By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
From a rookie to whom the New York Knicks fans (and not only) reacted with a “who” raucous, Kristaps Porzingis went on to incredibly exceed expectations, establishing himself as one of the rising stars in the NBA world.
Yet, according to him, five years ago, he had problems even running the court at practice.
The Latvian forward posted a lengthy and highly interesting blog entry for the The Players’ Tribune, revealing many details from the difficulties he faced during his early days in Spain as teenager, and not only.
Here is an excerpt from what Porzingis’ had to say words:
“I grew up by myself, for the most part. I came to Spain to play for CB Sevilla when I was 15. Considering I’m so close to my family, being away from them and living in a country where I didn’t speak the language was hard. Early in my first season, I’ll never forget when my coach, Carlos Romero, asked me this:
“What’s wrong with you?”
I didn’t have an answer.
Being so young in Spain was hard. I was homesick and I didn’t speak Spanish well. But on this morning I was feeling particularly unwell. I was always the first person at the gym, but that morning I was feeling off. To be honest, I’d been feeling off for some time.
My coach said, “You’ve been with the team for three months, you should be in good shape by now.”
And I was thinking, Man, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was going hard, but I couldn’t keep up with my teammates. I just had no answers for what was happening.
We hit the Christmas break, I went home to Latvia, and I remember walking through the airport, hearing people speaking Latvian again. I was like, Oh my God. This is so good. This is like heaven.
I wanted to be home for as long as possible. I was back home for two or three weeks, and it was the best. I was back with family. In Spain I was by myself, save for the times my family would come down and take care of me
The first two days after I got back to Spain I was like, I wanna go home. I don’t want to be here. I packed up all my stuff. I remember smelling the clothes that my mom had washed when I was home, and I was like, Oh my God, it smells like home … my mom’s laundry. I wanna be back in Latvia so bad.
I thought about it nonstop for a couple of days. My bag was packed on my bed, waiting.
But then I started practicing again with the team.
And I thought, You know what? I’m good. Basketball takes me out of everything. I stopped thinking about anything but basketball.
When I started playing again, the team doctors started to give me vitamins, and I was like, again with the vitamins?! I had already been taking all sorts of stuff when I started feeling sick, and I didn’t have faith that they would work now.
So one week goes by. I’m already starting to feel better. Two weeks, three weeks. And I’m like, Yes! This is how I’m supposed to feel. I could run way more. I wasn’t sleepy in the morning. I’m actually feeling good!
Strangely enough, the team didn’t tell me immediately what was wrong with me. After a few weeks, they told me that I had been suffering from anemia.
When I finally started getting treatment, I was like 6’8” and like 71 kilos (155 lbs.). I was a skeleton. Before the next season started, I was up to about 85 kilos (190 lbs.). I felt really strong and good, and my game took off.
Now looking back at it, it’s interesting to think about all the stuff I went through and that I did. I’m still here, I’m alive. I’ve put in the work. And now I’m good. Five years ago, I could not run down the court at practice without wanting to go to sleep. Now, I’m on the New York Knicks.”
Porzingis also discussed some of his goals with the New York Knicks as well as a special ambition he has regarding his individual performance.
“In terms of personal goals, I can’t predict what I’m going to do. There are goals for myself and goals for my team. I believe that we have to make the playoffs, and that’s my focus. Just gonna put this out there, though: One day I’d like to get a quadruple double, points, assists, rebounds and blocks. Melo got close to a few triple doubles last year — as the wing player in our offense, he’s in a good position to do set everyone up — so I know it’s possible in our system. Ten blocks, though … I don’t know.”