Skip to content

Porzingis: New-look Knicks need time to figure this thing out

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images Sport / Getty

An offseason overhaul that included the addition of a former MVP and a former Defensive Player of the Year has elevated expectations for long-suffering New York Knicks fans, but Kristaps Porzingis knows the team will be a work in progress.

'It's going to take us some time to figure this whole thing out," Porzingis told ESPN's Ian Begley Sunday. "It doesn't have to be in a week. It takes time."

The new-look Knicks, who added Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee, and Brandon Jennings, among others, will open the 2016-17 season against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. However, the team's starting lineup has yet to log a single minute of game-time together - due to a tumultuous preseason that saw Rose the defendant in a civil rape trial and Noah recovering from hamstring and ankle injuries.

Related: Noah feels 'a step slow' defensively

Porzingis said that Rose is learning quickly and will make things easier for the second-year big man, but that won't change Porzingis' cautious approach to the season.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on us that we're going to be really good right away. It's going to take some time."

Since advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2013, the Knicks have lost 160 games over the last three years, failing to make it back to the postseason during that time.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox