Kristaps Porzingis to Celtics!!!!!
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They must be doing something right because those moonboots are ugly as sin and yet every running shoe maker has their own version (or two or theee).
I wore Onitsuka Tigers when I had it... and I made sure to change them every six months or so to make sure the shoes weren't degraded at all. They had great arch support. Now I wear Onclouds and haven't had any issues since.
Same.
After my heart attack all I was allowed to do was walk. Before I got Hokas I was in pain even after short walks. With them I can walk for an hour.
We'll be holding our breaths every time KP & TL limp. Cellar hand-wringing galore.He's going to be out for the year, isn't he?
I'm hoping for regular-season shrink-wrapping (Al/KP/TL) with plenty of Luke
Perk was the last Celtic I recall dealing with this issue and while he did miss some time with it he was still playing relatively full seasons through it. And he was carrying probably a good 30 pounds or so extra over KP.
As offseason concerns go this falls wayyyyy way below last season's tornado of Gallo + Ime.
As offseason concerns go this falls wayyyyy way below last season's tornado of Gallo + Ime.
This is really derailing the thread but I had some Onitsuka Tigers and I thought they were absolutely terrible in terms of arch and heel support. I wore them about 5 times before ditching them because I felt like I was walking on flats
Sounds good.
View: https://twitter.com/AdamHimmelsbach/status/1707383505364156704
Per source, Kristaps Porzingis took part in his first scrimmage Wednesday since being shut down due to his foot injury. He looked good and had no issues.
View: https://twitter.com/AdamHimmelsbach/status/1707383505364156704
Per source, Kristaps Porzingis took part in his first scrimmage Wednesday since being shut down due to his foot injury. He looked good and had no issues.
KP on why he chose the Cs over other teams with maybe more money or a bigger role:
https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/kristaps-porzingis-more-money-bigger-role/
“That’s what matters is winning. I had different opportunities to go somewhere else and maybe have a bigger role and maybe even make more money, but I wanted to come here. I wanted to come to Boston just because of the opportunity to play in such an iconic organization with great players that are already here that are very close and hopefully, I can come in here and bring more to that. The idea of that itself, I didn’t need to hear anything else. Now that I’m here, it’s an incredible feeling.”
https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/kristaps-porzingis-more-money-bigger-role/
The Celtics seem to have a bit more "want to play there" cachet with European players (Gallo had this too), which makes sense: they have very strong name recognition in Europe.
Playing with Luka must have been even worse than it looks:
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1711221981029233066?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1711221981029233066?s=20
KP moves unbelievably well for his size, and obviously the shooting touch is great. Pending health and attitude, he's going to be a massive upgrade on our offense.
I think a lot of the NBA public has assumed that since he averages a lot of assists that Luka makes his teammates better, but his assist numbers are closer to Westbrook than Nash in that regard. KP's decline in Dallas, Brunson breaking out after leaving, missing the playoffs with a healthy and well behaved Kyrie...the narrative on Luka is shifting, this year is extremely important for him. Good news is that he's still just 24.
I think a lot of the NBA public has assumed that since he averages a lot of assists that Luka makes his teammates better, but his assist numbers are closer to Westbrook than Nash in that regard. KP's decline in Dallas, Brunson breaking out after leaving, missing the playoffs with a healthy and well behaved Kyrie...the narrative on Luka is shifting, this year is extremely important for him. Good news is that he's still just 24.
My 13YO son, after watching the 1Q, "We have our own Wemby." I think people forget how highly regarded KP was after his first year.
The other important thing - KP got 8 FTs in 25 minutes. Him going to the line is really going to help the Cs avoid droughts.
Al Horford:
https://theathletic.com/4943721/2023/10/09/kristaps-porzingis-celtcs-sixers-preseason/?source=emp_shared_article
The other important thing - KP got 8 FTs in 25 minutes. Him going to the line is really going to help the Cs avoid droughts.
Al Horford:
“This probably wasn’t the case,” Horford recalled later to The Athletic, “but it looked like his shoulders were at the rim level. You play against a guy, you prepare, you see him, but it did surprise me. He’s more mobile, more athletic than I thought.”
https://theathletic.com/4943721/2023/10/09/kristaps-porzingis-celtcs-sixers-preseason/?source=emp_shared_article
It's crazy how much he's improved his game even since Dallas. I remember then the book on him was to body him up with smaller guys and let him jack uncomfortable midrangers. Simply cannot do that now: he's added too many counters and ways to attack.
A big adjustments he made is that he’s stopped trying to overpower people for the most part, he’s realized that he can just shoot over everyone.
KP is just a more dynamic player than Smart. The fact that Brad was able to get 2 picks out of the deal that he turned into multiple future 2nds, Jordan Walsh, and the capital needed to complete the Jrue deal is just outstanding. I would have traded Smart for KP straight up and probably would have been willing to throw in a future 1st as well. He looks like he'll be a great fit with the Jay's.
The deal was possible because it was a close cousin of free agency: KP opted out in order to go to Boston specifically and extend there.
As a result, Washington could only get S&T type draft capital, and KP also agreed to sign a discounted extension.
All doable because he really really wanted to play in Boston.
I’ve been saying since the trade KP is pretty close to what Wembanyama could end up being. Not Wemby’s peak potential of course, but a legitimate possible solid outcome for him.
KP doesn’t have quite the upside of course since we know his trajectory at this point, but his floor is higher. And I’d certainly take KP this season over Wemby this season.
He’s had an injury filled stretch that knocked his rep down a few notches (and likely will ultimately limit his upside), but he’s still really unique and really good.
It was only a few possessions that I was paying close attention, but I noticed that when a shot went up, KP's first move was to find and box out a player. It didn't lead to him getting a rebound, necessarily, but it led to a D rebound. It was a nice change from last year when it seemed like everyone would just look at the rim when a shot went up.
It was painfully clear the last two playoff runs that the C's needed an easier way to score crunch time buckets that wasn't so dependent on iso-ball heroics from JT and JB. As great as those two are, neither yet has an unstoppable money-in-the-bank move against dialed-in playoff defenses, and so— while they come through a lot, Tatum especially— it seems to require such a high level of effort and creativity that I found myself thinking, "this can't be sustainable— they need somebody with more size who can get easier shots."
You need a single unstoppable trait to get good looks in playoff crunch time, and KP is unstoppably tall. I'm really interested to see if his height establishes him as a go-to option in such situations, or if he winds up as more of an able floorspacer and third banana to the Js, playing 25 ft from the basket.
Yeah, every time he jumps to dunk, especially alley oops, I’m holding my breath like I did when Gronk went up the seam.
Exactly true imo. I think he'll end up being their most efficient scorer, and it'll be very interesting to see how they get him involved.
I'm not ready to admit this. The ACL caused the majority of his missed games and he's had some back issues...aside from that it has been the typical minor stuff. 65-70 games a year is a rock solid number which should be easily attainable. He's had some real good stretches the past couple seasons and still has more room to grow as he's only 28 with just 400 NBA games under his belt.
3 quick things:
1. ACL tears are often not isolated. Not sure the details of KP's, but I wouldn't assume his left knee is pristine aside from the ACL graft. Very often meniscus tears and cartilage damage go along with it.
2. He also had surgery for a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee (similar thing to Timelord) that ended his season on Dallas. We can hope he doesn't have much arthritis yet, but that's not a given.
3. "Some Back Issues" in someone 7'3" might not be trivial. Time will tell.
I like the trade and am stoked to see KP on the Celtics. And I wouldn't say his injury history is a particularly giant red flag or too unexpected for someone his size.
But he has had surgeries on both knees and back issues (plus a bunch of other random more minor lower body injuries), it's a pretty significant amount of wear and tear already.
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My glasses may be green-tinted but this is where I am. That said, I'd prefer a team rule where lobs may only be thrown to minimum-salaried players. Make it so, Joe.
One season after largely ignoring post-ups, the Celtics do it more frequently than any team outside of Jokić’s Nuggets. Tatum and Brown operate on the block at times, but Porziņģis’ ability to score down there has given his team a totally new element.
The Celtics aren’t just posting up more. Including passes out of the post, they’re doing it more effectively than any other team, according to Synergy Sports. Porziņģis has scored an absurd 1.392 points per post-up possession to rank second in the league behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (bet you wouldn’t have guessed him). And Porziņģis is a 7-foot-3 sharpshooter who forces teams to guard him at all times on the perimeter. That type of inside-outside force makes life easier on his teammates with or without Tatum on the court. The Celtics have more top-end talent around Tatum now than they have for most of his career.
https://theathletic.com/5155775/2023/12/22/jayson-tatum-celtics-boston-bench/
The Celtics aren’t just posting up more. Including passes out of the post, they’re doing it more effectively than any other team, according to Synergy Sports. Porziņģis has scored an absurd 1.392 points per post-up possession to rank second in the league behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (bet you wouldn’t have guessed him). And Porziņģis is a 7-foot-3 sharpshooter who forces teams to guard him at all times on the perimeter. That type of inside-outside force makes life easier on his teammates with or without Tatum on the court. The Celtics have more top-end talent around Tatum now than they have for most of his career.
https://theathletic.com/5155775/2023/12/22/jayson-tatum-celtics-boston-bench/
Forsbergs 4 on KP:
1. 21.6 Usage rate.
2. 1.46 Points per post up
3. 5.3 Block %
4. Culture fit/happy to play in Boston
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L-2e4x_uz8
1. 21.6 Usage rate.
2. 1.46 Points per post up
3. 5.3 Block %
4. Culture fit/happy to play in Boston
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L-2e4x_uz8
I didn't watch the game but saw in the box score that KP only played six minutes and panicked my way over to X.
View: https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1743802604402962700
Kristaps Porzingis left the the game early in the 1st (right eye irritation) and is questionable to return
View: https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1743802604402962700
Kristaps Porzingis left the the game early in the 1st (right eye irritation) and is questionable to return
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Seems to have escaped anything major, thank the gods.
View: https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1743833945362276369
View: https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1743833945362276369
Fingers crossed bump for the tweaked ankle injury from last night. No wrap and no ice while he was back on the bench after initially heading to the locker room. Presumably that means it was more of a scare/stinger. We’re all patiently (lol) waiting for an update from the team.
For anyone that wasn't watching it looked like a run-of-the-mill ankle roll and he dropped before it rolled too far. I was annoyed that the announcers were making such a big deal of it and not pointing out that anyone who has played has done that a bunch of times, and often played on it 15 minutes later.
I am firmly in the "wrap him in bubble wrap" camp and I breathed a sigh of relief the moment I saw the replay. If he misses even one game it is only because the team being super duper cautious and/or using it as an excuse to give him a day off.
I am firmly in the "wrap him in bubble wrap" camp and I breathed a sigh of relief the moment I saw the replay. If he misses even one game it is only because the team being super duper cautious and/or using it as an excuse to give him a day off.
Reggie is always pretty lousy, but I can't blame them in this case. Any time a player goes straight to the bench and needs assistance getting back to the locker room it's a pretty big deal, and before a replay it's hard not to think the worst.
I enjoyed how the rest of the Celtics kept looking back, saw him stay in the backcourt, then just shrugged and ran their offense 4 on 5, for a 3. They forced Miami to call timeout when they were a man down, crazy.
Long-form ESPN article on KP
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39433066/the-risky-move-unlocked-jayson-tatum-boston-celtics
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39433066/the-risky-move-unlocked-jayson-tatum-boston-celtics
Good KP piece.
Points per Post-up
KP 1.41
Jokic 1.14
Embiid 1.17
League avg 1.01
ALSO wasn't aware that he was 38% on Catch & Shoot 3s
I'm guilty of being happy he got the week off and avoided All-Star weekend
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EohlxY-T3CI
Points per Post-up
KP 1.41
Jokic 1.14
Embiid 1.17
League avg 1.01
ALSO wasn't aware that he was 38% on Catch & Shoot 3s
I'm guilty of being happy he got the week off and avoided All-Star weekend
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EohlxY-T3CI
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That is a good, but not a great number. Puts him behind centers - Embiid 51%, Olynyk 47%, KAT 44%, Naz 42%, Chet 42%, Markkanen 42%
It's great because it's all part of a highly efficient, diverse package.
Over 95% of his 3s are Catch & Shoot, he's leaned into dribbling as little as possible (see below)
(from post #792)
Tatum: "We struggled last year against Miami because they were switching, and we didn't have anybody to really throw the ball to, to expose their switching. They took advantage of us on that, and KP is like the ultimate answer for that."
The Celtics used to put Smart or Jae Crowder on Porzingis when they'd play over the years, telling them to get up under him and be physical enough to make him uncomfortable. It worked, to some extent. But the Porzingis who showed up in Boston had changed.
injuries and an unexpectedly poor fit with Doncic stunted Porzingis' development in Dallas and hurt his reputation. The lowest point came in the 2021 playoffs, when the LA Clippers played him off the floor defensively, forcing former head coach Rick Carlisle to replace him with Boban Marjanovic.
"Obviously I wasn't playing at my best," Porzingis says of that season in Dallas. "I had some injuries here and there and couldn't really get a good rhythm. It wasn't a good place for me."
That experience forced him to take a hard look at his game -- and his future.
"I really checked myself," Porzingis says. "From that point on I started building my game back up."
THE TRANSFORMATION BEGAN in earnest in the summer of 2022. Back in February, his tumultuous tenure in Dallas had ended when the Mavericks traded him at the deadline to the Washington Wizards for Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie. It was a stunning fall.
It was then, when he went home to Latvia for the summer, that Porzingis asked his friend and former national team guard Zanis Peiners to train him.
Peiners had never coached before, but had always been something of a coach on the floor for the national team. And he always loved analytics. So his instinct, he says, was to study what Porzingis had done well throughout his NBA career -- and double down.
With help from Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and Latvian journalist, Reinis Lacis, they did just that.
The first task: "Post-ups without too many moves or too many dribbles," Peiners says. "When he just gets the ball in the right position, where he's efficient, more or less middle of the court, free throw line - just take one or two dribbles, make one counter move, and then shoot. It's the simplest thing."
Over and over, in gyms across Spain, Latvia and Monaco, they drilled it in. It was repetitive, tedious, boring at times. But the results have been astounding. According to Second Spectrum, Porzingis is averaging 0.51 dribbles before taking a shot this season, second-fewest among players with 400 or more shots. He only trails Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez.
That's been a game-changer for the Celtics, who ranked 26th in post-ups per game last year. This year, they are 8th, largely because Porzingis is averaging 1.48 points per direct post-up, the highest rate in the NBA among players to run 75 or more post-ups, and the highest since Second Spectrum began tracking such data in 2013-14.
"He just takes advantage of whatever the defense has given up in that moment," Tatum says of Porzingis' ability to hunt mismatches. "He knows his spots. He knows where he's effective. He's a very smart basketball player."
The second task: learning when to pick-and-pop and when to roll hard to the basket to draw fouls.
"That gives you a lot more efficiency," Peiners says. "When to drive - without too many dribbles or moves - and when to pop and shoot."
Another massive improvement: The Celtics have averaged 8.9 points per game directly from Porzingis' pick-and-pop plays when he is the screener, the most for any player this season. Conversely, Porzingis has averaged 1.12 points per direct drive over the last two seasons, up from 0.89 in his first six NBA seasons, per Second Spectrum.
In other words, he's become elite at not only recognizing when to pop and when to roll, but also in converting once he makes that choice.
That's given the Celtics something they desperately needed last season to counter switching or zone defenses: optionality.
KP at 40% on C&S since December 1st, and 45% since January 1st.
I think the first couple of months was guys trying to figure each each other out, when and where to shoot from, etc.
I think the first couple of months was guys trying to figure each each other out, when and where to shoot from, etc.
Thanks for posting. I wasn't aware that KP is shooting 41% on 3Ps from 28+ feet and he's taking 1 per game. That's wild.
KP is launching 97.5% of his 3s above the break
leaves the Corner3 open for Jrue (64%), White (43%), Hauser (52%)
This is a KP thread, but I love how Jrue gets his corner 3s off relocation. He occupies the dunker spot a lot, and plays well out of there, but is a constant threat to move from there to the corner, which is how he gets a lot of those looks. It's hard to get corner 3s in the modern NBA from just potted plant spacing; Jrue hunts them well.
