For the second straight summer, Coach Derek Fisher has made an extra effort to keep a close eye on his young New York Knicks, taking the reigns of the franchise’s Summer League squad in Las Vegas.

And on Saturday afternoon, got a first look at some of the team’s new additions, as the Knicks started the summer session with a 78-73 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. As is normal with the Summer League, the Knicks were far from perfect, but Derek liked what he saw in the first game out.

“Anytime you win, you did enough good things to be the team with the most points at the end of the game,” Fish said. “They did enough things to pull the game out. For rookies and undrafted guys, even though it’s Summer League, winning is still good. We’ll get better tomorrow, but I thought they did good.”

The Knicks used a big 29-19 fourth quarter to escape with a victory and jump out to a 1-0 start, and all eyes were on the No. 4 overall draft pick, Kristaps Porzingis.

The 19-year-old Latvia native showed great promise, tallying 12 points, three rebound and a game-high two blocks in 18 minutes of play. As always, Fish kept his focus on the defensive end, lauding his top draft pick’s potential.

“Defensively, he has the potential to be really special,” Derek said of Porzingis. “There were some things that he recognized and made adjustments on—supporting his teammates, switching out on smaller players, using his length to protect the basket. That’s something we’re going to be really excited about as we go forward. I thought on the defensive end, he really impacted the game in a major way.”

At 7’3” 233 pounds, Porzingis has some room to add weight and strength to his frame, but he still played with tenacity down low, as evidenced by his seven attempts from the free-throw line. Half of his of his 12 points came from the charity stripe, and Coach Fish came away impressed with his physicality down low, and he’s eager to see how the big man will develop.

“He’s aggressive. He doesn’t look physically overpowering, but he plays a strong game. He’s not afraid to go in there and mix it up,” D-Fish said. “He’ll have the ability to do more things offensively in time. Execution in Summer League will never be anywhere close to where it should be, so there won’t be as many high-percentage shots. There will be more fouls and poor possessions, but I thought in the spaces where he had a chance to be aggressive, he was aggressive. He got to the foul line, and he’s not afraid of contact. For a guy his size, that’s really great to see.”

New York’s other draft pick, Jerian Grant, matched Porzingis’ 12 points. The Notre Dame product, adding five points, three assists, two steals and a block. He was just 1-of-6 from the field, hitting a three pointer, but his aggression resulted in 10 free-throw attempts, where he cashed in nine points.

Derek wasn’t discouraged by Jerian’s cold shooting game, but he instead was thrilled to see the way the 22-year-old displayed his skills in all aspects of the game.

“Jerian is a well-rounded basketball player,” Coach Fish said. “He has a feel for the game. He’s a good shooter, and I think people know that about his game, but he also can make really good decisions with the basketball when given a chance. He’ll continue to learn, as he goes forward, how to play without turning the basketball over and get the things he wants as the guy in control of the ball, but I thought he was solid today in his first NBA action.”

While the two rookies were at center stage, several other Knicks had big impacts. Ricky Ledo, a late-season pickup from New York’s 2014-15 campaign, tallied eight points. Ohio University product Maurice Ndour was a strong presence down low as well, notching nine points and a pair of blocks.

A returning player, Cleanthony Early, led the way offensively. He was New York’s top get in last year’s draft, and showed flashes of brilliance throughout the year. Early tallied a game-high 18 points, along with five rebounds and three assists.

Coach Fish was pleased with the way Early performed offensively, but he told the media that he’d like to see more out of him on the defensive end after allowing San Antonio’s Kyle Anderson to tally 23 points.

“I thought he was aggressive today, particularly on the offensive end, but where he’s really going to earn his living is using his athleticism and aggression on the defensive end to be a shut-down guy,” Derek explained. “I thought Kyle Anderson got away from him a little bit today, and that’s the end of the floor where he’s going to have to make the difference to get minutes in the regular season.”

NEXT UP

Fish’s Knicks will be back in action Monday night against his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers stand at 1-1 in Summer League play after falling 81-68 to the Minnesota Timberwolves and defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 68-60.

Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.