NBA champion has last laugh after being booed on draft night by Knicks fans

“Hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amuck, and flat out deceived.”

Those were Stephen A. Smith’s iconic words after the New York Knicks selected Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Smith wasn’t alone in how he felt.

A chorus of boos echoed around Barclays Center on draft night that year after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the Knickerbockers were taking a relative unknown 7-footer from overseas over more established players on the US collegiate scene.

It was the tip of the iceberg for an apoplectic fanbase already disillusioned with a front office who had just overseen a historically bad season.

The 2014-15 season is widely considered one of the worst in franchise history.

Despite boasting five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher as its head coach, legendary Bulls and Lakers coach Phil Jackson as its general manager, and perennial All-Star Carmelo Anthony as its star player, the lowly New York Knicks finished the campaign with a franchise-record 65 losses.

They had missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season, and for the tenth out of fourteen since 2001–02.

For a former Eastern Conference powerhouse that routinely went head-to-head with Michael Jordan‘s Bulls and made the latter stages of the postseason, it was an all-time low.

But the NBA Draft represented a light at the end of the tunnel and an opportunity to start over for Jackson’s rudderless Knicks.

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It was a golden chance to draft an NBA-ready player who could be paired with a star like ‘Melo and make an immediate impact on a struggling franchise.

But Jackson, who increasingly found himself the target of Knicks’ fans frustrations, decided to go against the grain.

Rather than select a highly-touted prospect like Willie Cauley-Stein, Justice Winslow or Emmanuel Mudiay, Jackson plumped for a lanky Latvian few Americans had ever heard of who had been playing in Spain.

To Knicks fans, it was a borderline negligent pick that summed up the incompetence that had been rife throughout the franchise.

Much of the consternation stemmed from fans’ unfamiliarity with the slight center’s game and the fact he was a ‘project’ who would take years to develop.

The success-starved Knicks simply didn’t have time to wait.

There was also a general fear among US fans towards European stars after several other teams were stung by international players who overpromised and under-delivered.

Then-Yahoo Sports!’ Adrian Wojnarowski wrote at the time: “Porzingis has an innate awareness about the way the American public sees a young, long European teenager.

“He comes to the NBA with the full understanding that popular basketball culture declares him guilty until proven innocent of the basketball crimes of Darko Milicic and Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Andrea Bargnani. He’s considered a stiff, a bust, a blown lottery pick until he doesn’t become one.”

But Jackson clearly saw something in Porzingis’ potential and used the Knicks’ valuable first-round pick on an unproven – and tall – big man predominantly seen as a perimeter shooter.

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Boos rang out as Porzingis hugged his family and walked on stage to shake Silver’s hand after officially becoming a Knick.

One particular young fan – later dubbed the ‘Crying Knicks Fan’ – went viral over his crying selfie during Porzingis’ selection.

“I have no idea what Phil Jackson is thinking,” one fan said. “Maybe he thinks he’s going to be the next Pau Gasol, but I don’t think so. This is the worst thing I’ve ever lived through as a Knicks fan. He didn’t score that many points in Europe. What’s he going to do in the NBA?”

“Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks passed up on four dudes who are NBA-ready now,” Stephen A. yelled on SportsCenter.

“You got Willie Cauley-Stein, you passed up on him. You got Justice Winslow, who I think is the steal of the draft, you passed up on him. Stanley Robinson [he actually meant Stanley Johnson] out of Arizona, you passed up on him. 

“New York Knick fans were at the Barclays Center booing because we recognize that we have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amuck, and flat out deceived by Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks”.

Porzingis heard the boos but was determined to endear himself to the Knicks’ faithful.

“I know the fans are a little harsh sometimes,” he said. “But that’s how it is here in New York and I’m ready for it.”

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During his rookie season, Porzingis quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with and gradually won over the sceptical Knicks fans.

His unique blend of skill, size, shooting and touch even earned him the nickname, ‘The Unicorn.’

Unfortunately, injuries, including a torn ACL, derailed his career in New York.

Porzingis was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 2019 but departed having largely succeeded in convincing Knicks fans that he was a player worth investing in.

His time in Dallas alongside Luka Doncic didn’t go as planned and he signed with the Wizards before eventually landing in Boston in 2023.

In February 2024, his Celtics visited the Knicks at Madison Square Garden where he was once again greeted with jeers.

“I enjoy it, to be honest…Now they’ve ramped up again a little bit,” said Porzingis, after dropping 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and one block in a 116-102 road win.

“Me being on the Celtics, and having this kind of rivalry with the Knicks, as I always say, ‘I prefer any kind of emotion over no emotion. Whether it’s cheers or boos, I want it.'”

Fast forward to the recent postseason and Porzingis’ Celtics squared off against his former team Dallas in the 2024 NBA Finals.

The Latvian hadn’t played in 38 days prior to Game 1 after sustaining a calf injury but was subbed in midway through the first quarter of the opening game and got scorching hot.

His spark off the bench enabled the Cs to go on a run that fueled the 107-89 win.

He had 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks in 20 minutes of action and became just the fourth non-starter in history to score 20+ points in his NBA Finals debut.

Porzingis’ Game 1 heroics set the tone for Boston for the rest of the series and they eventually closed out the Mavs in five games to capture their first NBA championship since 2008.

Nine years after being booed on draft night, NBA champion Porzingis had finally proved the doubters wrong.

He was the final piece in a title-winning puzzle.

As for the players Stephen A. thought the Knicks should have drafted ahead of Porzingis in 2015?

None of Johnson, Cauley-Stein or Winslow are currently playing in the NBA.