Mark Jackson doesn’t think Kristaps Porzingis is an All-Star
By Josh Hill
Ex-NBA head coach Mark Jackson isn’t going to be voting for Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis in the All-Star Game.
The New York Knicks haven’t been exciting to watch in a while — but Latvian rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis is changing that in less than a year. The buzz may fade, but the Knicks are a team everyone has at least a partial eye on thanks to the way their rookie has been playing this season.
While the hype is hot for the man they call ‘GAWDZingis’, not everyone is ready to anoint him the next star of the NBA. Former Knicks player and ex-NBA head coach Mark Jackson isn’t sold on the idea that the Latvian is yet an All-Star.
Jackson recently said that while Porzingis is a great player, he’s not yet someone who is deserving of a spot on the All-Star team.
"“He’s a heckuva talent. Hes going to be a great player. With that being said, I wouldn’t be thrilled about him being in the All Star game today,” said Jackson, who fully supports the NBA fan vote for the ASG. “He can go on and average 30 for the next month and I would say yes. But when you’re talking about putting together 12 guys on the All Star team representing the Eastern Conference, he doesn’t deserve it.”"
It’s easy to revolt against Jackson’s stance on this, but the bottom line is that he’s right. If you look at Eastern Conference forwards, Porzingis ranks behind Paul Milsap, Chris Bosh and Kevin Love in PER, and is 18th among power forwards out East when it comes to True Shooting Percentage.
Of course, the anti-analytics crowd will base their decision off of hype, but that’s not what wins games. There’s no denying that Prozignis is the future of the Knicks, but he’s not an All-Star this season, even if you don’t want to agree with Jackson on this one.