KISSING UP TO KRIS
Making Porzingis feel ‘special’ is Fizdale’s summer priority
HOWARD SIMMONS/DAILY NEWS CHICAGO — David Fizdale has set his priority for the beginning of his Knicks tenure: make Kristaps Porzingis believe in the Knicks again. “I want him to feel something different. I want him to feel something that when he comes back here it’s going to be special for him,” Fizdale said Thursday at the draft combine. “That he’s walking back into a culture and environment that’s set up for winning. That’s my biggest goal this summer, is to really bond with him and connect with him and get insight from him: His experiences, what he liked, what he didn’t like, what he’d like to see, what’s his goals. “Does he see himself as a guy who can be MVP one day? Defensive Player of the Year? I want to hear all that stuff and share with him my vision on how to get him there.” About a year ago, Porzingis skipped out on his exit meeting as a means to protest the Knicks dysfunction and direction (or lack of a direction). He seemed more positive last season before tearing his ACL, but doubt is understandable for a 22-year-old already on his fourth NBA coach.
Fizdale said he plans to visit Porzingis over the summer in Europe, where the Latvian is rehabbing from ACL surgery.
“Oh yeah, that’s going to happen,” Fizdale said. “Multiple times maybe over the course of the summer.”
Fizdale’s most powerful gesture to Porzingis would be bringing a contract extension. However, the Knicks have been non-committal about extending the offer — which would be five years, $157 million — and could simply wait until Porzingis is a restricted free agent in the summer of 2019.
Delaying would save the Knicks roughly $10 million in cap space for the 2019 offseason, when they’re poised to chase high-profile free agents like Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving. The fact that the team and Porzingis have not always been on the same page clouds the trust.
Further complicating matters is that Porzingis’ recovery timetable remains undefined. Owner James Dolan brought up the possibility of Porzingis missing all of next season, and GM Scott Perry said Tuesday they’ll have a better idea by the end of the summer.
Fizdale also visited Marc Gasol in the summer after he was hired by Memphis, but that relationship deteriorated rapidly. Fizdale said he learned from that experience and is hoping to apply the lessons to coaching Porzingis and the rebuilding Knicks.
The first step toward roster improvement is the draft in June, when the Knicks are slated to pick 9th. Fizdale has been part of the contingent interviewing prospects at the combine — a role he didn’t have in Memphis or Miami — and called it “great from an educational standpoint.”
The Knicks interviewed Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Villanova’s Mikal Bridges, among others, on Wednesday. They’re scheduled to sit down with Oklahoma point guard Trae Young on Friday. “When you sit down and talk to them you want to hear the character of the kid. You want to see who he is, where he’s from, what shaped him,” Fizdale said. “We have a certain kind of player we’re looking for. I think I made it clear that the toughness thing is a top priority for us. Versatility, skill, guys that play both sides of the ball. Those are things that fit under what we’re looking for.”
Like Steve Mills, Scott Perry and even Jeff Hornacek, Fizdale agreed that the Knicks’ greatest need is a forward.
“If you look at just slots, our wing position we got to add a little more in there from the three-four spot,” Fizdale said. “But that’s a positionless kind of area. Who fits that mold? I don’t know. It’s always guys, a 6-7 to 6-9 guy who is a two-way player with a lot of skill that helps us.”
Mikal Bridges and Miles Bridges certainly fit in that category. But Porzingis has his own category (Unicorn), and Fizdale said that’s his priority.