Knicks look to get Porzingis involved, the Pacers all tend to ignore Turner. Whenever we do go to him, he tends to deliver, then they just go right back to ignoring him after.

Either way, I'm really hope Porzingis and Turner can reignite the Hicks vs Knicks rivalry.

You should read a Knicks post game thread sometime. You'd think he got 5 FGA

Well, yesterday he got 0 FGA attemts in the last 5:30 despite scoring 31 point with a 53,5% FG%. Doesn't really make sense to me. Until that it was fine though.

[Dan Z]

For sure.

I still WCS might do well on a different team. Perhaps more fast paced like the Nuggets or Suns. Maybe even alongside Westbrook on the Thunder.

Didn't Boston have multiple 1sts too?

--Mags

Boston has two in the 1st round. #16 and #28. They picked Rozier and RJ Hunter. Rozier has showed some promise and RJ Hunter was a wasted pick.

I agree with you about WCS and I also think Mario might show something in the future. But imagine the Magic or Kings right now with either Booker or Miles Turner?

Turner wouldn't have fit on the current Magic IMO, they would've had to move someone to make it work. Similar to what they had to do with Tobias Harris.

But, a Frontcourt of Turner and Sabonis would've been awesome too. They could've spent the next decade growing together.

Booker on the Magic would've been siiiiiiiiiiiiick tho! He solves ALL of Payton's problems and compliments him PERFECTLY!

--Mags

Or you have Booker on the Kings to go with Cousins. I think both teams, the Magic and Kings, would look a lot different right now had they made the right pick in 2015.

[dakomish23]

Seeing how NY uses Porzingis makes me jealous as a Pacers fan.

Not that I want Turner to be used in the same way, but the Knicks look to get Porzingis involved, the Pacers all tend to ignore Turner. Whenever we do go to him, he tends to deliver, then they just go right back to ignoring him after.

Either way, I'm really hope Porzingis and Turner can reignite the Hicks vs Knicks rivalry.

You should read a Knicks post game thread sometime. You'd think he got 5 FGA

Well, yesterday he got 0 FGA attemts in the last 5:30 despite scoring 31 point with a 53,5% FG%. Doesn't really make sense to me. Until that it was fine though.

He got 22 FGA in total. I'm not ok with him not getting FGA in crunch time even if he's off. But he's hanging out on the perimeter. It's not like he's calling for it last game. Maybe that changes with time.

To me personally, that's on the PG. Jennings might have made sure he got it. Melo took 2 shots and DRose took 5. Maybe Jeff liked the matchup off a Melo PnR because he dragged guys off of DRose? Idk

[dakomish23]

Man even with not the greatest situation to be in, hes really emerging as a top talent. I see him really hitting his stride next year, legit 20-10 player. so skilled offensively, its great to have more big men like that

It's ideal if you ask him. He just said the other say he needs Melo around to take the pressure off. I think sometimes us fans have a vision of the way things should be but it's actually the opposite of whats preferred by the players themselves

Or that's something he says because he's clever and realises that it's the right thing to say... We will never know. Melo also freezes him out on offense from time to time.

Or maybe it's true. Because even Wally and Hahn said it after and showed highlights of his where Melo's man couldn't double of him.

Stop trying to cause a wedge where one doesn't exist

[Johnny Firpo]

Anthony definitely helps taking some of the pressure off him, come on now. This is obvious, and denying it is silly. They are a great offensive duo, and Anthony is playing fairly well this year. Sometimes he freezes out KP, but he often finds him. I think Rose is a bigger problem, though he played really well last night. Took good shots, attacked the rim, played defense. If he would play with that mentality every game, the Knicks could become a playoff team.

[Unbreakable99]

Porzingis is just an incredible player. He is improving at a rapid rate. He's going to be a top 10 player within a few years.

[E-Balla]

Man even with not the greatest situation to be in, hes really emerging as a top talent. I see him really hitting his stride next year, legit 20-10 player. so skilled offensively, its great to have more big men like that

It's ideal if you ask him. He just said the other say he needs Melo around to take the pressure off. I think sometimes us fans have a vision of the way things should be but it's actually the opposite of whats preferred by the players themselves

Or that's something he says because he's clever and realises that it's the right thing to say... We will never know. Melo also freezes him out on offense from time to time.

How does a lie this foolish get 3 and 1s. Melo threw more assists to KP than anyone else by far last year and KP's usage percentage with and without Melo on the floor are within 2% of each other so far this year.


Rose is the one not getting KP the ball. There was a particularly bad play in the 4th yesterday where they ran a PNR and KP got wide open but Rose didn't even look to pass at all.

[E-Balla]

Porzingis is just an incredible player. He is improving at a rapid rate. He's going to be a top 10 player within a few years.

I'm not sure if I'd say he's improved. Every step he took forward offensively he took back defensively. Now I'm sure Noah vs RoLo makes a huge difference but the effort just hasn't been there.

[JB2]

Porzingis is just an incredible player. He is improving at a rapid rate. He's going to be a top 10 player within a few years.

it'll be interesting to see the change of guard but once this generation of players takes over (age 19-23 or young), they are going to take over the top 10 in the NBA. In no particular order, these are the guys I see as the more dominant in a matter of years:

Towns, Embiid, Wiggins, Russell, Porzingis, Booker, Simmons, Ingram, Giannis, Turner, Parker, Dunn

[MartinsLusis]

Anthony definitely helps taking some of the pressure off him, come on now. This is obvious, and denying it is silly. They are a great offensive duo, and Anthony is playing fairly well this year. Sometimes he freezes out KP, but he often finds him. I think Rose is a bigger problem, though he played really well last night. Took good shots, attacked the rim, played defense. If he would play with that mentality every game, the Knicks could become a playoff team.

I'm not saying he's not taking pressure off KP. But most of the time he's taking too much pressure off of him.

[ChilledAlex]

Hey guys, what happened to Hezonja?

[TimRobbins]

No. Not the case at all.

KP does what he does on mostly 14 shots or less in many cases. Which is the real surprising part. The efficiency in such limited time to produce.

Melo usually takes about 17 or more shots, and the other guys sometimes 6-10.

It's only recently that KP has begun calling for the ball more--not always getting it tho. You give him 20 or more attempts and 95% of the time he'll give you 30+ points.

- Carmelo is averaging 22 PPG on about 18 FGAs.

- KP is currently averaging 21 PPG on about 15 FGAs (by comparison, KAT is averaging 22 on about 17 FGAs).

They make QUITE the duo!

That 2015 Draft Class is slowly approaching 2003 status!

--Mags

He took 23 last game and 16,15,22 in the three games before. I don't think he's lacking in shot attempts considering Melo and Rose are on that team.

I don't think the Knicks want to give him Melo's ISO plays since Melo is still the better ISO player.

[Side beard]

No. Not the case at all.

KP does what he does on mostly 14 shots or less in many cases. Which is the real surprising part. The efficiency in such limited time to produce.

Melo usually takes about 17 or more shots, and the other guys sometimes 6-10.

It's only recently that KP has begun calling for the ball more--not always getting it tho. You give him 20 or more attempts and 95% of the time he'll give you 30+ points.

- Carmelo is averaging 22 PPG on about 18 FGAs.

- KP is currently averaging 21 PPG on about 15 FGAs (by comparison, KAT is averaging 22 on about 17 FGAs).

They make QUITE the duo!

That 2015 Draft Class is slowly approaching 2003 status!

--Mags

He took 23 last game and 16,15,22 in the three games before. I don't think he's lacking in shot attempts considering Melo and Rose are on that team.

I don't think the Knicks want to give him Melo's ISO plays since Melo is still the better ISO player.

No, he is not lacking them. But he could easily get more from all the opportunities he gets during games.
For example lets take game against the Blazers where he was frozen out in last 5 or so minutes. While he missed his last shot which was 3, Rose and Melo bricked or got blocked on multiple shots during those last 5 minutes. I get it, Rose and Melo want to be the heroes and Porzingis time will come, but you have to ride the hot hand, which at that moment was Kristaps.

[TimRobbins]

No, he is not lacking them. But he could easily get more from all the opportunities he gets during games.
For example lets take game against the Blazers where he was frozen out in last 5 or so minutes. While he missed his last shot which was 3, Rose and Melo bricked or got blocked on multiple shots during those last 5 minutes. I get it, Rose and Melo want to be the heroes and Porzingis time will come, but you have to ride the hot hand, which at that moment was Kristaps.

From what I've seen from Knicks games, it's mostly Rose who freezes him out. I still think 18-20 shots per game is where he should be.