Kristaps Porzingis is frustrated with how the Knicks are being run and the dysfunction and drama around the team, so much so that he blew off his exit interview with Phil Jackson. This week Porzingis will head back to his native Latvia for the summer, and he will not likely be taking part in the triangle training sessions the coaching staff wants to run this summer.
Don’t confuse all that with him wanting out of New York.
Porzingis spoke to Marc Berman of the New York Post and assured Knicks fans he wants to be in orange and blue.
Not that he was going anywhere anyway, he’s on his rookie contract, and the Knicks aren’t about to trade him, no matter what he asks.
Porzingis wouldn’t comment in any more depth on his frustrations with the team, saying it was not the right time. As a refresher, here’s what he said speaking to the media a week ago.
The direction seems to be the triangle, although the players don’t appear to like it or Kurt Rambis pushing it. Porzingis wasn’t saying much, but staying away for the summer would speak volumes.
Porzingis is the fan favorite, the best player on the Knicks, and a young player trying to assert some authority. He may not be terribly smooth at doing so, but that doesn’t make him wrong — the shifts in direction with the Knicks, and how Jackson has handled the Carmelo Anthony situation have been a mess. The thing is, the Knicks just picked up the option on Jackson for a couple more years, and Porzingis isn’t going anywhere, so the two sides are going to have to come to some kind of an understanding. That or we will just get more of the Knicks being the Knicks like last season.
