Long before it took Kristaps Porzingis all of 12 regular-season games to become a sensation with the Knicks, he plied his trade for Baloncesto Sevilla of Spain’s ACB League. As Sevilla’s general manager, José Luis Galilea became uniquely familiar with Porzingis, and he could sense the player’s bright future.
Galilea based his confidence on two observations.
The first was that Porzingis almost always stayed late after practice to develop his skills with Nikola Radicevic, a teammate. Basketball mattered to Porzingis in a way that struck Galilea as unusual, especially for a player who could have coasted on his natural gifts.