Anyone else concerned about Porzingis?

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1194090184964550658

[dirkfansince1998]

Maybe it is time to try a different approach. Everyone expected him to be the 2nd option from day one but it is obvious that he cannot fill that role right now. Reduce is role on offense and let him focus on spot up shooting and defense. That obviously requires someone else to step up and take over but I think it would be benefical for the team if Brunson, Wright and Curry all share the scoring load and attempt to increase their volume. No more ellbow isos or postups for KP until he gets his rhythm and confidence back. Give him time and graduallly add to his responsibilities.

The most important thing for him right now is to improve his inside scoring. And I don´t mean postups or drives. Simple rim rolling, cuts and putbacks.
He refuses to roll to the rim and it makes the Mavs offense predictable and can hurt the spacing. Opponents know that he is not a thread at the rim and simply switch the pick and roll. With KP not being able to take advantage of smaller defenders like Ntilikina, Brown, Tatum or Smart teams will happily continue with this scheme if KP does not start to keep the defense honest with an occasional roll to the rim.

He also needs to work on his screens. He won´t be a Steven Adams like brickwall but that´s not necessary for efficient screens if you know angles.  Best examples would be oldman Duncan and Dirk. One of those guys is only one call away.

[SportPsychMav]

Carlisle tinkering is a problem for young players.

Young people who have not matured yet need a clear structure.

[Kammrath]

Simple rim rolling

Yep the pick and roll game....or lack thereof, is the giant HOLE in his game and his fit.

[SportPsychMav]

"Porzingis can't post up Marcus Smart, but he repeatedly tries. He calls for it whenenver he's matched up on the switch, he catches the ball, tries to back down Smart but he doesn't move an inch, gets off-balanced, and then he takes a contested fadeaway that almost always hits the front rim.

I've seen this play no joke like 20 times over the years."

From r/NBA by a Celtics fan

https://twitter.com/i/status/1194227705916592134

[ClutchDirk]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...3682105349

[Fuerza1]

My concern is Porzingis's ball handling skill rather than his shooting...creating own shot is really bad...

That's my concern as well. I thought going into the season him and Luka would be a 1A and 1B situation. But KP doesn't look the part of a go-to scorer at all. He's not a guy you can dump it to and expect to get buckets in bunches like Dirk or Durant. 

His strength is catch 'n shooting and we should probably stick with that until he develops a more refined 1-on-1 game. It won't happen overnight though so I expect to see this issue to continue to arise throughout this season.

[SportPsychMav]

My concern is Porzingis's ball handling skill rather than his shooting...creating own shot is really bad...

That's my concern as well. I thought going into the season him and Luka would be a 1A and 1B situation. But KP doesn't look the part of a go-to scorer at all. He's not a guy you can dump it to and expect to get buckets in bunches like Dirk or Durant. 

His strength is catch 'n shooting and we should probably stick with that until he develops a more refined 1-on-1 game. It won't happen overnight though so I expect to see this issue to continue to arise throughout this season.

Needs to train with Holger and Dirk, if he doesn't already.
Plus needs to Fokus on lower body strength and core.

[matt6715]

Stagger his minutes as much as possible with Luka, and let him gun away and get into a groove with the second unit. I'd rather see KP take 25 shots than take 12 while THJ takes 13

[burekemde]

He can't create points on his own. He is not Dirk or Luka in this sense.

This mean to get him going, he needs many more designed plays and schemes to get the most out of him. At the moment this is very limited. This should improve a lot. once RC finds out what plays can be designed the best for his skills.

But the ability to make something out of nothing, question if that will ever come. Maybe it's due to him being out for a year and needs time to recover that part of the game. Maybe it is lack of that talent and he was never able to do that well. We will see. Regardless, he will become more effective. On defensive side he is great! He has added a lot to the team already even with offensive struggles.

---

Its surprising his PnR game with Luka is almost non existent. His screens are perhaps not good enough, and they need more time to improve that. Boban on other hand is setting perfect screens and this works better.

I want to see more lineups with Boban and KP.

[Kammrath]

Its surprising his PnR game with Luka is almost non existent. His screens are perhaps not good enough, and they need more time to improve that. Boban on other hand is setting perfect screens and this works better.

I want to see more lineups with Boban and KP.

Yep, the pick and roll with Luka and KP needs to be developed if this team has championship aspirations. So far Luka+KP are -9.1 in 224 minutes played. Ouch. This team is probably 8-2 if that wasn't the case.  

And YEP, Luka and Boban are amazing together. +27.6 in 27 minutes played this year. MORE PLEASE.

[Scott41theMavs]

I think he looked better over all in the first five games than in the last five. His confidence is going into the shitter. As for not being able to produce his own shot, he drove it just fine on a few possessions in the first few games.

[SportPsychMav]

Porzingis admits that he has a tendency to press when he isn't as involved in the offense as he'd like.

"Sometimes I'm not going to get the ball as much as I'd like to, and that leads to me maybe forcing some things and so on," Porzingis said. "It's a work in progress. I know Coach is trying to do the best job he can to get me the ball in the offense and utilize my skills, and I also got to do a better job of making sure I'm effective in those situations."



https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2806...poor-night

It's mostly mental, same as with brunson and Hardaway. If they don't feel involved they are pressing it.

[mavsman]

I believe this guy hits the nail on the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYsXu4AiNxI

in nutshell Kp looks good when there's only one decision to  take.

eg .

If hes open -- Shoot
If hes near the basket - layup or dunk.

He is struggling in situations where he has to make decisions and things are not obvious.

eg  live dribble/postup to attack or make space etc.

Having played some ball I know that's the hardest thing to get back if you havn't been playing for a while. We should just give him some time and not try to make an assessment this early.

[fifteenth]

We should just give him some time and not try to make an assessment this early.

A thousand times yes to this. They're struggling a bit, but it makes sense. It takes time to come back from long absences and it takes time to learn to play together. The Mavs are dealing with both of these at the same time.

[Benskix2]

Luka needs to get him more involved early. It's a hard balance for Rick. You don't want to stifle Luka's creativity or lose his respect, but he has to be able to prioritize touches for guys that need touches vs making what might be the "right play" in a one play vacuum. If we are paying Kristaps 158 million to be just another one of Luka's backup dancers it's a huge waste, we need Rick to convince Luka that it is in his best interest to try and make Kris into a co-star.

[StepBackJay]

So ya I am concerned. He does look like he's lost. I do agree he's better when he just has to shoot. I don't understand why they don't set off-ball screens for him. I thought that was a big part of his game and would let him just shoot open jumpers. At this point, until he gets comfortable I would like to see more sets that just get him open shots. Even if he's missing them (such as open 3s) they usually start falling after a while. His other parts of his game just aren't there right now and they shouldn't try to force it too much.

---

Another thought, I wonder if Mavs are eventually going to punt on the idea of KP being a full-time center. He may just play better along side a more traditional big. We have seen him play well with Boban. KP at the 5 creates all kinds of space which is nice but then I think it might be negatively affecting his overall game.

[mavsluvr]

So ya I am concerned. He does look like he's lost. I do agree he's better when he just has to shoot. I don't understand why they don't set off-ball screens for him. I thought that was a big part of his game and would let him just shoot open jumpers. At this point, until he gets comfortable I would like to see more sets that just get him open shots. Even if he's missing them (such as open 3s) they usually start falling after a while. His other parts of his game just aren't there right now and they shouldn't try to force it too much.

---

Another thought, I wonder if Mavs are eventually going to punt on the idea of KP being a full-time center. He may just play better along side a more traditional big. We have seen him play well with Boban. KP at the 5 creates all kinds of space which is nice but then I think it might be negatively affecting his overall game.

KP has made it very clear that he has no interest in playing center, so they are using him mostly as a PF with another big. I assume that he is willing to play some center if they need him to. 

Carlisle talked about KP some on the Lowe post today. Zach asked him why they don't run more Luka-KP pick and rolls. Rick said that such a strategy was likely to lead the opponent to switch, which could result in isolation play, slowing the game down, which was undesirable. Zach brought up Carlisle's use of the switching strategy in San Antonio in their last 7-game series, which was successful in drawing the Spurs into a series of isolation plays as a possible example of what Carlisle was talking about. (FWIW, not sure i'm totally buying Carlisle's reason. Maybe just coach speak for letting us know that he doesn't want KP posting up very much, for whatever reason. In this regard, Phil Jackson, suspecting that KP's ceiling might be lower than a franchise player, noted his difficulties posting up.)

Zach also asked if spotting KP up marginalized him in the offense. Carlisle said they are working on getting him integrated, and it's a work in progress.

[SportPsychMav]

So ya I am concerned. He does look like he's lost. I do agree he's better when he just has to shoot. I don't understand why they don't set off-ball screens for him. I thought that was a big part of his game and would let him just shoot open jumpers. At this point, until he gets comfortable I would like to see more sets that just get him open shots. Even if he's missing them (such as open 3s) they usually start falling after a while. His other parts of his game just aren't there right now and they shouldn't try to force it too much.

---

Another thought, I wonder if Mavs are eventually going to punt on the idea of KP being a full-time center. He may just play better along side a more traditional big. We have seen him play well with Boban. KP at the 5 creates all kinds of space which is nice but then I think it might be negatively affecting his overall game.

KP has made it very clear that he has no interest in playing center, so they are using him mostly as a PF with another big. I assume that he is willing to play some center if they need him to. 

Carlisle talked about KP some on the Lowe post today. Zach asked him why they don't run more Luka-KP pick and rolls. Rick said that such a strategy was likely to lead the opponent to switch, which could result in isolation play, slowing the game down, which was undesirable. Zach brought up Carlisle's use of the switching strategy in San Antonio in their last 7-game series, which was successful in drawing the Spurs into a series of isolation plays as a possible example of what Carlisle was talking about. (FWIW, not sure i'm totally buying Carlisle's reason. Maybe just coach speak for letting us know that he doesn't want KP posting up very much, for whatever reason. In this regard, Phil Jackson, suspecting that KP's ceiling might be lower than a franchise player, noted his difficulties posting up.)

Zach also asked if spotting KP up marginalized him in the offense. Carlisle said they are working on getting him integrated, and it's a work in progress.

Porzingis is known for his subpar postplay. This season so far 0.55 ppp on post ups. This might be exaggerated due to his injury, but it was never his strong suit.

Pairing him with a traditional center and screening more might really help. Dallas is below average in screen assists so far.

Porzingis plays like a 7.3 Klay Thompson, he is no Dirk yet, he has the potential to become more Dirk like but he really isn't as of right now.


Further he has problems rolling to the rim. On defense he is a five while on offense he is a shooting guard. That's a unicorn but hard to integrate. Probably need a rim running small forward to complement him. Shawn Marion would be ideal for the current version of Porzingis.

I don't know why Carlisle doesn't want to play slow. We play great at a lower pace. Luka is even better in a slow half court game than in 7 seconds or less play. Feels like an excuse if he said that.

[mavsluvr]

So ya I am concerned. He does look like he's lost. I do agree he's better when he just has to shoot. I don't understand why they don't set off-ball screens for him. I thought that was a big part of his game and would let him just shoot open jumpers. At this point, until he gets comfortable I would like to see more sets that just get him open shots. Even if he's missing them (such as open 3s) they usually start falling after a while. His other parts of his game just aren't there right now and they shouldn't try to force it too much.

---

Another thought, I wonder if Mavs are eventually going to punt on the idea of KP being a full-time center. He may just play better along side a more traditional big. We have seen him play well with Boban. KP at the 5 creates all kinds of space which is nice but then I think it might be negatively affecting his overall game.

KP has made it very clear that he has no interest in playing center, so they are using him mostly as a PF with another big. I assume that he is willing to play some center if they need him to. 

Carlisle talked about KP some on the Lowe post today. Zach asked him why they don't run more Luka-KP pick and rolls. Rick said that such a strategy was likely to lead the opponent to switch, which could result in isolation play, slowing the game down, which was undesirable. Zach brought up Carlisle's use of the switching strategy in San Antonio in their last 7-game series, which was successful in drawing the Spurs into a series of isolation plays as a possible example of what Carlisle was talking about. (FWIW, not sure i'm totally buying Carlisle's reason. Maybe just coach speak for letting us know that he doesn't want KP posting up very much, for whatever reason. In this regard, Phil Jackson, suspecting that KP's ceiling might be lower than a franchise player, noted his difficulties posting up.)

Zach also asked if spotting KP up marginalized him in the offense. Carlisle said they are working on getting him integrated, and it's a work in progress.

Porzingis is known for his subpar postplay. This season so far 0.55 ppp on post ups. This might be exaggerated due to his injury, but it was never his strong suit.


It seems to me that KP plays like a guy who is quite afraid of getting hurt. I haven't gone back and seen if he played more confidently before his injury -- it's possible he's always been like this. But some players have a tendency to be scared of certain types of plays and try to avoid them, consciously or unconsciously, after they return to the court.

Pairing him with a traditional center and screening more might really help. Dallas is below average in screen assists so far.

Porzingis plays like a 7.3 Klay Thompson, he is no Dirk yet, he has the potential to become more Dirk like but he really isn't as of right now.


Further he has problems rolling to the rim. On defense he is a five while on offense he is a shooting guard. That's a unicorn but hard to integrate. Probably need a rim running small forward to complement him. Shawn Marion would be ideal for the current version of Porzingis.

Agree that he plays better next to a center, and that he plays well with rim-runners. However, he is often relegated to spot-up duty in a rim-running situation. Don't know why they don't often screen for him, except for Rick's announced fear of switches. 

I don't know why Carlisle doesn't want to play slow. We play great at a lower pace. Luka is even better in a slow half court game than in 7 seconds or less play. Feels like an excuse if he said that.

It sounded somewhat excuse-y to me. It was an answer to why they didn't run more Luka-KP PNRs. Maybe Rick didn't want to say that KP isn't yet that great at rolling to the rim or posting up, and instead said that it might not be good to play that way. Rick certainly knows what he is planning far better than I do, but it sounded like it could have been an effort not to diss KP to the media. They run pick and rolls for other guys, so they must not be THAT terrified of switching and/or posting up on mismatches.