LOS ANGELES — It was just two days before Christmas when Enes Kanter dragged a sack of gifts around the Knicks' training facility, handing out gifts to his teammates and insisting that his only goal was keeping the team upbeat through the hard times.
“The only thing I learned from my career, you have to stay together,” Kanter said that day, still wearing an elf costume. “You cannot fall apart. You need that one, two, three guys to bring the positive energy in the locker room. If you’re losing, everybody is shaking their head, everybody is depressed. You need that guy to bring that positive energy, keep that energy up, make people laugh.