New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting. It was an incredible season for the Latvian big man.
By Chip Murphy
The New York Knicks haven’t had a rookie finish in the top three of the Rookie of the Year voting since Mark Jackson won the award for the 1987-88 season.
That changed today when Kristaps Porzingis was rewarded for his efforts with a second place finish for the 2015-16 award.
Porzingis averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks on a slash line of .421/.333/.838.
Despite fading down the stretch due to fatigue, he put together a better season than the Knicks could’ve dreamed of.
If it wasn’t for the incredible play of No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, Porzingis may have won.
T-Wolves @KarlTowns is the unanimous 2016 NBA Rookie of the Year. The following is the voting results: pic.twitter.com/g1YFeSi2p6
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) May 16, 2016
Towns was incredible and fittingly the unanimous winner of the award. He led all rookies in scoring (18.3), rebounding (10.4), blocks (1.7), minutes (32.0), double doubles (51), and PER (22.5).
Towns did all of this while shooting 54.3 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from three-point range, and 81.1 percent from the free-throw line.
The big men have been through their first season and came out of it with a friendly rivalry. Porzingis and Towns are two names that we will hear called for years to come.
Knicks' Kristaps Porzingis received 117 out of the 130 second place votes placed for Rookie of the Year awards.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 16, 2016
