5 NBA players who should be playing a different position

2. Kristaps Porzingis

The New York Knicks are in a weird transition stage. Or at least they should be rather than the free agent-filled mess they are actually in.

It does seem the Knicks are as open to trading Carmelo Anthony than they have ever been before. And that will open doors for what everyone believes is extremely necessary already. It is time to turn the keys of the Knicks over to Kristaps Porzingis.

It is not that the second-year big man has not been good. He has increased his scoring and shooting averages over his rookie year. It is that he still seems largely ignored and cluttered offensively.

Porzingis still gets his fair amount of shots. Yet, it still feels like he is constricted. And a big part of that is the position he plays.

Porzingis still spends the majority of his time at power forward thanks to Joakim Noah’s presence on the roster. Porzingis has played only 35 percent of his minutes at center, according to Basketball-Reference. That is at least up from last year. But undoubtedly Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony still take away from his shots. And Joakim Noah takes away some of his space. Porzingis is still largely a jump shooter.

According to NBA.com’s Player Tracking stats, Porzingis averages 2.7 post-ups per game. Carmelo Anthony gets more post-ups per game. Granted Porzingis is not super efficient — 0.78 points per possession on post-ups. But it is a sign Porzingis does not operate close to the basket.

Having a non-stretch center like Noah around has forced Porzingis to remain on the perimeter. Nearly 35 percent of his shots come from outside 20 feet.

The vision for Porzingis may one day for him to be a stretch-5 and hovering around the perimeter to draw big men out. But right now, he is a glorified stretch-4 lacking space to operate closer to the basket and hovering around the perimeter too much.