EXCLUSIVE: Kristaps Porziņģis First Interview as an Atlanta Hawk

EXCLUSIVE: Kristaps Porziņģis First Interview as an Atlanta Hawk

[Music] This is my uh third day. Um honestly, so far everything is super good. I’m super happy. Um just arriving here and like it was like I don’t know 7 8:00 p.m. and the sun was shining. It was like a nice sunset. I caught like a good vibe here, you know, from the beginning. And so just went around uh looking for houses, uh looking for places to stay and and um you know got to know some people around the organization and stuff and um yeah, it’s been exciting. You know, a new beginning, a new chapter and um looking forward to it. Yeah, the origin story is um I believe it was KD um KD’s one of like his postgame interviews and he just called me a unicorn. It was I think my rookie year or maybe my second year. Uh just I guess you know he was like describing my game know the versatility shooting from outside playing inside etc. And uh and KD gave me that nickname I guess and from that point on just kind of stuck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Honestly, like in my rookie year, I was getting a lot of like love from the vets, you know, from from older guys, from good players and and it was nice to get recognized by somebody like Katie, obviously, you know, I was I was super excited. I didn’t love the nickname at first. Um wasn’t a big fan, but um but yeah, then just stuck around and I kind of start to appreciate it more and more, I guess, with time, you know, and um and uh yeah, it was it was a big honor to be, you know, recognized by some one of the greats like Katie Um, obviously now I’m seeing more of the summer league guys, uh, and young guys and stuff. Um, I’ve texted with a few guys, uh, already that reached out and stuff to welcome me to the team. Um, I haven’t, uh, crossed with anybody at the, you know, uh, here at the at the practice facility. Uh but we’re going to have enough time, you know, we’re going to have enough time and and uh I look forward to coming back in September after European Championship and getting to know everything and getting situated. [Music] Obviously, my style of play it’s a little bit known now maybe. No, I’m I’m capable of doing that. No, playing outside, playing inside. uh for the last three years I think I’ve been uh if not the most efficient and one of the most efficient players in the postup uh because of the mismatches um I I create um and I think that’s going to help our team and our spacing a lot you know and and uh that’s something I’m going to bring to this team and obviously my my u rim protection also I’m going to do uh my part on the defensive end and I think I could add a lot there also And um yeah, honestly I’m very excited about uh this new chapter. Yeah, honestly um the transition from like Washington where it was uh we had some vets but it was a pretty young team to go into like a really experienced team, you know, where some of the youngest guys were like, you know, JT, JB, Jaylen, you know, and Jason, and they’re, you know, 26, 27, 28 already. It’s like, you know, it was like a vet team, like smart players, experienced players already. They’ve been to the playoffs many times. So, they had a strong culture already of how the organization works and, you know, they it’s like expected to win there, you know. It was a different environment that I’ve been in maybe. And definitely like a lot you can learn, you know, and and just being around um that kind of a a winning uh culture. Uh I think it just helps any player that goes through there, you know, and and uh and that’s what I want to bring here also. you know, I’ve seen uh the the the the how how professional, how locked in those guys were towards the goal that was winning a championship and uh and so was I, you know, and and that’s something I think, yeah, I will try to bring here and and uh and bring my experience, you know, this is going to be my 11th season, I think. So, um yeah, I’m going to try to help the young guys, um you know, bring the best out of them and make that next jump with each year. Um, and I’m really looking forward to it. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it’s going to be natural. It’s going to be you’re going to see where you can help, what you what you see, you know, where where you can give something to the young guys. It doesn’t need to be forced where it’s like, oh, you know, um, that was the thing in Boston. Everybody was so, you know, kind of already experienced, you know, so it wasn’t too much of that needed almost. But, uh, but here, we’ll see. We’ll see. You know, there’s guys that definitely know how to play basketball already, but there’s going to be some younger guys that for sure can can uh benefit from, you know, my presence here and and um yeah, and it’s it’s it’s, you know, we’re going to we’re going to figure it out. And I think uh this is a good year for us to um make uh uh for this team to make a jump like as a team, but also for a lot of guys to make a jump individually. And that’s a exciting part, too. [Music] Yeah, I think uh obviously I’m always trying to improve my game and becoming more and more efficient. The post up uh last year was my best uh season shooting threes. Um so I want to keep that up, you know, and that’s going to open the court for us, you know, for Trey, for for all these guys to get downhill. You know, the five is or I don’t know who they’re going to put on me, you know, whoever is going to be it’s going to be have to guard me outside. I think also I saw a stat u uh that uh I don’t know if I was number two and Trey was number one the furthest distance shooting threes right so that’s going to be interesting combo too you know um and um yeah I uh I look forward to it I like the I like the situation that we’re in know we’re like this team has kind of um been almost there, you know, kind of like but can’t really get over the hump to make like a deep run and to really, you know, um there’s like for sure some promise few in some years, but I think this is a year that we can be like sneaky good, you know, and surprise people and get further than maybe expected. Uh and and who knows how far we can go. I don’t want to put any ceiling, you know. Um and that’s that’s that’s exciting to me. That’s really exciting to me. in and u and yeah bringing some um like freshness also to the team with me coming in I think uh I think can uh hopefully give us a nice boost message for Hawks fans I think uh like be excited for this year um I’m I’m going to bring what I bring I’m going to bring uh my experience my uh my game um And we’re gonna give it all. We’re gonna give it all to go as far as we can. And and who knows how far that is. So, uh let’s let’s let’s get ready for a good season.

Kristaps Porziņģis is officially an Atlanta Hawk, and he sat down with Hawks.com for an exclusive interview during his first visit to Atlanta!

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