The unicorn: what Kristaps Porzingis brings to the Celtics

Alright. Deep breath, everybody.

Sure, Marcus Sensible is a Grizzly.

No, not everyone seems to be completely satisfied about it.

Sports activities will be your finest pal one second and your worst enemy the subsequent. He meant rather a lot to this fanbase and this franchise and it’s objectively unhappy to see such a beloved participant get traded away.

Nevertheless, if there’s a slice of excellent information buried contained in the unhappiness, it’s that the Celtics bought again a extremely, actually good basketball participant who, on paper, makes them higher.

I’ll preface this by saying it’s onerous to know the extent of the Kristaps Porzingis commerce till the Celtics execute the remainder of their plan. They’ve loads of belongings nonetheless to make use of, so I think about one other transfer is coming down the road.

For now, let’s give attention to what the Celtics are getting with Kristaps and the way it may result in the Jays creating into even higher gamers.

Photograph by Nick Grace/Getty Pictures

What Even Is Kristaps?

For followers of 2K on the market, it’s simple to start out with broad archetypes of gamers after which get extra particular as you go. Kristaps is among the hardest dudes to try this for — his ability set is so various and distinctive, however I’d say he’s, broadly, a 3-Stage-Scoring Rim Protector. For Celtic followers who haven’t actually watched Kristaps the previous few seasons, he has simplified his recreation vs. the flashy, SportsCenter spotlight days of the New York Knicks and develop into an absolute matchup nightmare for nearly each participant within the NBA on each ends of the ground.

Offensively, he’s coming off a career-best season with Washington. Profession-highs in PPG (23.2), FG% (49.8%), VORP (3.4), and Win Shares (7.7), he’s beginning to put up numbers you’d count on of somebody of his expertise stage getting into his prime at 27 years outdated. He has an elite submit recreation and shoots 38% from behind the arc, 40% on catch-and-shoot 3s. Make no mistake: KP is among the finest gamers within the NBA proper now.

Loopy half is, he was doing that for one of many worst groups within the NBA. It is perhaps copium or homerism, however I’m wondering what his recreation goes to appear to be taking part in subsequent to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Each are simply the most effective gamers he’ll have ever performed subsequent to within the NBA; I’m wondering if there’s even one other stage for KP to go to.

Defensively, he’s develop into among the best bigs on the planet. He ranks top-5 in Factors Allowed per Decide-And-Roll, has developed into an elite drop defender, and constantly averages near 2 blocks a recreation. On the naked minimal, he offers you high quality middle protection towards nearly anybody within the league. How he fares in large spots towards the likes of Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid stays to be seen, however common season-wise, the manufacturing and movie is there.

How Does He Match on the Celtics?

Let’s begin offensively as a result of trying across the NBA historical past books, there simply aren’t any examples of the mixture we’re about to see. Porzingis’ particular person offensive video games fills loads of gaps within the Celtics offense. He doesn’t have many duplicative expertise with different gamers on the roster. Nobody has the array of post-scoring choices that he has. It’ll undoubtedly be a go-to possibility down the stretch for the group when the Jays are getting slowed down. He also can shoot 3s off the dribble, a legitimately hilarious and terrifying factor to observe contemplating he’s 7’3”. Once more, individually, he’s a nightmare, however when it actually will get particular is whenever you take a look at it via the lens of the Jays.

Consider what the two-man recreation of Jayson Tatum and Kristaps might be. It’s two elite gamers above 6’9” that may rating from wherever on the court docket and are each glorious in pick-and-roll offenses. The probabilities are actually countless. This duo ought to be capable to nearly rating at will towards most NBA defenses.

Then, contemplate it from a Jaylen Brown perspective. Positive, you possibly can sit on his left hand, however it’s slightly tougher to do with a 7’3” Kristaps Porzingis is flying down the lane subsequent to him. It ought to open up every little thing for the Jays in a approach I’m undecided they’ve skilled but of their careers. Rob Williams and Al Horford have at all times been efficient PnR choices, however KP is on a complete different stage totally. If they will execute the offense at a excessive stage, each JB/KP and JT/KP ought to rank within the higher echelon of PnR duos within the NBA.

Defensively, the Celtics lastly have somebody who can spell Robert Williams and Al Horford and never get fully toasted on the rim! They now have three elite defensive bigs who may cause havoc no matter how is on the ground. I don’t assume we’ll see a ton of lineups with KP/Rob. They may crossover for 5-7 minutes an evening, however I think about we’ll see loads of Horford/KP or Horford/Rob or KP or Rob by themselves. Tatum can at all times slide to the 4 to play subsequent to both as nicely to make lineups work.