The Rise of the Unicorn - Official KP6 Thread

[Wolfgang630]

KP is definitely his worst enemy. It's up to him to be as great as he wants. He's pretty much unstoppable. Once he works with Dirk in the offseason and puts on 5-10 pounds he'll be unstoppable. His defense is so good already.

[Capn'O]

On defense/rebounding - KP has changed his style of play for both. He's not leaping as much, which was how he affected that end of the court the most last year. Instead, he's using his length and positioning a la Duncan. At the beginning of the year he was pretty bad at it. Now it's improving and we're seeing corresponding upticks in his stats.

This switch was critical as last year he was essentially a bigger Marcus Camby on that end. That was awesome to watch but does not bode well for longevity.


Also, as I alluded to before, a lot of his rebounding "success" as a rookie could be directly attributed to RoLo's fabulous box outs. Noah/KOQ/Willy are good individual rebounders but do not impact team rebounding the same way.

[TimRobbins]

I have never seen a player play like him before. He's far better than Dirk was at his age.

His ceiling is unknown right now IMO.

[NO-KG-AI]

Tough to stop on offense when his shots are dropping. Almost unfair.

Yeah, this is like a younger Dirk, only with 3 extra inches, as far as how that height/perimeter game thing is working out for him. Been fun to watch.

Indeed. And some real upside as a rim protector and pick and roll defender. He's a crazy combination.

[tsherkin]

Indeed. And some real upside as a rim protector and pick and roll defender. He's a crazy combination.

One of several very intriguing young talents in the league at the moment, for sure.

[3Diamantidis]

Do you understand that Paul Gasol is an HoF who wins basically everything in his career, right?

Gasol had the luck to play for a nation with bball tradition. So his success with NT was to be expected.
Porzingis plays for Latvia. That's a very tough mission for him -make Latvia great.
NBA speaking i don't see a reason why he won't be a 2x champion until the end of his carreer.

I expect him to have similar carreer with dirk, pau.
It's not easy to accomplish

Spain doesn't have an awful lot of bbal tradition. More than Germany, sure. Tradition, not sure about that. Spain's NT had no success before the Golden Boys lead by Pau Gasol (Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Jorge Garbajosa, etc.).

Spain was always among the 5-6 better teams in europe even if they didn't won anything before navarro and gasol.
It's true that this generation made spain a traditional power though.
What duncan did to the spurs in a way

[ChaosHamster]

I wonder if we can tie his shooting troubles from last two games on his mpg increasing from 32mpg, to 38mpg in last seven games..

I hope Jeff knows what he`s doing.. Kris had an fatigue issues pretty much from december last year..

[MotownMadness]

7'3 shooting 3s at 40% is just ridiculous

[Johnny Firpo]

I wonder if we can tie his shooting troubles from last two games on his mpg increasing from 32mpg, to 38mpg in last seven games..

I hope Jeff knows what he`s doing.. Kris had an fatigue issues pretty much from december last year..

I think it was just a coincidence, because simultaneously, he got even better on defense and the boards. I imagine if he had fatigue problems, those aspects would be on the down low as well. Maybe it's just as simple as missing a shot, and thinking about it too much, and the next game thinking about how you shot the ball bad in the previous game... Something like this.

[jpengland]

I have never seen a player play like him before. He's far better than Dirk was at his age.

His ceiling is unknown right now IMO.

We need to be careful when projecting guys to have a Dirk like curve.

I also think young Dirk would have been a better player in today's game than back in the day.

A realistic (but high) ceiling for Porzingis is between Pau and Dirk.

He's going to be a very good player. But I'm not comfortable predicting top 10/20 of all time

[TimRobbins]

I have never seen a player play like him before. He's far better than Dirk was at his age.

His ceiling is unknown right now IMO.

We need to be careful when projecting guys to have a Dirk like curve.

I also think young Dirk would have been a better player in today's game than back in the day.

A realistic (but high) ceiling for Porzingis is between Pau and Dirk.

He's going to be a very good player. But I'm not comfortable predicting top 10/20 of all time

I'm not comfortable in predicting anything in his case. I think allstar is pretty much guaranteed (maybe even this season). Beyond that, it's anybody's guess.

[magnumt]

I`m not sure how much of a step back defensively was because of a 3 new teammates in the starting line-up (in the beginning, they were missing switches/rotations like crazy, and KP was over helping a bunch), right now, it seems he is at least getting back to his rookie season defense (19 blocks in last 6 games) and looks a lot better overall.

Yeah definitely better recently (I don't blame him entirely for the threes early on in the season), but rather than staying where he was last year, I wanted a step forward defensively as well. I'm selfish and ambitious. One year of getting to know the NBA game goes MILES in terms of development and understanding on the defensive end. Granted, it's still 20 games into the season and he can get better as the season progresses (and I expect him to), but IMO as of right now, he hasn't taken "the step" overall defensively that I wanted.

Averaging 3+ BPG the last 5 games, AND has scored in double digits in all of them. He (for now), just knows how to try and help us get wins.

The Knicks are 7-3 in their last 10, currently tied for 5th in East, and with a Win tonight in Miami, will be in tie for 3rd heading into Wednesday's game against the Cavs.

KP has played a big role in that this year as Defenses have to plan & respect him since he's doing this consistently, ala KAT.

--Mags

[magnumt]

I wonder if we can tie his shooting troubles from last two games on his mpg increasing from 32mpg, to 38mpg in last seven games..

I hope Jeff knows what he`s doing.. Kris had an fatigue issues pretty much from december last year..

It's actually pretty smart of Jeff to do it now rather than later in the Season.

It gives his body time to adjust and build upon the increased PT and stamina usage. The increased holidays in Winter give him time and days off to recuperate too.

Remember, since last year, it's that it only takes him about 7-10 games max to adjust to changes.

7'3 shooting 3s at 40% is just ridiculous

Indeed! He hits his 3s at like 2 feet beyond the arc too.

...What's funny is that he's doing this and it's INCLUDING the 2 bad shooting games he had this week.

--Mags

[Pablo Escobar]

The Knicks should build around him and ditch Melo.

[SK21209]

He's a fascinating player. Lowe has been talking a lot about how the next evolution of the NBA is stretch 4's in a center's body. KP and Towns aren't necessarily the first guys to have that kind of game, but I think they can be what Iverson was to the smaller scoring guards we've seen over the last decade or so.

[magnumt]

He's a fascinating player. Lowe has been talking a lot about how the next evolution of the NBA is stretch 4's in a center's body. KP and Towns aren't necessarily the first guys to have that kind of game, but I think they can be what Iverson was to the smaller scoring guards we've seen over the last decade or so.

The thing is tho, both KAT & KP can play VERY well in the paint too. They don't solely rely on their Perimeter game to open things up (like say Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye), but use it as a weapon in their ever growing arsenal.

--Mags

[tsherkin]

He's a fascinating player. Lowe has been talking a lot about how the next evolution of the NBA is stretch 4's in a center's body. KP and Towns aren't necessarily the first guys to have that kind of game, but I think they can be what Iverson was to the smaller scoring guards we've seen over the last decade or so.

The thing is tho, both KAT & KP can play VERY well in the paint too. They don't solely rely on their Perimeter game to open things up (like say Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye), but use it as a weapon in their ever growing arsenal.

--Mags

A good point. Balance is key. Versatility, with a baseline level of actual ability in each skill, makes a player really brutal on the defense. That sort of "I'm gonna get it no matter what you do" kind of scenario. Makes life way easier on the coaches and in terms of integrating different kinds of teammates.

Between that and his ball protection, he's having himself a wonderful sophomore campaign.

[magnumt]

He's a fascinating player. Lowe has been talking a lot about how the next evolution of the NBA is stretch 4's in a center's body. KP and Towns aren't necessarily the first guys to have that kind of game, but I think they can be what Iverson was to the smaller scoring guards we've seen over the last decade or so.

The thing is tho, both KAT & KP can play VERY well in the paint too. They don't solely rely on their Perimeter game to open things up (like say Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye), but use it as a weapon in their ever growing arsenal.

--Mags

A good point. Balance is key. Versatility, with a baseline level of actual ability in each skill, makes a player really brutal on the defense. That sort of "I'm gonna get it no matter what you do" kind of scenario. Makes life way easier on the coaches and in terms of integrating different kinds of teammates.

Between that and his ball protection, he's having himself a wonderful sophomore campaign.

Dirk said he's gonna work with KP this coming Offseaaon. I'm anxious to see the results of this sessions next year!

Also, KAT & KP are both (this early in their career) showing that they know WHEN to utilize which moveset in games. That's the truly promising part from both.

Not only the rim protection, but KP can also pass and drive/dribble-pentration with ball. The way he does it too is like a guard. At 7'3!

--Mags

[tsherkin]

Dirk said he's gonna work with KP this coming Offseaaon. I'm anxious to see the results of this sessions next year!

KP mastering that dirty turnaround fade from the mid-post would be really, really scary. That move is something that old, stone-footed Dirk STILL uses to get buckets. You mix that with speed, extra height and the vigor of youth and you've got some nonsense in waiting.

KP is exciting. I wanted to wait into his second season to get a better feel for him. What we're seeing so far, and minding the sample, is a lot of indications of "The Leap" that you see from guys who are gonna really improve. You see it in year 2 and year 3, most of the time. The talent and promise was there last year, and he's showing it right now. We'll see where he's at come the end of the season, but he's looking really impressive.

Knicks fans have much to be excited about. Even if he stopped improving right now, a 7'3 dude who can post 18/8 (yes, I realize he's actually outperforming this, I'm just playing the low-ball card) and give you spacing with range is pretty impressive and useful as a pickup. That he still has more ceiling after that has to be a nice feeling.

[magnumt]

Dirk said he's gonna work with KP this coming Offseaaon. I'm anxious to see the results of this sessions next year!

KP mastering that dirty turnaround fade from the mid-post would be really, really scary. That move is something that old, stone-footed Dirk STILL uses to get buckets. You mix that with speed, extra height and the vigor of youth and you've got some nonsense in waiting.

KP is exciting. I wanted to wait into his second season to get a better feel for him. What we're seeing so far, and minding the sample, is a lot of indications of "The Leap" that you see from guys who are gonna really improve. You see it in year 2 and year 3, most of the time. The talent and promise was there last year, and he's showing it right now. We'll see where he's at come the end of the season, but he's looking really impressive.

Knicks fans have much to be excited about. Even if he stopped improving right now, a 7'3 dude who can post 18/8 (yes, I realize he's actually outperforming this, I'm just playing the low-ball card) and give you spacing with range is pretty impressive and useful as a pickup. That he still has more ceiling after that has to be a nice feeling.

Indeed! All excellent points.

I mean just look at last night as another example. He follows up the Kings game where he didn't shoot well too, but had 15 Points, 14 Rebounds, and 4 Blocks on a big Kings frontline...with 14 Points, 12 Rebounds, and 1 Block (he altered a lot of shots now), against the Heat.

That's how you try and help your team win.

--Mags