A wise man once told me “a real man admits when he is wrong”. When it comes to Kristaps Porzingis, I am proud to admit that I was wrong as hell.
During the night of last year’s NBA Draft, I watched with horror as Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor were selected before the New York Knicks went on the clock. I say “horror” because I – and Knicks fans everywhere – knew there was a possibility of our beloved team selecting Porzingis.
I wanted my Knicks to do one of the following:
- Select Justise Winslow
- Trade out of the pick and get more picks
- Do not draft a European stiff
Well, as fate would have it, THIS happened:
I learned of the pick while I was working late on a project in Newark, NJ (a crappy place to be, by the way). If you were among the many coworkers who were lucky enough to witness my reaction, or simply a fly on the wall, y’all would have witnessed the most epic cussing sprees in sports fan history.
I’m not going to share what I exactly said verbatim, just know that is was an epic fan meltdown/cuss-fest which drew lots of laughter – and possible YouTube moments. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that two of my boys tried to talk to talk me off of the ledge during said cussing meltdown.
One of my boys actually took the time and watched film of Porzingis balling in Europe, and said that he has a shot to be a star in the NBA. Of course, I scoffed at such a notion and kept calling Porzingis a “European stiff” mixed with a few more expletives.
As I sat and watched my Knicks this past regular season, I made the following observation: this Porzingis dude can play. He’s a good shooter, can hit free throws, can play some defense, has good post moves, AND has a lot of swag. You read that right folks, someone I once called a “European stiff” has SWAG.
Oh, and Porzingis finished second in the 2016 NBA Rookie of the Year voting to Towns.
So now I must eat copious amounts of crow and say how wrong I was on this kid. I should have reserved my judgment and took the advice of friends who actually watched film on Porzingis.
So here we go.
Kristaps Porzingis, I am sorry for calling you an “European stiff”. I’m sorry for saying that even my son and I could post your skinny ass up and out-rebound you. And I am sorry for saying I didn’t like you and your mama.
As for the man who drafted Porzingis, I am not apologizing to Phil Jackson. I still hate that guy…
Categories: NBA, sports story
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