Porzinga! Kristaps Porzingis appreciation thread.

[penbeast0]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

I hope so, because if Beal bounces back to prime level (if not peak) and Porzingis is better, we are a .500+ team. If Porzingis has another injured, unhappy, not playing as a team player year, which is why Dallas dumped him, then we are just good enough to not bottom out and it looks like another long stretch of bad years.

[Dat2U]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

[DCZards]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

Yes...let's hope with the addition of Morris and Wright...Beal will be able to play off the ball and not be asked to be the team's best SG as well as its best playmaker, which was the case last season.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

He really is...which is why my preference was to trade/let Beal walk.

I would have attempted to build around Porzingis, injuries and all.

Same. It would have e been best to.move Beal.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

Absolutely. I have no idea why people didn’t expect that. KP and Beal are both top 25 players. They both will demonstrate that, this season. Both had extenuating circumstances (team conflict, Covid, misuse, contract) that artificially lowered their value in the eyes of the public.

Our main problem now is schedule. After the first few games, we hit a rough patch. I’d like another bulldog to ensure we don’t let that patch grind us down.

Tommy Sheppard would have been better off signing Boogie Cousins to play C minutes, particularly with KP being fragile.

Gibson is a 4.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

Absolutely. I have no idea why people didn’t expect that. KP and Beal are both top 25 players. They both will demonstrate that, this season. Both had extenuating circumstances (team conflict, Covid, misuse, contract) that artificially lowered their value in the eyes of the public.

Our main problem now is schedule. After the first few games, we hit a rough patch. I’d like another bulldog to ensure we don’t let that patch grind us down.

I'm not buying that Beal had any unusual extenuating circumstances that explain his poor play. Yeah, he had a bout of Covid, but so did lots of players. He missed a few games due to his grandmother's death, and understandably took a few days off, but I don't see why that should have caused a dramatic decline in shooting efficiency over the ensuing 10 weeks.

It's certainly possible that last season was just a fluke and that he will regain his old form from the previous 3 years, but I see no particular reason to assume that's the case. It's not like he played all last season while hurt or something. Typically, when a player with 20,000+ minutes under his belt starts to decline, that decline becomes the new trajectory, not a mere aberration.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think Beal will fall off a cliff in production. But I do think he peaked 2 years ago and we will see a general downward trend going forward. There will be fluctuations, of course. He'll probably rebound a bit from last season's really bad performance, but I doubt he will reach new peaks in production.

The real issue is that his shooting has been in a steady downward trend over the last 5 seasons. He was never as good of a shooter as his reputation, and now he's not really a good shooter at all.

You men since healthy John Wall got him clean looks his shooting has fallen off? Bradley initially greatly increased his usage and his free throw attempts per field goal attempt.

Last season Beal really fell off

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Obviously, I disagree, Nate. And this has been debated. I suppose we shall see.

I tend to believe that Beal has been working on developing his game for his older age. More post-ups and fadeaways. He’s implementing the game he learned from old man Pierce. And with KP, Morris and Delon taking the reigns, Beal won’t be forcing things (like he had to last year, because Dinwiddie gave up entirely for a dozen games). I believe I will like older Beal more than some of his younger iterations.

We shall see. Like I said, the schedule might cause us to stumble early. Maybe not. I think we will be more mentally ready to come into the season than ever before, and more so than many other teams.

I'm down on Beal yet I expect he will be far better this season.

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[badinage]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

Not according to PER. By that measure (I will never succumb to saying metric* — ugh), The Zinger is the better player. Not by a little.

Also, and I don’t have stats for this at hand, but his “gravity” is undoubtedly higher, especially in the high post, where he belongs. That affects all four guys on the court with him.

The Zinger is the one to make this all go. Just have to hope he can play 70 games.

* Metric. Impacts. Efficiency. Etc. These professional-managerial-class bastards have done violence to communication.

[nate33]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

I don't buy this narrative that Beal was asked to play PG last year and that's what caused his decline in production. According to NBAWOWY, Beal played just 232 of his 1438 minutes without one of: Dinwiddie, Neto, Holiday or Wannamaker alongside him. So he was a shooting guard for well over 80% of his time on the floor.

For comparison, in 2018-19, when Wall got hurt, Beal played 2050 minutes without Wall. The only PG alongside him during that span was Satoransky, who played about 1400 of those 2000 non-Wall minutes. So Beal played about 600 of his 2000 post-Wall minutes as the PG and his production didn't suffer at all.

Beal is worse because his shooting has steadily deteriorated over the last 5 years. And I'm not just talking about raw 3P%. Obviously, if he is forced to take a greater percentage of high degree-of-difficulty 3's, one would expect his shooting to decline. I'm talking about using shot tracking data to compare his contested 3's now versus his contested 3's years ago, or his wide open 3's now versus his wide open 3's years ago. A while ago, I broke it down using shot tracking data from nba.com, and it was pretty obvious that Beal has gotten steadily worse.

[doclinkin]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

Not according to PER. By that measure (I will never succumb to saying metric* — ugh), The Zinger is the better player. Not by a little.

Also, and I don’t have stats for this at hand, but his “gravity” is undoubtedly higher, especially in the high post, where he belongs. That affects all four guys on the court with him.

You can visualize his effect from here:

https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/Gravity/

These aren't last years charts, but this will give you an idea.

On the 2021 Mavs Porzingis had a -11.5 gravity at the 3 above the key, and at the basket. Where an average player is zero, and a very good one is -10.

For Comparisons' sake Jokic had a -9.8 at the 3 above the key and a -28.5 under the hoop.

Stef Curry posted a -9.7 at the 3 above the key, but a -20 from the right elbow extended and a -15 from left.

So when Porzingis is in the high post he attracts defenders equivalent to, and even a little more strongly than, Stef or the Joker at the same spot.

[Dat2U]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

I don't buy this narrative that Beal was asked to play PG last year and that's what caused his decline in production. According to NBAWOWY, Beal played just 232 of his 1438 minutes without one of: Dinwiddie, Neto, Holiday or Wannamaker alongside him. So he was a shooting guard for well over 80% of his time on the floor.

For comparison, in 2018-19, when Wall got hurt, Beal played 2050 minutes without Wall. The only PG alongside him during that span was Satoransky, who played about 1400 of those 2000 non-Wall minutes. So Beal played about 600 of his 2000 post-Wall minutes as the PG and his production didn't suffer at all.

Dinwiddie was a PG in a Wizards uniform last year? When??? It certainly wasn't with Beal. Ignoring the Dinwiddie/Beal stuff when it was pretty evident in the on/off numbers is declining to paint the full picture.

Aaron Holiday is not really a PG either.

Beal's 3 pt shooting has declined but it wasn't 5 years ago that he had a nearly 60% TS on 34% usage, that was just in 2021. To be honest covid, chemistry & rule changes may have all played a factor. Just turning 29 a few daya ago, I don't think there's enough evidence to say he's fallen off and is nothing more than a mediocre NBA player at this point.

[DCZards]

I don't buy this narrative that Beal was asked to play PG last year and that's what caused his decline in production. According to NBAWOWY, Beal played just 232 of his 1438 minutes without one of: Dinwiddie, Neto, Holiday or Wannamaker alongside him. So he was a shooting guard for well over 80% of his time on the floor.

Dinwiddie, Neto, Holiday and Wanamker were PGs in title only. With the possible exception of Wanamaker (who I believe played one game with the Zards), none of them actually played like true PGs.

Leaving Beal to be the primary playmaker even when he was sharing the court with these so-called point guards. Let's hope that changes with the addition of Morris & Wright.

[Dat2U]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

Not according to PER. By that measure (I will never succumb to saying metric* — ugh), The Zinger is the better player. Not by a little.

Also, and I don’t have stats for this at hand, but his “gravity” is undoubtedly higher, especially in the high post, where he belongs. That affects all four guys on the court with him.

The Zinger is the one to make this all go. Just have to hope he can play 70 games.

* Metric. Impacts. Efficiency. Etc. These professional-managerial-class bastards have done violence to communication.

Production measurement stats always favor bigs. That's why its a little wonky to compare a big to a guard.

[barelyawake]

Porzingis is the best player on the Wizards.

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

I don't buy this narrative that Beal was asked to play PG last year and that's what caused his decline in production. According to NBAWOWY, Beal played just 232 of his 1438 minutes without one of: Dinwiddie, Neto, Holiday or Wannamaker alongside him. So he was a shooting guard for well over 80% of his time on the floor.

For comparison, in 2018-19, when Wall got hurt, Beal played 2050 minutes without Wall. The only PG alongside him during that span was Satoransky, who played about 1400 of those 2000 non-Wall minutes. So Beal played about 600 of his 2000 post-Wall minutes as the PG and his production didn't suffer at all.

Beal is worse because his shooting has steadily deteriorated over the last 5 years. And I'm not just talking about raw 3P%. Obviously, if he is forced to take a greater percentage of high degree-of-difficulty 3's, one would expect his shooting to decline. I'm talking about using shot tracking data to compare his contested 3's now versus his contested 3's years ago, or his wide open 3's now versus his wide open 3's years ago. A while ago, I broke it down using shot tracking data from nba.com, and it was pretty obvious that Beal has gotten steadily worse.

He was a PG when Dinwiddie was playing, because Dinwiddie was actively trying to sabotage the team. Din was merely passing to get the ball out of his hands, rather than to develop a play. Din was passing up drives to make a point. And talking s’ in the lockerroom to destroy team unity. When that happened, tanking was the better option (and we would have if KP didn’t come back). Beal believed by tanking he was actually helping the team.

Beal was a PG when Neto was playing, because every time Neto touched the ball, he was going to drive against a triple team (to his credit, I love Neto for that confidence). And the rest of the list does not matter. Beal was the focus when he was on the floor. He was the captain and the primary ball handler (thus the PG).

Compare that to playing with Morris, Davis, Delon, an improved Deni and a system where KP gets a good deal of the first passes to begin the offense. It’s an entirely different team and system.

[doclinkin]

I don't think Beal was tanking. I think he was genuinely frustrated. He was actively whining and fussing at refs throughout the season. But all the smaller bucket-getters saw a drop off in efficiency. Dame, Beal, even Trae early on, and Stef. Only Trae fully made the adjustment. Steph did what he does in the playoffs, but throughout the season found it notably harder to get space.

[barelyawake]

Yeah, I knew that would be misinterpreted. I don’t mean Beal was actively tanking. It’s the difference between starting the season believing the team could shock some people, and ending the season just getting your stats and waiting for next season. Tanking was a poor choice of words (and knew it as I wrote it).

[payitforward]

...I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive....

Brad had a down year scoring the ball; there's no question about that. Plus, it was on reduced usage. OTOH, his previous year had been the 2d best overall TS% of his career. At the 2d highest usage of his career.

Brad's 3-pt % was at 30% last year. To me, that's the only reason for concern. Bring it back up to the previous year's mark of .35, & all is well.

...He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits..

Agree that he shows no decline physically.

& IMO forget "...pressed and struggled" at PG. Also forget any effect Dinwiddie might have had. In fact, Brad had no trouble at all playing the PG for some of his minutes. Doesn't mean he needs to do it again, but I didn't see it as a problem for him.

I'm not even worried about his having gotten to the line less. In fact, all he has to do is shoot the 3 at 35% & at slightly higher volume -- ala previous years -- & he'll be fine.

But... can he do it? To me that is the only thing to worry about -- he definitely needs to.

[tleikheen]

29 points and 14 rebounds ,another dominant game by KP

[doclinkin]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Great Britain has absolutely nobody, but Latvia overcame one of those trademark putrid games by Davis Bertans. They needed all of Porzingis' points. HIs +/- was pretty much the margin of victory, give or take a bucket.

Looking nimble out there. Nice moves.

[badinage]

KP is a solid big when healthy & motivated but Beal is still the better player IMO unless we continue ask Beal to be the PG.

I didn't want to max Beal out either but this narrative that he's declined or cannot produce at a high level anymore seems very presumptive. He's not 34. He's not lost a step athletically. He was asked to play PG which he might have had the skillset for but not necessarily the decision making and he really pressed and struggled in the role when Dinwiddie was busy throwing his hissy fits.

Either way, neither guy is good enough to be your best player. At best you got a good 2nd & 3rd option.

Not according to PER. By that measure (I will never succumb to saying metric* — ugh), The Zinger is the better player. Not by a little.

Also, and I don’t have stats for this at hand, but his “gravity” is undoubtedly higher, especially in the high post, where he belongs. That affects all four guys on the court with him.

You can visualize his effect from here:

https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/Gravity/

These aren't last years charts, but this will give you an idea.

On the 2021 Mavs Porzingis had a -11.5 gravity at the 3 above the key, and at the basket. Where an average player is zero, and a very good one is -10.

For Comparisons' sake Jokic had a -9.8 at the 3 above the key and a -28.5 under the hoop.

Stef Curry posted a -9.7 at the 3 above the key, but a -20 from the right elbow extended and a -15 from left.

So when Porzingis is in the high post he attracts defenders equivalent to, and even a little more strongly than, Stef or the Joker at the same spot.

HOLY SHEEYIT.

So, what we have here, fellas, in the high post, is a superduper-star.

Great work, Doc!