The Latvian forward played 50 games last season Baloncesto Sevilla of the Liga ACB in Spain, averaging 11.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Considered by most to be the best pure shooter in the draft, the 7-1, 220-pound power forward is thought to need to add bulk before he can be effective against NBA competition.
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For that reason — and because of the Knicks’ checkered history drafting Europeans in the lottery — Porzingis, 19, was regarded as something of an unpopular pick. Some felt Duke’s Justise Winslow or Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein would have been better suited because they step in immediately without the challenge of adjusting to the North American game.
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Knicks fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn booed the pick, and ESPN even caught one boy crying.
“It’s my dream to play in New York,” Porzingis told ESPN. “It’s an amazing feeling being drafted by the Knicks. Hopefully I can be part of something special. For those people, who don’t know me, and think I’m soft coming from Europe, I’m different and my passion for the game sets me apart.”
