A coach I had in Spain, Scott Roth, he used to call me Zinger. He would yell at me all the time, 'Zinger!' It's just stuck in my head that I don't like that name.
— Kristaps Porzingis
I've got that European swagger.
My quiet place is in the gym. When I feel like going to church, it's for me the MSG training facility and working on my game.
I'm adding moves to my post game. I'm really working on staying low. I'm working on my strength overall, especially my legs. That's going to help me defensively as well.
I would like to dunk on Shaq.
Maybe in Latvian one day I'll rap a little bit, but definitely not in English.
When I was eighteen and I won the European Championship - that's when I realized I had an opportunity to play in the NBA one day.
At the end of the day the thing I want most of all is winning.
I want to have a long career in the NBA. First, I want to be an All-Star, and hopefully one day I can win a ring with the New York Knicks.
The first year was kind of hard for me. There was just too much attention, too much going on, and I really just wanted to focus on basketball.
I want to be in such a basketball city like New York.
That's something that I gotta prove - I don't like being labeled as 'soft.' I'm not soft.
As a kid, I used to love roller coasters. I love adrenaline, love going faster.
New Yorkers aren't that friendly, but they're still pretty friendly, and they're hardworking, passionate people.
My older brothers, they know how to keep my head straight and be thinking about what I need to do on the court. Now I have that in me, that mentality, that I want to get better and better every game. Thanks to them, they showed me the way.
I think Carmelo is a great player. He makes players around him better. Whatever thing, whatever Carmelo wants me to do, I will do that out on the court just to prove that I'm worthy enough to be on the court with him, starting with the dirty jobs - just getting rebounds, getting shots, getting blocks, and just running the court.
Playing in New York, there's a lot of pressure, but me and some Europeans like the pressure.
Whatever people want to call me, I'm cool with, except 'Zinger.'
You can never really relax until you've signed that contract with your team.
I'm never really happy with anything I do.
When I'm playing in a close game, I'm out on the floor only trying to help the team win.
Some girls are intimidated by my height, obviously. But a lot of girls do like it, so that's cool.
I listen to a lot of Drake and Meek Mill before games.
I don't love the off-court stuff. But I know it's necessary.
Of course the defenders are trying to be physical with me. They look at me, 7-3, skinny, they try to be physical.
I think that's the type of game I'm better at - faster paced, just moving the ball more around.
I will try to make my career as long as possible. For me, it's not about money, so I just love playing the game.
I'm a good student. Just trying to learn as much as possible is how I picked up so many languages.
I pick up languages fast.
Low ceilings, low doors. I hate that. Oh my God, it's the worst. This world is too small for me.
With my height, I probably wouldn't be able to make money playing pingpong, but I would just have fun with it. The table is too low for me.
The first day I got drafted, I felt the fans were really passionate about basketball, and there was going to be a lot of pressure.
I want to be a part of this organization, and I know the fans are a little harsh sometimes, but that's how it is here in New York, and I'm ready for it.
If we're winning, that's all that matters to me. If we're winning, I'll be happy. And that can help me grow.
I just like boxing.
Basketball is pretty big in Latvia.
It's not a good feeling when you get booed. But I don't want to be good because somebody booed me. I want to be great player because that's the way I am.
I just really love the game. I'm very hungry, and I'm looking forward to playing in the best league in the world.
We're a basketball family.
It's a dream come true for me to be an idol for those kids. One little moment from my life that I spend with that kid, he might remember that for the rest of his life, that he met me that day when he was 10 years old.
We knew the European players that went to the NBA and had great careers, and we knew the ones that went and had terrible careers or finished early. We were prepared for a lot of criticism.
Don't worry about me; my moment will come. I'll be ready for it. I will work hard, and whenever it's gonna come, whenever the coaches are gonna trust me, I'm gonna be on court and give 100 percent.
I have to do a better job of picking the spots where I want to attack and picking the right moment when I need to attack.
I'm a student of the game.
I learned Spanish in five or six months.
I always try to stay aggressive. I always use my strengths and always work on my weaknesses to get better. That's just who I am.
That's one thing about Americans: They know how to have fun.
The fans will talk about whatever. But when you're not doing your best, you're losing, you can't let all that get to your head. You focus and try to play hard. The fans, they will respect you for that.
I heard New York fans and people in New York are hard-working fans, so they want to see players work hard on the court. That's the first thing I've got to do.
I think American fans, they know more college guys than guys overseas.
