Kristaps Porzingis – Dallas Mavericks
If we are talking about guys who need to “bounce-back” in a big way during the 2021-22 season, we might as well start with Kristaps Porzingis since the entire Dallas Mavericks community is begging him to do something. The Mavs acquired Porzingis during the 2018-19 season while he was recovering from a torn ACL and he was expected to be a second All-Star next to Luka Doncic, but he has not lived up to this hype.
He averaged 20.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and shot 37.6% from three-point range last year, which looks pretty good on paper, but when you actually watch Kristaps Porzingis play for Dallas, it causes a headache. This guy is 7’3”, yet he plays like he is 5’11” out on the perimeter as all he does is look to shoot threes.
Over 37% of Kristaps Porzingis’ total shots came from three-point land last year and he really did not help his team in the postseason, averaging just 13.1 points and 5.4 rebounds. In fact, he got outrebounded in their first-round series against the Clippers by six different players (George, Marjanovic, Leonard, Doncic, Finney-Smith and Batum.
Given how tall he is and the fact that nobody in the league can really block his shot in the paint, there is no reason why Kristaps Porzingis cannot just sit on the low-block on offense and use his size to his advantage. He is definitely an above-average three-point shooter for a big man, so using him on step out threes in pick-and-roll situations is definitely advantageous to the Mavericks, but if he is just sitting out on the perimeter all the time, I really do not see how the Mavericks are going to contend in the Western Conference.
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Kristaps Porzingis needs to be better during the 2021-22 season, or he could find himself on the move. Seeing as he is owed $101.5M over the next three seasons, with the final year of his contract containing a player option, I do not know what teams will be interested in him, but if Dallas cannot get him to be a big man like he is, then he is basically useless to this team and putting up “dead stats” in a sense since he is not helping them win.
