Kristaps Porzingis: Power Forward vs. Center

No topic generated more feedback to my weekly call for film ideas than Kristaps Porzingis’ position on the court. The 7'3" unicorn is stuck on a roster full of bigs. With Joakim Noah, Enes Kanter, Willy Hernangómez, and Kyle O’Quinn all demanding, or in KOQ’s case, lightly pleading, for minutes, it seems unlikely coach Jeff Hornacek will play KP at center too often this season.

That being said, we did see a very small glimpse of KP at the 5 in a preseason contest against the Nets. Hornacek interchanged Doug McDermott and Michael Beasley next to him at the 4, while Courtney Lee and Tim Hardaway Jr. manned the wings with Frank Ntilikina at the point. As I show in the video below, KP immediately took advantage of his matchup against the Nets’ Quincy Acy, driving to the hoop for a dunk.

The preseason experiment with KP at center lasted fewer than four minutes, and the Knicks were outscored 11–8 during that stretch. The offense relied primarily on three-point attempts by Hardaway Jr., who connected on two of them.

The two preseason games played by Porzingis, both against Brooklyn, provided an interesting situation to consider in terms of his strengths and weaknesses at power forward relative to center. I was surprised how well Rondae Hollis-Jefferson looked against KP. The athletic forward with long, stretchy arms made it difficult for Porzingis to score off the dribble, and at times, he seemed to wear him out on defense. The Nets pushed the ball down the court at a rapid pace. In transition, the Knicks had trouble finding the right cross-match, and Kristaps was forced to exert more energy chasing a player capable of making plays in the open court, rather than follow a slower big. KP still found ways to be effective in disturbing shots around the rim, but only because of Hollis-Jefferson’s lack of shooting ability.

A few things come to mind after watching the Hollis-Jefferson match-up: