New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale intends to fly all the way to Latvia to have a sit down meeting with cornerstone player Kristaps Prozingis with regards to the future of the franchise.
Porzingis is currently spending his summer in his native Latvia, and newly-appointed head coach Fizdale appears to have a strong desire to get a jump on his relationship with his star big man, refusing to delay the face-to-face until Porzingis return to the United States.
In his piece for The New York Post, Marc Berman details Fizdale's intentions to have a big-picture discussion with Porzingis. Fizdale's decision to go out of his way and take a 500-mile, nine-hour flight to Latvia is also an admirable gesture aimed towards showing Porzingis how important he is to the head coach, as well as the Knicks franchise.
“It’s going to be a big part of the next step to show him the big picture,’’ said Fizdale. “How I want to utilize him, coach him, start building a relationship with him, a bond with him, a connection with him.”
Porzingis will be entering the fourth and final year of his rookie deal this season and is slated to earn $5.6 million. This is definitely far less than how much other players of his caliber are making.
New York will need to pull out all the stops just to put themselves in a position to re-sign Porzingis to a long-term deal. Fizdale's visit is definitely a good first step towards that aim.
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