With 7-footer Robin Lopez at center flanked by 7’3″ rookie Kristaps Porzingis and 6’8″ scoring machine Carmelo Anthony, the New York Knicks starting front court is 20 feet, 11 inches tall. That’s huge in every way.
Knicks coach Derek Fisher hardly hesitated in naming his big starting triumvirate, despite some New York voices advocating to bring along Porzingis more slowly. (Fisher apparently had enough losing last year as a rookie head coach. Nobody brought him along slowly.) Fisher knows what basketball coaches have said since time immemorial: you can’t teach height. Considering that Porzingis should be adept — he’s shown brilliant flashes — from 3-point territory and Anthony is a nightmare to guard, the Knicks are finally putting a team on the floor that no one can overlook. They’re just too big to ignore. And note this: except for the 2010-11 season when he didn’t start a single game, Robin Lopez has shot better than 50% from the floor every season of his career.
