Kristaps Porzingis is the toast of New York these days, and even the Knicks’ best player, Carmelo Anthony, has his blessing to be the fan favorite. Tonight, the 20-year-old faces his first NBA must-win. At least it’s a must-win if he cares about being named Rookie of the Year.
The Knicks host the Timberwolves tonight, and for all the hype Porzingis is enjoying, he’s been outplayed by Wolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, who went three spots ahead of Porzingis in the draft.
Carmelo Anthony Gives Blessing For Porzingis To Be The Man
Towns is averaging 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks for Minnesota and shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Porzingis has been flashy, stuffing down put-back dunks and knocking down 3-pointers, but his 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds are trailing Towns, while his field goal percentage lags by about nine points.
The surface numbers suggest they’re almost even, but Towns has Porzingis beat in the advanced metrics. His PER (22.4) is higher than Porzingis’ (18.7) and he has a better true shooting percentage (58.7 percent to Porzingis’ 53.1). Of course, the numbers are close enough that if Porzingis takes it to him tonight, that will be at the forefront rather than slight edges on spreadsheets.
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Anthony, who said he and Porzingis have formed an unbreakable bond, has vowed to help shield him from distractions caused by New York media. This is one of those distractions. Anthony spoke about the Porzingis-Towns matchup with the New York Post, and attempted to squash the hype.
“There’s no comparison. Two different players, two different style of players. I wouldn’t even try to make that comparison,” Anthony said.
One talent evaluator agreed that they’re different players, but said at this point Towns is the much better one.
Karl-Anthony Towns is as ready to play in the NBA as there has been a player come into the league in a long time, maybe since LeBron [James],” one executive said. “He’s intelligent, has a high basketball IQ, knows how to play his position, is already a two-way player.
“He’s a good defender, low-post defender, protects the rim and he has the ability to make an outside shot — not as well as Porzingis, but he’s much better than Porzingis inside. And he’s long.”
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