Porzingis explains difference between this year and last year's Knicks

Lost in the excitement of their 7-2 run is that the New York Knicks were roughly in the same position last season.

Saturday's 118-91 win over the Sacramento Kings bolstered the Knicks to 7-5, potentially closing in on their 11-9 start from a year ago.

There are a few key differences between this year and the last one, though, as explained by Kristaps Porzingis.

"That whole first part of the season we were playing well above .500 and we played off of our talent, just based on our energy. And we really didn’t have the fundamentals," Porzingis told ESPN's Ian Begley of the 2016-17 Knicks that finished with 31 wins. "I felt we really didn’t have the fundamentals as a team."

Last year's Knicks was an awkward mishmash of former All-Stars that hadn't yet come to grips with their diminished abilities. They had the talent on paper to become a playoff team, but as Porzingis pointed out, they didn't do the little things to produce a winning product on the floor.

Notable names like Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose would regularly neglect their defensive duties and hijacked the offense. They've since moved on to new clubs.

This year's Knicks is different, at least for the moment. Porzingis is the only player who can be considered a star. Everyone else is either a career journeyman or a young player looking to establish themselves, so they're all working within the construct of a team to maintain their spot in the league.

The result is a more cohesive lineup that plays above the sum of their parts. New York is up from 22nd to 10th in assist percentage, and while their defensive rating remains poor, they've managed to shave a few points per 100 possessions off last year's average.

"And then this year the difference is we try to play hard defense for 48 minutes, we never give up," Porzingis said. "We're getting a lot of assists as a team; we're playing together, we're sharing the ball. And then everybody is involved and everybody's dangerous. I think we have a better connection this year as a team."

With all that being said, given their notorious history of instability, something is bound to knock the Knicks off their course, eventually. After all, this is still the franchise owned by James Dolan.