Porzingis: Brother's Knicks comments taken out of context

Kristaps Porzingis was left to perform damage control Friday, answering to the New York media about comments made by his brother.

"(Fans) know I'm here in New York, I love New York," the Knicks star said, according to the Daily News' Stefan Bondy. "And I see myself as a Knick for a long, long time."

Why Porzingis needed to say that was rooted in an interview with a Latvian magazine, in which his brother and agent, Janis Porzingis, opined that max money wouldn't be the ultimate factor in one day deciding where his brother signs as a free agent.

"From their point of view, Kristaps is the focal point at the moment so you cannot upset him much or otherwise, at the end of the season, he will say, 'it's not so cool here,'" Janis was translated as saying.

Kristaps butted heads with former team president Phil Jackson, and he appeared to form a bond with Carmelo Anthony before his messy, prolonged exit from New York. The Knicks also look like a team entrenched in a rebuild.

Still, he said that maybe his brother's remarks were lost in translation.

"That's my brother and my agent," he said. "Whatever comments he makes or whatever it is what it is ... I thought the article and everything was taken out of context."

Kristaps is in his first season as the Knickerbockers' featured player, and it's going well as far as his individual performance is concerned. But the fact remains that the franchise has a .405 winning percentage since 2004, and hasn't made the playoffs in four years.