A BAD BROMANCE!
Kristaps’ brother dunks Melo, hints at departure from Knicks
To Janis Porzingis, the decision for his younger brother to skip his exit interview was a necessary power play because Carmelo Anthony was complacent with the misdirection of the Knicks.
And when it comes to Kristaps signing a longterm deal, Janis said there’s no rush and implied New York isn’t guaranteed a signature simply because it can offer the most money.
“(Skipping the exit interview) wasn’t an emotional decision,” Janis told Latvian publication Sports Avize, as translated by Eurohoops.net. “It wasn’t a spontaneous action. We had been thinking about it for a long time and it was considered an honest, well-thought decision we came up with together. It was a logical next step for us, without which we would’ve been in one situation, but now after we did it — we are in another.”
Janis found it contradictory that Kristaps was labeled unprofessional — including by Charles Oakley — while Anthony was lauded for the way he handled last season’s chaos.
“It’s interesting how many people who are even somehow involved in all of this, have criticized it afterward as something so unprofessional. Just look at Melo, how he is handling things,” said Janis, who serves as Kristaps’ agent and mentor. “And I’m thinking, ‘Wait a minute.’
“In reality, if he for once decided to fight for something, we wouldn’t be in this situation and Kristaps wouldn’t be forced to take all the damage on himself. It wasn’t done for some personal interest or ambitions or dislike for someone, it was for the sake of overall peace. It should have been a task for the team’s leaders, but Melo and people around him never tried to change anything.”
Kristaps’ contract situation is tricky, and most stars re-sign with the team that drafted them before their rookie contract expires. However, Janis said that the money and security the Knicks can offer is not so important. If anything, Janis suggested, the Knicks need Kristaps more than he needs them.
And as Kristaps told the Daily News last month, he’d still like to see changes before a longterm commitment.
“The most important question here is this: What do you really want to achieve in your career?” Janis said in the Sports Avize interview. “Because money — if Kristaps performs at least on his normal level, is gonna come. We are more focused on some other values and not just to quickly sign a new contract so we can collect the money. That’s definitely not our goal, so we won’t be feverishly counting minutes or counting points. You can’t escape the reality and the Knicks must also see that. From their point of view, Kristaps is the focal point at the moment so you cannot upset him much or otherwise, at the end of the season, he will say, ‘It’s not so cool here.’ The second question is: Who is the New York audience coming to watch now? To a large extent, it’s Kristaps. So the organization has to take that into account.”
Kristaps is eligible for a five-year maximum extension this summer, which should fall in the $150 million range. If such an extension is either not offered or not signed by Kristaps, the Knicks will have next season to convince ‘The Unicorn’ to sign as a restricted free agent. If that doesn’t happen, Kristaps will become an unrestricted free agent in 2020 and is as good as gone.
From Kristaps’ perspective, it’s important to remember the Knicks twice engaged in trade talks involving the Latvian — first with Phil Jackson around the draft, and then again with Steve Mills when Kyrie Irving became available. ESPN reported this remains a source of animosity.
The 22-year-old forward was not available for comment Thursday because he left practice early with an illness. Knicks president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry declined to talk to the media, leaving Jeff Hornacek in the familiar position of diffusing a controversy.
“We started new this year and we’re moving forward,” the coach said. “That’s all.
“I think (our relationship) has been great. I think KP has been great so far for us this year. He’s being a leader on the court and off the court. So he’s really trying to step it up for everybody and I think the guys are looking at him as their leader and one of those guys that they can depend on so I think he’s off to a great start.”
ABC analyst Paul Pierce, meanwhile, said the Knicks should feel pressure to accommodate their star.
“You have your foundation in place. A lot of teams can’t say that. You have to take advantage of that,” Pierce said on the pregame show Wednesday before the Knicks hosted the Rockets. “This is the window when you talk about young great players to finally hitting their prime, and you don’t put the right pieces around him. And then you find your franchise set back again when that young player decides to go elsewhere and play. So they have to figure it out sooner and later or you’re going to have a special player going elsewhere down the line.”
Anthony, who hasn’t commented on the quotes from Janis, suggested to the Daily News last month that Kristaps should mull two options with his contract extension: either stay in New York to bask in the challenge of leading a team, or leave for a better chance to win.
“He’s young. He’s young enough where if he wanted to take that deal, take it. You still got years. New York is his now,” Anthony said. “But on the flip side, with the way the game is going, people want to win. And there’s going to have to come that point where he makes that decision. As players, we all go through that. It’s a tough decision because you want to be there, you want to commit to him. The ball is in your hands. The onus is on you now. But on the flip side, I know him personally, so I know how bad he wants to win by any means.”