Ian Begley, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Kristaps Porzingis' numbers as good as Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor

For the record, Kristaps Porzingis still thinks about the night he was booed by hundreds of frustrated New York Knicks fans at the 2015 NBA Draft.

“I wouldn’t say it’s on my mind, but it still sits inside of you a little bit,” Porzingis said recently in an interview on ESPN 89.7 FM. “It’s not a good feeling when you get booed, obviously.”

Clearly, Porzingis has exceeded the expectations of those Knicks fans -- and many around the NBA -- in the first weeks of his rookie season.

The 20-year-old enters Friday’s game against the Miami Heat averaging 13.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

The boos on draft night seem foolish now, but at the time they were understandable. Knicks fans on hand at the Barclays Center that night were probably hoping Phil Jackson would select an American-born player -- a more familiar commodity -- with the No. 4 pick.

Maybe they were hoping that Jackson could trade up for Karl-Anthony Towns or that somehow Jahlil Okafor would fall into the Knicks' lap.

The funny thing is that, so far, Porzingis compares pretty favorably to his fellow big men in the 2015 draft class.

Advanced and traditional statistics show that Porzingis is right there with Towns and Okafor in several important categories.

Below, we take a look at a few of the numbers to see how the Knicks’ rookie measures up to Okafor and Towns.

On-court impact

These statistics compare a team’s production when a player is on the floor to when he is on the bench. In this measurement, Porzingis is ahead of both Towns and Okafor (who finds himself in trouble after getting involved in a Boston street fight).

According to statistics entering Wednesday’s games compiled by ESPN The Magazine researcher and reporter Anthony Oliveri, the Knicks score nearly five more points per 100 possessions when Porzingis is on the court compared to when he's on the bench. New York also holds opponents to 6.2 fewer points per 100 possessions when Porzingis is on the floor compared to when he’s off it.

In total, the Knicks outscore opponents by 3.9 points per 100 possessions with Porzingis on the court; they’re outscored by four points per 100 possessions when he’s off it. That gives you an indication of Porzingis’ impact on both ends of the court thus far.

And based on this measurement, Porzingis' impact has been superior to Towns and Okafor's thus far.

The Timberwolves outscore opponents by just 0.1 points per 100 possessions with Towns on the floor and are outscored by one point per 100 possessions with Towns on the bench. The 76ers are outscored by 13.1 points per 100 possessions with Okafor on the court and are outscored by .4 points per 100 possessions with Okafor on the bench.

This statistic, of course, is influenced by factors outside of the players’ control. The four players these rookies share the court with impact their on/off numbers, as do the five on the floor while they’re on the bench.

So it would be inaccurate to look at the statistics above and conclude that Porzingis is the top rookie in the NBA right now. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few other categories.

Counting stats

Okafor (18.4 ppg) leads Towns (14.7) and Porzingis (13.4) in points per game. One factor at play here: Okafor is taking nearly five more shots and playing five more minutes per game than Towns and Porzingis.

Towns (9.5) is ahead of Porzingis (9.1) and Okafor (8.1) in rebounds and blocks per game, but Porzingis leads the group in offensive rebounds per game (2.8 to 2.3 for Towns and Okafor).

Towns’ 2.4 blocks per game edges Porzingis and Okafor’s 1.8.

Another area Towns has excelled in is shooting percentage.

Entering play Friday, Towns was shooting 51.7 percent. Porzingis was shooting 41 percent and Okafor 47.5 percent.

For what it's worth, Porzingis's field goal percentage has been a point of focus for both the rookie and the Knicks' coaching staff.

"That's not close to where I want to shoot," Porzingis said earlier this week.

Advanced stats

Porzingis compares favorably with Towns and Okafor through the prism of some advanced metrics.

He’s a close second to Towns in individual offensive and defensive rating, which measures how many points a player scores and allows his opponent to score on individual possessions.

Porzingis had scored 106 points per 100 individual possessions entering Wednesday’s games, which is one point fewer than Towns. His opponents score 99 points per individual possessions, two more than Towns. Not bad.

Porzingis’ player efficiency rating (PER), which is a measurement of overall per-minute efficiency and is a good indicator of a player’s offensive contribution, is 18.9 entering play Friday. The league average for PER is 15.0. Towns leads the trio with a PER of 21.0.

Porzingis is the best among the group when it comes to taking care of the ball. His turnover percentage -- turnovers committed per 100 individual possessions -- is 11.3 entering play Friday. Towns' is 14.6 and Okafor's is 14.3.

So what does it all mean?

Porzingis and Okafor have played 16 games, and Towns has played 15. So it’s way too early to make any grand statements about the rookies. When we revisit these numbers again in April, we'll have a more accurate picture of where Porzingis stacks up.

But one conclusion that can be drawn now is that Porzingis belongs in the conversation for the top rookies in the Class of 2015, which those booing him in June would not have predicted. Those boos will stay with Porzingis for a long time. But he's not obsessing over them.

“I don’t want to just to be good because someone booed me,” he says. “I want to be a great player just because that’s the way I am. I want to be the best I can be.”

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