NY Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis has taken not only Madison Square Garden by storm, but the whole NBA landscape as well. He is now touted as the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year Award this year compared to how Knicks fans received him during draft day.
Now, those fans are eating their words and are now riding the Porzingis bandwagon. But to give them some credit, the Latvian kid was totally unknown heading into las June's draft.
Here's a video on how KP was received during draft day, it can be seen that a kid is stunned with the selection but now, he is a fan of the rookie. Just ask Kristaps, whose jersey is ranked as seventh highest in sales as of writing according to New York Post.
"I've heard he already has my jersey,'' said Porzingis. "That's kind of funny. He's a kid, can't blame him [for] doing that. I'm still a kid, too.''
Asked if he has forgotten the boos from draft day, he admitted that it still stings a bit, but that was never his motivation on why he is playing phenomenal basketball today.
"It still sits inside of you a bit,'' Porzingis referring to the boos. "It's not a good feeling when you get booed. But I don't want to be good because somebody booed me. I want to be great player because that's the way I am. It definitely gave me extra motivation.''
Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony has turned to a believer of Porzingis as well. In fact, he is ready to give the keys to the rookie as he envisions him as the next leader of the team.
"He's going to lead this organization long after I'm retired," Anthony said. "Hopefully we can hoist one or two [championship trophies] before that happens."
"I'm here to help him and use my experience and help him get his feet wet, and he's doing a pretty good job."
