Atlanta Hawks: Kristaps Porzingis scouting report, strengths, weaknesses, etc. with Noa Dalzell

Atlanta Hawks: Kristaps Porzingis scouting report, strengths, weaknesses, etc. with Noa Dalzell

On today’s show, the Hawks have been very busy for the last two weeks, and the first big move they made was acquiring Chris Porzingis. It’s time for a deep dive into what the Hawks are going to be getting for Porzingis this season, and we’ll get into all that right now. You are Locked On Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 2016 of the Lot on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Rolling coming to you on a Sunday morning here in early July. And today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at FanDuel Sportsbook. And right now, if you’re a new customer, get $150 in bonus bets. If your first Final Bet wins at FanDuel. I also want to encourage you at the top of the show to make Locked on Hawks your first listen each and every day. Check us out and subscribe to the show anywhere you find your podcasts, Apple, Spotify. We’re also on YouTube, so please like this video as you’re watching it. And of course, be sure to tell your friends about the pod as well. I’ll be joined in a moment by Noah Dzel, an expert on the Celtics and Porzingis by proxy. But first, I want to say we recorded the show about a week ago. I want to go ahead and get it out there. I’ve been teasing it for a little while. It’s a deep dive into Porzingis. But first, it is Sunday morning as I’m recording this portion of the podcast. And the moratorum comes to an end at noon Eastern on Sunday. If you listen to the show on Thursday evening into Friday, I cover this a little bit. They’ll also start doing a lot of their official business beginning today, later today. The Porzingis trade, the Alexander Walker signing trade, the Canard signing, the Capella signing trade, all of that has been reported and locked up, but also none of it’s official until at least Sunday. So, keep that in mind. I’m recording this on Sunday morning. Wanted to get it out to you as fast as possible to begin the new week. So, keep that in mind. And I’ll clean up any more details later on this week when I have more shows. I’ll also be traveling later on this week out to Las Vegas. So, stay tuned for all that coverage of Summer League, etc. I have more guests lined up. It’s going to be a lot of fun on the show. So, please stay tuned and subscribe to the podcast. With that said, Noah does a great job covering the Celtics. She covers them for C CL CLNS out in Boston as well as some other national work about the NBA and WNBA at SP Nation. Does a great job. But I wanted to talk to her about Porzingis offensively, defensively, culture stuff, how he fits, strengths, weaknesses, and it’s all coming up in just a second. But hey, one more time, stay tuned. Much more content coming up this week. Here we go with Noah Dzel and a deep dive into Chris Apps Porzingis. I am joined now by a much more qualified person to talk about Chris Porzingis than I am. Noah, how are you?
I’m great. Thanks for having me.
It’s uh going to be fun to talk about this topic even though maybe maybe not for you. I don’t I don’t know how you feel about this entire uh exercise with the Celtics and the tear down and everything that’s kind of happen. Not a full tear down. I shouldn’t use that. I shouldn’t use that term. But I kind of want to actually ask you a question by proxy that I’ve been getting. Um I try to explain some of the f some of the financial stuff with Boston and like when I broke the trade down and a lot of questions I got about like why the price was so low basically for Presentius and like why Boston would do this and what the motivations are there. So I’ll ask the expert like why why did the subtext do a move like this and why did they do this and what do you kind of make of it from their side? Yeah. Yeah. So, the first thing that I’ll say is Celtics have been extremely expensive for years now. They’ve been in the Second Apron and it was pretty much a fact I think that they were going to get out of the Second Apron this offseason and as quickly as possible so that they could start having the flexibility of aggregating salaries and doing these boring transactional things that you can only do if you’re below the second apron. So, I think that there was a sense of urgency that they wanted to do it early in the offseason. Um, the two contracts, the two players that to me were always going to be the first to go were Drew Holiday and Christoff Porzingis. And both of those guys get dealt within 24 hours of each other right after game seven pretty much. So, it was going to happen at the beginning of the offseason. I think what surprised me a little bit is that Drew Holiday, who was the other player, had much higher value. Like, they were able to actually get a positive asset back. Two second round picks, they get Anthony Simons back from the Blazers. Porzingis, they get just Nyang back. Um, but they do shed like $14 million off their payroll. And that move immediately gets them below the second apron. So, I think there was a huge financial uh motivation there to do it, not just to to get there, but to do it so fast and early in the offseason and that the Hawks were a willing partner. Um, why was his trade value so low? Because they ultimately don’t get much back. No offense to George Niang, who I know has had a long career as a, you know, a good backup, you know, shooter, but he had a just an abysmal postseason. He really did. And I’m sure a lot of people know that, but having covered him in Boston for the past two years, the drop off from the regular season to the playoffs was enormous. And there was some hell things going on and a lot of it is still a little bit uncertain. But I would imagine that really tanked his trade value. You’re selling low as low as possible right now. And the Hawks are are buying very low right now.
Yeah. Totally makes sense. And the way I kind of framed it was I think all three teams involved, you know, Brooklyn just kind of gets to take on a salary, get a fresh shot pick for it. Boston gets to save a bunch of money. Hawks bo on a really talented guy at again at his lowest point when it made sense for kind of everybody. I do want to come back to the injury and health stuff because of course that’s a big topic with Chris. Uh I don’t want to ask about it first. So we’ll we’ll do that in a second. But putting that to the side, like until the playoffs, which I agree with what obviously I’m not covering the way you are, but he was not the same guy in the playoffs, but prior to that last this last season, how do you think he looked? Um, and how do you think he might like look going into his, you know, age 30 season this coming season if he’s back and healthy, which he seems to be, he’s saying all the right things. Like, how did he play until the playoffs?
So, he was awesome last year. He averaged 19.5 points a game on 49% shooting. He’s been enormously efficient since he got to Boston. his first season he was one of the most efficient post players in the NBA on postups. Um then he had a great three-point shooting season. His second year shot above 40%. Um defensively I saw a market improvement in his ability to switch his guard on the perimeter uh protect the rim even from when he got to Boston to when he left uh excluding the playoffs. And I think there there was just you know he’s just a great offensive talent. Like you know they call him the unicorn for a reason. when he’s helping, when he’s available, he made this team dynamic and pretty much unstoppable at times. Um, and not the thing that always to me is the most remarkable part of his game is the the depth of his range. So, not only is he a seven-footer, you know, maybe even a little bit more than that that can shoot threes at high clip, but he stretches out the defense so far out because of how far he can shoot the three-point shot, he actually prefers to shoot like a foot behind the line than having his foot right to the line. So is he just he’s a cheat code for you offensively. Um and above that he’s just a wonderful guy to cover with the fans, the media. He’s willing to talk in the lowest moments which as a reporter. It’s very nice to have somebody like that around. Connects with all the fans before the game. Waves to the fans. Like nobody on the Celtics in the last few years has connected with a fan base the way that he has. So just a very uplifting, positive guy to be around. And I don’t think that that’s exclusive to Boston. I think that uh he was like that in Washington. I think that he has kind of maybe earlier in his career he wasn’t, but I’m sure he’ll be like that in Atlanta as well. Yeah, I think you know you mentioned the three-point shooting. I was going to ask you about that because everyone kind of knows that’s a lot of the appeal with Chris Apps, but I’m glad you brought up the just the sheer, you know, range of what he can do. And I mean, there are archetypes of guys who can do what he does, which is that unicorn archetype, protect the rim, shoot threes, but the way that he shoots them and the volume that he shoots them is what kind of strikes me almost the most. Um, obviously there’s some inside the art questions too, but I mean was that it felt like it was a little bit different in Boston. I know I looked at I actually looked at the numbers today and I was surprised they weren’t even more different in terms of like the volume, but he took, you know, six per game basically in Boston. And for a guy playing, you know, 30 minutes a night at center, that’s a crazy high number. And I know Boston emphasizes three-pointer three-point shooting a more than most teams, if not all teams. But was that a product of that or is he just super comfortable just letting it fly at this point? Like is he just like wired to do that?
Yeah. And honestly, I think he could he could take more threes elsewhere because with the Celtics like when they were fully healthy, you have Tatum and Brown who are each 20 shot per game night players. You have Peyton Perrick who was having a breakout season was the best shooter on the team last year. Then you have Derrick White and Drew Holiday, two Olympic basketball guards. So, it’s hard to get your touches in Boston with the way this team was at full strength. So, I actually think that he could be even an even higher volume player. And that’s why I think he could be an all-star next year. like if he’s healthy that that’s his that’s his ceiling um and the East is going to be weak and you know there’s going to be a lot of star players out and um yeah he can really really shoot the ball and he can be a little bit inconsistent. You know he’s had some slumps but that’s kind of the name of the game of being a shooter. I don’t know that he’s like significantly more inconsistent than your average three-point shooter. Today is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook and summer sports are in full swing. Whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the greens, or high-tech soccer action. Fan’s best way to get make every single game even more exciting. You’re already following the action, so why not make it a little bit more thrilling for you, you can use FanDuel to track your favorite matchups and the accuracy of fresh all the time with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. They have offerings across the sports betting space at FanDuel that includes point spreads, totals, money lines, game props, futures, player props, live betting, and game parlays as well. And they have every sport and league you can think of at FanDuel. That of course includes the NBA, which we discuss all the time on this podcast, plus the NFL, MLB, college sports, NHL, UFC, golf, tennis, soccer, boxing, and everything in between. It’s easy to use, fast to pay out. It even makes all the regular season games feel like mustwatch events. Whether you’re placing say parlay or just watching a bet right into the ninth inning in baseball, FanDuel makes it feel like you’re actually just part of the action. And if you’re new to FanDuel, if you’re a new customer, bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins at FanDuel. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.comlockedon. That’s fanduel.comlockedon to get started. Inside the arc is interesting with Chris Apps because I think early in his career that was a pretty big weakness especially when compared to a guy that is his size. He was a sub 50% two-point shooting guy for the first four or five years of his career and now it was 57 58% in Boston. And I wonder obviously some of that’s improvement on him, but how much of that is his own gains of what you what have you seen there? And also how much credit should go to Boston’s infrastructure and how much space they create? Because obviously that’s a perfect kind of setting for a lot of guys to attack the rim. So does that make sense? Like how much of it is is him leveling up there and like his post games improve like you mentioned before. Is that going to translate elsewhere when they don’t have maybe as much shooting around him as they do uh in Boston? Yeah, I think that he definitely improved. A lot of it was hunting mismatches and so it’s always a question to me of like what what happens when he doesn’t get those mismatches and in Boston their offense really was centered around has been centered around over the last few years around hunting mismatches and there have been a lot of them on the floor for almost everybody on the court. So he was a beneficiary of that. I think the biggest question is, you know, the physicality because when it was playoff basketball and there was more physicality or when they played against teams or players that were more physical, he sometimes struggled. Um, and so when he gets the switch that he wants and he gets that smaller guy on him, he’s really adept at drawing fouls. He maybe was the best foul drawer on the team last year. Um, and then, you know, obviously a really good free throw shooter, too. So like that was a huge like release valve that the Celtics have had in their offense over the last few years is throw him in the post in a late game moment and like he’ll get fouled and go to the line. Um but then you saw that you saw certain situations that it almost can get taken away from him. Um and so it’s that’s what’s confounding a little bit about him is that he is he’s a great basketball player, but most great basketball players like they’re always kind of great and maybe they you know maybe they have a bad shooting game, but it’s they had a bad shooting game. to me when he struggled a lot of times it was the opposing team kind of took him out of it. Um and that’s what was a little bit unusual to watch. Even like in last year’s playoff run which he played like five games so it’s hard to make too many assertions but it looked like it was going to be a little bit of a tough series for him against Miami that game two in Boston at home like their physicality really got to him and I remember being like whoa this is not the same player that’s been like the savior for the Celtics all season. Um and then this year he pretty that pretty much was the case the entire postseason. So that’s the biggest question is when he can’t get that mismatch and when he’s playing battling against one of these really kind of physical bigs of which there are many in the league like there are some questions around how how he will perform.
That’s actually interesting. I was going to ask you a similar question about his consistency because like season to season a lot of his numbers look the same and in a good way. They all look really good like it’s kind of a similar profile a lot of seasons. But I’ve always thought of him as a guy that was like kind of hit and miss and not in like a I don’t mean that in a super negative way. It’s just that he’s kind of So, I’m interested to hear you say that because if you’re I’m sure Hawks will wonder like what’s it going to look like every night because he’s just a different kind of player than they’ve had really at any point in this recent era. So, uh I mean you kind of already answered it, but it’s like is there something that you could do to neutralize that? Is like is there a best way to deploy him uh in your mind? Yeah, I think that he’s, you know, it’s good for him that he he benefited from not being like the primary scoring option. Um, I think that made him more consistent. like at the end of the day they went the team went as Tatum and Brown went and then you know obviously having two elite guards like there wasn’t this pressure that he had to be the 30 point 20 point per game scorer although he ended up being a 19.5 point per game scorer which is obviously you know a lot on on high efficiency but that the reason I like his fit in Atlanta and I actually had Atlanta as like my my target for him like for his sake not for the Celtics sake
because I I think that and you know obviously you’re more familiar with the situation exactly than me but he’s a guy that’s going to get you six wins more than you probably were going to have. Like he’s a very consistent regular season player. I didn’t like him necessarily on like a championship contender where like he’s coming in and like what they really need is for him to perform in the playoffs or in the finals because I don’t know that that’s he’s proven like it’s I’m not saying that he will never be able to be that and that I will never take away how much he contributed in the 2024 finals and specifically in game one most magical inerson performance I’ve ever seen from a Celtics player like how he was able to come back from a multi-week absent so he’s had good moments but I don’t really know how to explain his postseason inconsistencies throughout his career I know The number thing I would probably say is just the physicality being upped and like less fouls being called and he really benefits for, you know, he he’s not somebody that fouls a whole lot, but he does get fouled. And so like he kind of disportionately, you know, struggles with that. But I think he’s going to be a good fit on a team that’s just kind of middling a little bit, but that’s trying to make a push, I would imagine, to make the playoffs and to make a little bit of a run. Yeah. And on on the foul drawing, you know, Trey Young draws a lot of fouls. That’s everyone kind of knows that about him, but the Hawks really haven’t had a guy that alongside him that gets to the line a lot. it’s actually been a a relative weakness and that they’ve treasuring is he just because of is it just mostly is it he’s just so big honestly I I don’t know how I would have put that otherwise but like he’s been able to get to the line more and more during his career but is that like proto natural or is it just because he’s such a massive person it doesn’t really matter which way it happens but it does happen it seems like that’s sustainable in your mind
yeah he has this like underhand swoop move that he makes where he gets the ball and he kind He he kind of forces the contact and flails up. Like we would always talk about if there is a flopper on the Celtics, it’s for Zingis. Um I think that there’s lots of floppers in the NBA, but unfortunately that a lot of the Celtic stars like Jason Pum and Jaylen Brown like do not really flop. And they can play it all the time about not getting calls, but they also don’t embellish contact. Porzingis is really good at that. Like the second there’s a hand on his wrist, he’s flailing. He’s doing the motion. And um and so I think he has a couple like if you look at his game and like if you go through his film it’s like a couple moves that he really really relies on and that’s the challenge a little bit. It’s that he’s initiating that contact really. Um and that there’s a question to me a little bit about is he too dependent on that and then if you play a smart defender like in Dallas when they play Dallas the Mavericks were they they played right into his hands like they really like they had Derek Lively on him rookie like fell for all of his veteran moves. And then there have also been times where like whoever’s been guarding him has been like not falling for it and that he seems a little bit hamstrung. So I don’t want to say his game is dependent on foul beating because he’s obviously an elite shooter. He’s a rim threat. You know he he’s a law threat. I think that he’ll be a good lob threat for for Trey Young. Like I don’t know that the Celtics really had somebody to prioritize that. But so he has multiple dimensions to his game. But that the the foul baiting or the you know foul drawing, however you want to call it, is something that’s come and gone depending on his matchup and how a game is being officiated. And that’s where I think sometimes he struggles.
I know Boston is obviously predicated on the two big wings and the two big forwards they have, but I don’t they have great guards like you mentioned,
but they don’t have someone like Trey Young. It’s a different situation. Trey is that pure point guard orchestrator has his hands all the time.
How do you see Porzingis fitting with a player like that? I think obviously Trey can set him up, but it will be very different than what Boston had. So, how do you kind of envision that if you had to guess?
I think he’ll benefit from it. Um, you know, it’s hard to say because everybody I’m really high on like all the Celtics explorers of the last few years. Like I’m a big believer in them, but it’s hard to gauge exactly how much they benefited from the presence of two all-star wings that would command so much defense and like so I have I have a lot of questions for next season around like how’s Peyton Kercher going to look, how’s Derk Quite going to look. Uh, Porzingis is one of those guys where I’m not sure like he he didn’t really get doubled much like maybe he gets doubled a little bit more in Atlanta. Um, I could see that. But I think that overall this is going to be a good fit for him specifically because of Trey Young’s playmaking. And I know that Trey Young is one of the league’s elite law throwers, you know, guys that can really set up a player like Porzingis. I think it’s going to be a perfect match. Um, I remember a few years ago, you know, people were talking about what about Trey Young in San Antonio and like him and WBY being a potential duo that would work. Um, he’s not Webby, you know, they’re different. But that same vision that I think got got Spurs fans excited is the same vision that I could see uh really playing out in Atlanta. I know I asked you about about his offense quite a bit already. I want to ask you about the defense a little bit too. I know rim protection is his calling card by the numbers by just everything that you watch with him. Um but there’s also like kind of less consensus that I find about the other things about Morzingis. Like you mentioned his improvements elsewhere for Hawks fans that haven’t maybe watched him a ton. Like what is the archetype on defense other than just being incredibly tall which does obviously help things and is the first time Hawks have had that for a while. What do you make of his defense and like where is maybe areas that he’s not the best etc.
The thing that he struggles with uh at times and he’s gotten better at it is playing out on the perimeter and to be honest like the the standard in Boston’s really high because Al Horford is one of this generation’s like elite switch defenders and yes he’s 38 years old but he’s still he’s still pretty good at it and he’s still better at it than Porzingis was. So sometimes he did feel like a little bit of a liability out there when it came to, you know, teams kind of hunting him and they hunt Al too and sometimes Al was the, you know, on the wrong end of a Donovan Mitchell heater or something like that. Um, but I’ve seen Porzingis struggle for an extended stretch defensively in a way that I really haven’t seen many Celtics players struggle. Like I don’t know how much you caught of the Celtics Magic series this past spring, but it was a pretty hard watch just seeing how France Vagner just like just destroyed him in that matchup. Um I to this day I don’t really understand like why it was such a tough match up for Porzingis. Like obviously France is a great player and like you know he can drive and finish really well, but it’s that type of archetype that I think that he has struggled with over the years. Um, so if you want to come down to earth a little bit on defensive expectations, watch a little bit from that series because that was one of the most uneven matchups that I’ve seen. Um, so it really depends on how he’s used. But it’s the same thing with a lot of these guys. Like I mean, you talk about Rudy Goar, right? Like a four-time defensive player of the year. And there are times where he looks like a defensive liability out there. So there are just inherent things when you’re that that build of like the sevenfooter that protects the rim where in today’s NBA like sometimes that doesn’t that doesn’t always play out the best, right? So there are moments where you’re like, “This I thought this guy was supposed to be a great defender and like he’s been getting cooked all night, right?” And I think Porzingis really embodies that. This is maybe kind of a nerdy question, but I know you’re a sicko like I am with this stuff, but how how did the Celtics kind of surround and like protect him defensively? because that sounds worse than it than I mean it to but a guy like that who you know what the weaknesses are, what the strengths are. Um Boston again has those big wings, but the Hawks do have some big wings too. They’re not Tatum and Brown, but they have that they’re kind of building that same kind of archetype out potentially. How did you see them try to maximize Sports Ignis’ strengths on defense?
Yeah, I mean I think the unique thing about the roster is that there were very few defensive deficiencies. So like there were times where they really tried to avoid the switch on specific players that were targeting him because they have Tatum who can pretty much guard one through five. Jaylen Brown who when he’s healthy he’s one of the league elite defenders. Like that’s one thing. And then the other thing I think I think with some teams and this will probably be different in Atlanta. Um but there they have such strong perimeter defenders that they like could sometimes make like a a point to funnel them to Porzingas if they wanted. But there were also situations where it didn’t make sense to do that. and with Drew Holidayiday and Derek White, like you have a little bit more discretion than usual. Um, so I think that there were there were moments where they really had it going with him defensively. And so I I you know, I don’t know what exactly it was in the postseason. Like it’s really hard to understand and I’m sure we’ll talk a little bit about the illness that he dealt with and kind of like how much that came into effect.
Um, the other thing is is that because he battled so many different injuries, it felt like a lot of times you were resetting with him. So like it would feel like there was progress and then he missed some time and then he would come back and you’d be like okay he’s struggling defensively but like it’s you know it’s just because he’s getting his win back under him or that sort of thing. So that’s another thing that just makes it a little bit harder to evaluate like how he fit within the office because it always felt like there was like they were kind of beginning to reintegrate him a little bit.
Yeah. So on the on the health front it’s it’s nuanced because there what the there’s the illness part of this and then there’s the like other injury history part of this. Uh the most recent thing was the illness that he battled last year. I know that like it was just a big mystery from what it sounds like. I’m not gonna ask you like what it was. We don’t we don’t kind of know. He seems to be fine, but like what was the what was kind of the consensus around that around the team? Like what did you make of that? Was it like a long-term concern? Like I it’s unfair to you to ask that, but I I don’t know what to make.
No. Yeah. I’ll give you like my understanding. So he starting in late February, he he he’s sick, right? Like no no big deal. just like listed a sick on the injury report and then it just keeps going and keeps going and like he just keeps being on the injury report and now it’s been a week and two weeks and it’s like is he okay like you know and he’s around and he was coughing a little bit like being in the locker room you know I was like okay he’s coughing but he’s around the team so like they must know he’s not contagious um and then he misses 11 games sports which obviously is a lot for an illness especially because he had already missed like the first couple months of the season recovering from this like weird leg surgery that he had for a rare ankle injury that he had suffered in the finals so you know I was kind of like again like he’s gonna end missing as much time for this injury for this illness as he almost did for the for the surgery in the fall and then comes back you know comes back his first game back is against Brooklyn he was awesome and one of the things that you’ll see about Porzingis hopefully he doesn’t have many injuries but normally when he misses time he comes back and doesn’t miss a beat like I always say he’s an expert at coming back from injuries because he has so much experience doing it so he came back was really good right away and was always updating us very communicative with the media very comfortable answering questions about how he’s doing with various ailments He would literally give me like a percentage. I would always ask him like, “How are you doing?” He’d be like, “I’m at 80%. I’m at 83%. I’m at 90%.” Like, you know, as he was working back. Um, and so it seemed like he was getting better and better. And then playoffs come around and he really really struggles against Orlando, but there’s no reporting or anything that he’s dealing with an illness. And then the New York series comes along and now it’s like he’s not finishing games. He is leaving at halftime and Joe Misoula says tells us plainly that he can’t breathe and that it’s something that he has been dealing with on and off since he returned from that illness. So, we didn’t really know that it was bothering him even in those weeks coming back. Like I think figured, you know, if you have a really bad cold sometimes like it does linger a little bit, but I think it was a little bit more of like it came in waves and that’s how he explained it to us like on the record that sometimes he’d be feeling really good and then one day he’d wake up and not feel good or sometimes he’d have a workout and feel great and then he would have a massive crash after. So we never got any specifics around like what it actually was. To my understanding, they don’t know. Like I don’t get the sense at all that this was something that they had an illness for and like they just didn’t want to say which would be his right. Like that’s you know his privacy. I don’t I would be surprised if he had like a diagnosis that just never came out because that’s just that was not at all my sense around it. So I think it was just what Brad Stevens called it was a post survival syndrome. Um and you know with today’s era with COVID and other things I don’t know exactly what it was but that’s my understanding and he’s playing on the national team in August and hopefully it’s smooth sailing and it’s all behind him but it definitely was a big part of you know the storyline as it related to him for the second half of the year here in Boston. No, that’s really helpful. And you know, having not been there, you on the outside, it’s like he’s still sick, but that’s kind everybody’s kind of just baffled by what was going on. Not in any like accusatory way of him. It’s just kind of was a strange thing. Um, so there’s that obviously and hopefully he is feeling good and he said he was on the record, like I guess on his own social media this week. Um, then there’s the other part of this of the other durability questions. You know, he is a seven foot plus guy. He’s had a bunch of injury issues and not the same thing either. It’s not like it’s one chronic thing. he’s said multiple different things. Um what do you think about that especially as you you know going into age 30 season um not knowing anything but just as a person like what if you’re if you’re the Hawks for instance can you project him for 60 games? Is that even is that too many? It’s just like one of those hard things. I I wonder what you think about his durability overall.
Yeah probably maybe maybe a little bit less something in that range. But the thing for him it’s it’s been leg injuries, right? He’s had a miniscus tear. He’s had an ACL tear. He’s had little just through his time in the Celtics, he’s had some ankle injuries. He’s had that rare I still can’t pronounce it. The thing that he had surgery for. Um he’s had quad strains. H like that. Like it’s really leg injuries is what’s hampered him. And I think that a lot of times those things can be connected. Like he missed most of the 2024 playoffs with a quad strain and then came back um and then hurt his leg. And I would imagine that there’s a chance that those things were connected. Um, so that’s where he’s kind of deals with the most is that sort of thing. He is, I really understand he’s a good work ethic, like relentlessly coming back. The Celtics were very careful with him. So whenever there was something, they h they held him out as long as possible. So he could have, if you look at his game blogs, like it’s actually he probably could have played in more games than he played in. I don’t know what Atlanta’s mindset is going to be for them. It was always like we need him for the finals and so yeah,
we’re going to save him for the playoffs. and like it didn’t really work out because he still wasn’t really that available. But that was always the thinking that they were going to load manage him. I don’t know if he will be load managed. Um but I hate terming guys as injuryprone because it’s like not fair to them. But he is injuryprone. Like that’s kind of undeniable. And I think that’s part of the bargain with signing him is that if you’re like if you’re planning on building around him or having him be your cornerstone, you’re going to have to have a plan for what your team is going to look like when he’s not available because he is inevitably going to have things and hopefully the mo the most serious things are behind him. But it was a a lot of different things that he dealt with during the two years in Boston. And I think those two years were relatively healthy compared to other stints of his career, too.
Yeah. I actually looked, it’s just that this last season, he didn’t play any back tobacks at all. And I wonder was he doesn’t do back tobacks.
I was going to say that that’s just going to be probably forever, I would imagine. Um, so I don’t know. I mean, he Al Hford didn’t do back tobacks either, so they split them. I don’t know. I don’t know if like other teams would have the same thing, but for the Celtics, it was like we’re just splitting those guys in back to backs.
Yeah, it’s logical. And they have they have of course the roster they had was loaded and they could be like you said to be careful with him.
Um I’ll let you out here in a second. I did want to make sure I as relative to where the Hawks are too.
He played a lot with another big played with Al sometimes even with like you know Cornet or who Tilman there’s all kinds of guys that have been there but also played a lot with like Tana at the four for example. The Hawks have similar in that they could play him with a with a Kong Woo who’s been their incumbent center but can play with Porzingis and then they also have like a a more traditional not maybe less traditional smaller guys like Jaylen Johnson at the four. Does he seem to have like um is he better in one way or the other? Is it is he is he more comfortable playing next to the other big or playing smaller around him? Does it matter? What do you what do you think of that kind of alignment question? Yeah, it depends about the other big’s versatility. Like I think if the other big is like Als is pretty much as versatile as they come. Like that was a pretty good duo. I didn’t really love Porzingis and Luke. Like I think that you had two guys in the Blue Cornet. Like those are two guys in the perimeter that now you’re potentially targeting. So it depends. I liked him better with Tatum is the four and him at the five. Um but if you look at that starting five lineup of, you know, Tatum Brown, White Holiday, and Porzingis, this year they weren’t that good. And they were actually better when Porzingis and Horford played. And that was like a huge discussion topic of like why is this lineup better with Horford? You know, it’s hard to say, but I think that in if I had to think about like his optimal match up, but he’d probably be at the five alongside somebody that’s a little bit more versatile just because I think that plays to his strengths defensively a little bit better. But offensively, he stretches the floor like anybody else and it’s basic floor. So, like that gives you options, right? Like nobody in today’s NBA wants two non-shooters out there. So, it does help you that he is a very much a shooter. Um, except for this most recent playoff run, but for the most part, like he he does base the floor pretty well.
Yeah. And this uh I wouldn’t say this but this is we’re about to sign off but you know Al Horford is of course a former Hawk and I covered him for a long time and Akongu is not Al Horford but they do have a lot of similarities as far as like uh people that talk about their heights and all these things. So him him being next to is going to be interesting to watch because I’m just I feel like I’ve already kind of seen it even though Al is obviously much more accomplished than Aamu at this point. Um you said it earlier but I was going to ask you what what it’s like to cover him. seems like it was really a good experience that you really enjoyed like for fans purposes. I don’t always do a lot of this on the show, but it’s like seems like people like the guy. I mean earlier his career was kind like is he is like what’s going on with him? But now it’s like he seems like a fan favorite almost in some ways. Yeah, he’s definitely a fan favorite. I mean right the fans Celtics fans are brutal. Like they’re so the bar is so high.
People were really upset at how he played in the playoffs despite the fact that he was sick and dealing with stuff. But like I think he was like seven points per game and shot 15% from three and like it was I felt bad. Like I would post clips of his posting quotes and the replies would be like we don’t want to hear from him. Like please don’t tell us what he said. So other than how it ended and I think that fans will get over themselves and like remember the big picture with his time in Boston. He was absolutely a fan favorite. Like really really connects with the fans signing autographs before games, after games, high-fiving everybody. Like you know a lot of players they like just kind of come in with a tunnel vision. Don’t really want to acknowledge the crowd. Like everywhere he went because all these fans travel really well. He was always engaging with the crowd and everything. And I will say from a media standpoint like we will really really miss him because there are a lot of a lot of good guys in the Celtics but a lot of guys that are pretty reserved and like PR trained and you know stick to the script and Porzingis was the best quote on the team and he knew it and we told him that and I think we’ll really miss just his candidness and so much respect to him because honestly the way things ended like was I can’t imagine how frustrating for him after coming off of that surgery wanting to play a big role and then going back to back and then having such a disappointing again just two serieses right it’s not like it was months of that basketball But sometimes that’s all all that people remember. But even after the worst moments, worst games, worst losses, he was always willing to answer tough questions and honestly with a smile on his face. Like he’s you can ask him anything and he’ll be more than happy to to answer. And like I know covering the NBA like sometimes high-profile players like if you see them in the hall they’re not going to really like chat with you and stuff. But Porzingis was somebody that like he talks to every person in the arena whether it’s the lowest member lowest member of the media or you know custodian whoever else it is. Like that’s just the way that he is. So I think that he’s a a big gain for a franchise and a big loss for the Celtics in that sense of just kind of being this like joyful figure.
Yeah. Yeah, I’m looking forward to uh getting to touch base with him when he’s allowed to talk and when the Hawks are allowed to talk about him as you and I are talking. This deal can’t be announced for like another week plus. We all know the deal. It’s one of those weird NBA things, but uh they’ll introduce him at some point. Fans will hear from him and it sounds like people will be excited to uh hear from him, too. I know Hawk’s really excited because number one, you’ll find this funny. Um there’s a a large portion of the Hawks fan base that it’s just anyone who’s 7 feet tall they’re really really excited about because they they haven’t had a lot of sevenfooters around this around these parts and he’s obviously a very very large individual so that people that even only that would be exciting to people. Uh well thank you again no for doing this. Um people should be following your work. I don’t I know that Hawks fans fans don’t always love each other dating back to when I was a very small child but uh where can they follow all of your coverage? I think you also do non Celtics stuff as well, but anything you want to plug, feel free to do. So, people should be following you.
Yeah, you can find me on Twitter. It’s Noah Dzel. And then I have a podcast on the Celtics. You got Boston podcast. And I do cover the W&B. I have some Atlanta Dream stuff coming out actually in the next couple days. Uh, so you can find all that coverage on SP Nation.
I am an SP Nation alum myself. So, uh, shouts to SP Nation. Thank you again for doing this. I very much appreciate it. People should be checking out your work across the board. As everybody listening to this podcast, please subscribe to Loth on Hulks and we’ll see everybody next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2016 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell, CLNS) to discuss Kristaps Porzingis. Topics include the price the Atlanta Hawks paid to acquire the talented big man, Porzingis’s strengths on offense and defense, his durability questions, potential vulnerabilities, off-court interactions, and much more.

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