FRENCH PRIZE
PG Ntilikina: I’d fit great with Knicks, in triangle
Perhaps it’s a good omen. The French word for triangle is triangle.
Whether it’s team president Phil Jackson’s offense, relating to Kristaps Porzingis or adapting to New York City, 18-year-old point guard Frank Ntilikina said he would be a good fit if the Knicks draft him at No. 8.
Ntilikina brought up Jackson’s system, unsolicited.
“I watch a lot of [NBA] basketball games,’’ Ntilikina told The Post in a phone interview Monday from France on the eve of his participation in the French league final.
“The Knicks [have] a good history. The game they play — the triangle offense — is close to the game I play in France with my team. A lot of movement. I think to play over there, I would fit with them. It would be great to play for them.’’
Jackson has demonstrated a fondness for European players, with four on the roster last season in Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Sasha Vujacic. In the draft, Jackson said he wants a guard or a wing — preferably one who fits his idea of team play.
Finding a point guard who jells with Porzingis would be another huge coup. Derrick Rose, who may leave as a free agent, never meshed with the 7-foot-3 Latvian.
“He plays great,’’ Ntilikina said of Porzingis. “I think he has two good seasons. He’s going to be maybe a superstar for sure. We’ll have a good relationship on the court if we play there together. Pick-androll … we’re both from Europe. We have a different way to play the pick-and-roll, the action not every American player has. I think both of us will have a great relationship off the court, too.’’
At No. 8, the Knicks are considering Kentucky combo guard Malik Monk, if he drops; N.C. State’s uber-talented Dennis Smith Jr.; Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell, a combo guard from Westchester County; and Ntilikina, the 6-foot-5 French stud with the 7-foot wingspan whom most U.S. fans never have seen play.
Scouts rave about Ntilikina’s defense, body and unselfishness, all while playing against older players, but his modest regularseason numbers have caused concern in some circles (5.2 points per game on 48.5 percent shooting, 2.1 assists, 0.9 turnovers and 1.4 rebounds in 18.3 minutes).
Ntilikina, who has started since January, has three American team- mates on the Strasbourg roster — including former Western Kentucky star A.J. Slaughter — and he’s always asking them about the NBA.
“I ask a lot about America,’’ Ntilikina said. “To them, since the beginning of the year, they all tell me they’re confident about me going there. I won’t have to think too much, that my game would fit over there. They think like I’m more of an American than a real French player.
“I like the American way of life — the way to be there,’’ Ntilikina added. “I know a lot of things about it. It sounds weird, but I prefer to watch American movies, listen to American music.” (His favorite artists are Drake and Future.)
For now, Ntilikina has the daunting task of zeroing in on a French championship in the next 10 days while draft workouts occur across the pond. Ntilikina will bypass those NBA workouts. His Strasbourg team faces Chalon/Saone in Game 1 of a best-of-five final starting Tuesday.
Ntilikina traveled to Venice, Italy, on Saturday — the day after advancing to the finals — to meet with Dallas owner Mark Cuban, general manager Donnie Nelson and player personnel director Tony Ronzone. Dallas picks ninth.
“I know my job is to be focused on what I’m doing here,’’ Ntilikina said. “We are trying to win a championship. I know I’m doing it a different way than the other players in the draft are, but I’m with my team. We play the games to get championships.”
Game 5 of his team’s playoff series would take place the day after the June 22 draft. Ntilikina hasn’t ruled out jetting in and out of Brooklyn for the draft if the French final goes the distance.
“The team and my agents are trying to do what’s possible to make me go to the draft and come back after [for a Game 5],’’ Ntilikina said.
Ntilikina was one of the heroes in Game 5 of the semifinals, totaling 10 points, three assists, three steals and three rebounds.
“I had a great game,’’ Ntilikina said. “I made some big plays to help the team to win. We have a good chance to win it, but the other team is very talented and finished in front of us in the regular season.”
Had his team lost Game 5 on Friday, Ntilikina would have been on a flight to New York the next day. Two years ago, he was in Brooklyn for the Jordan Brand high-school event and last summer spent time here training with former Knicks development coach Chris Brickley.
“The atmosphere is very good in New York — the way they live over there, I like it a lot,” said Ntilikina, who was born in Belgium and moved to France at age 3. “I talked to people there and loved them. To be in that atmosphere, it gave me a lot of motivation to work harder and have my dream.”