There isn’t much talent on the New York Knicks’ roster outside of Kristaps Porzingis, especially after Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the offseason for a pair of second-unit quality pieces in Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott, plus a future draft pick.

That Tim Hardaway Jr. was the biggest free agent pick-up the Knicks had back in the summer and the team’s starting backcourt is composed of Courtney Lee and Ramon Sessions speaks a lot about the dire situation the Knicks are in this season.

With an assembly of mediocre players at his disposal, Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek is understandably happy that he’s seeing promise, even if it’s an intangible one, from his rookie point guard, Frank Ntilikina. Fred Kerber of the New York Post notes at least one aspect in which the guard has impressed Hornacek.

So there you have it. Hornacek is in awe of the French’s fearlessness on the court. But. let’s not limit the praise for Ntilikina on a quality that many other NBA players have.

For one, Ntilikina has been fairly efficient. While he’s averaging just 4.2 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.6 assists per game, those numbers expand to 8.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game per 36 minutes. It’s the reason that Porzingis believes that Ntilikina will be a “triple-double” guy in the future.

Ntilikina is just 19 and he’ll have plenty of time to improve his game. Hopefully, the Knicks are really committed to developing the young gun.