Let’s get this out of the way first: It’s difficult projecting an amateur player’s future value. Especially one from Europe, who isn’t visible in the college basketball game.
That said, the more you watch the player the Knicks took with the fourth pick—Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis—the more you can’t help like the 7-foot-2-inch center.
He looks great doing the catch and shoot off screens, he runs the court better than most 7-footers, and he can even drive the lane. Of course, that’s only one side of the court and he’s only 19, but there’s clearly some talent there.
On draft night, though, that clearly was not the consensus among Knicks fans, who mercilessly booed the selection.
Perhaps they were reminded of the last time the still-popular franchise, which hasn’t won a title in more than 40 years, took a European center in the first round.
The year was 1999, and the Knicks took France’s 7-foot-2-inch center Frédéric Weis with the 15th pick—one spot ahead of where local prospect Ron Artest was drafted.
