Kristaps Porzingis won’t be playing for Latvia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament this summer, and instead will spend the offseason working on his overall game and getting stronger.
Porzingis announced at a press conference Monday morning in his home of Latvia that he wouldn’t be playing for his country. This hardly came as a surprise considering how Porzingis was speaking throughout his rookie season with the Knicks about his offseason plans.
“This is a big offseason for me and I really want to work individually,” Porzingis said two days after the Knicks’ season ended last month.
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Porzingis said his plan was to spend much of the offseason in New York working with the Knicks coaches and training staff.
The 7-3 Porzingis had moments of brilliance during his first season and looks like a future All-Star. He averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 72 games.
Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis said during the season he would rather Porzingis bypass playing for his country and focus on developing different parts of his game. Porzingis said three main areas of focus would be working on his post game, his lateral quickness and his body.
He said he would like to add about 12 pounds. Porzingis ended the season weighing 232 pounds, and believes 245 would be a good weight for him. He also wants to show more versatility on both ends of the floor so he’s more valuable to the team and can be a crunch-time performer.
“Number one is getting stronger,” Porzingis said. “Not only putting on weight and being big, but being more athletic, quicker, being able to guard smaller guys when we switch. I want to be the guy who can be the last quarter on the court as the and be able to guard everybody and switch with everybody. That’s how basketball is these days.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, not only putting on mass but quickness, how I move, how I move my feet, how I run. That’s number one. And obviously my skill set. For my skills, number one thing is post game. In the triangle it’s going to be fundamental for me to be able to score in the post and be really aggressive, and not only score but create situations for others while I’m in the post. Everything else comes after that.”
..... - Newsday