The Captain likes The Twin.

Willis Reed, the center on the only two championship teams in Knicks history, likes the move Knicks president Phil Jackson made in reaching agreement with Robin Lopez to play his old position. Lopez, the twin brother of the Nets’ Brook, is known for his defense and that is what wins, said Reed, the Hall of Famer and former Knicks captain.

“Let me put it this way,” Reed said. “I know one thing about Mr. Jackson, President Jackson, he knows his defense has got to get a lot better than it was. And I’m sure he’s working on that.”

Even though Phil Jackson’s priority big-man target was Greg Monroe, who spurned the Knicks for Milwaukee, Lopez brings a presence the Knicks only dreamed about, rim protection, in their 17-victory horror last season. Deals cannot be signed until July 9.

The Knicks were 27th in field-goal defense last season at .460 — only the Magic (.463), the Lakers (.466) and Timberwolves (.487) were worse. They also were 21st in scoring defense at 101.2. They were a little better than middle-of-the-pack in blocks — 12th with 4.7 per game. Robin Lopez was 20th at 1.42, with 84 overall.

“I like him. He has a lot of potential,” Reed said of Lopez. “Robin defends, that’s good. I just know inside, you have got to have someone who can do good stuff there, and I’m happy Phil got one. If you’re going to have a basketball team in the NBA, you’ve got to stop people scoring close to the basket and in the paint.”

But Robin Lopez alone is not going to turn around Knicks fortunes, Reed said. Look at the old Knicks. Look at Golden State.

“Most of you guys [media] talk about a ‘Big Three.’ You’ve got to have nine, 10 guys that can play some,” Reed said. “They have to be able to contribute at some time in the game. A ‘Big Three’ is not going to get it done. As good as [Stephen] Curry and those guys were all year, the most significant contribution in the playoffs for Golden State was [Andre] Iguodala.”

So the Knicks are trying to add pieces around Carmelo Anthony. They’ve gone with lower-tier quantity instead of A-List free-agent quality. They also are adding wing Arron Afflalo and 6-foot-10 power forward Kyle O’Quinn. In the draft, they got 7-foot-1, 19-year-old shooter deluxe Kristaps Porzingis and Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant.

“Some people said they thought the Knicks didn’t do well in the draft,” Reed said. “Well, I like [Grant] from Notre Dame and the young gun from what I saw, he can shoot. Hey, you’ve got to start somewhere. They’ve got a 7-footer shooting 3s, and he’ll make his free throws. Phil went and got some offense, now he got some defense.”

Porzingis is seen as a pick for the future, a strategy that went over with Knicks fans as well as tainted tuna. Reed stressed an obvious point: Porzingis is 19 — but so are the three guys picked ahead of him, Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor, the trio Knicks fans salivated about.

“Porzingis is 19. How old are the other guys? They all have a lot of work ahead of them,” Reed said. “I stayed in college. I graduated and went to the pros and, man, the strength and the wisdom of the guys I was playing against and their athletic ability compared to the guys I played against in college was off the charts. I had to really work, study to get stronger, smarter. Look at films and that was tough. It was tough being 22. So 19?

“A young kid in New York, that’s going to be really hard because people were thinking all season, ‘We’re going to get the No. 1 pick and he’s going to take us to the championship in the first year.’ Well, that’s not going to happen.

“I know a lot of people are giving Phil a hard time but let me tell you this: I played with Phil Jackson. I watched him coach. He is a tough guy. He knew what he was walking into.”