Anyone else concerned about Porzingis?

[dirkfansince1998]

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.

So Mavs are kind of playing him center in that they are playing other PF/center hybrids next to him. So what I am saying is instead of basically playing 2 PFs Mavs might punt on that idea and get a Steven Adams tyoe in there next to him.

 
Who is chasing all the small-ball and 3pt shooting fours around the perimeter?

Porzingis is a center and if the Mavs have really sold him on the idea that he can be a PF here, then to quote Roddy Piper: "Just when they think they have the answers, I change the questions."

In other words they´ll have to make teams adjust to them and change the whole style of the NBA back to BIG BOYS ball.

Great thoughts, Mavs are legitimately huge! Have you seen our roster? Yet we somehow manage to play very small in style.

KP has played PF his whole career and moves pretty quick. Good at closing out on shooters. There's more negatives right now I am seeing to him playing center. I'd love to see the Mavs make a play for Steven Adams.

KP doesn't set screens and doesn't want to roll the basket. He is playing the 4 on offense as he always does but he looks lost to me. He has played well with Boban which makes me think he has a better idea what to do with a real center out there.

His quickness is not as good as it was prior to the injury. Probably will get better in the future but so far his pick and roll defense and inability to defend small ball 4s has been a problem and is a big reason why his defensive impact has been me mediocre.
Opponents are shooting -11% FG against him inside 6ft but +5% from 3. As long as he cannot defend the perimeter the best position for him on defense is center.

On offense he obviously prefers to play on the perimeter but that doesn´t mean that the Mavs desperately need a traditional 5 next to him. 5-out is a thing in the modern NBA. Problem is that is requires off ball movement, cuts and rim rolling to work properly. Right now it seems like the Mavs are trying to emulate the D´Anthony Rockets. Because KP is not an option in the pick and roll his role in the system is reduced and the only touches he gets are spot up jump shots. Something he obviously does not like. Instead of accepting the lack of touches he moves to the high post and starts to force things. He mentioned the lack of patience and tendency to force shots in the recent post game interview and it shows in the game.

His overall lack of rhythm and awkward positioning is the bigger problem. Lack of pick and roll and a focus on high post play lead to terrible spacing.
He likes to slip the screen and force a switch onto a smaller defender but isn´t able to do anything against smaller defenders. He still asks for the ball every single time after the switch leading to even worse spacing because he occupies the ellbow area.

Conclusion. KP should play center on defense. On offense the Mavs need to find ways to get him favorable touches. No post ups or ellbow isos. That requires KP to be more active off the ball and even more important as a ball screener and rim roller.