Speaking at a sponsorship engagement on Wednesday, Kristaps Porzingis said that Phil Jackson’s recent suggestion that he could end up like Shawn Bradley has him “fired up” (Sept. 16).
“Yeah I saw it. I don’t know what to say. I guess that’s what Phil does, gets us to work hard and fired up,” Porzingis said. “That fired me up. I’m like, ‘I’m not Shawn Bradley,’ you know?”
There’s no doubt Jackson likes to play mind games and get into his players’ heads in hopes of getting them motivated. Some may consider it a type of tough love, but in this case, it seems to have worked with Porzingis.