He's coming back, maybe sooner than expected (i.e. December), and it's gonna feel unfair when he does. Let's give the man his own thread again.
But while we track that progress, let's also jump in on a debate that last night sparked in the Knicks thread, one that isn't really about the Knicks:
KAT is a more dangerous 3-point shooter, although of course KP is no slouch. But KAT might be the best-outside-shooting big man ever. You absolutely cannot help off of him from the perimeter at all, you have to be right in his face the entire time. In that way, needing to put (say) Jrue on him on defense costs you a lot of help-D equity. KP has great range, but the accuracy comes and goes, his wind-up is long (just like every other part of him), etc - you can help off of him, as long as you're putting enough size on him.
Down low, both are good post-scoring threats, although KP has the foul-line jumper game really perfected, but KAT's turnaround moves and layup game feel more refined, he's a lot more nimble. But a Mitchell Robinson should be able to contain Porzingis' post scoring, whereas it seems like you need an entirely different sort of player to defend Towns.
On defense, Porzingis gives you more rim defense, but of course got ISO'd a bit by smaller players in the playoffs (especially the first 2 games of the Finals), and held up only OK. You can't just hide him and let him roam to help at the rim, TimeLord-style, he can't get back to the perimeter fast enough to be that much of a center-fielder. Towns can contain drives 1v1 a bit better, but offers you almost no help defense and his rim protection is below where you'd expect for a 7-footer.
And then there's the health factor. We have the luxury of saying "play 20 regular-season games and just be healthy in April", for this year anyway, but maybe not in future years, barring a big leap from Kornet or something. And just as obviously, KP's unique and freakish physiology means bad stuff happens to him randomly just that much more often - being healthy for Playoff Game 1 does not guarantee anything at all, hell even being healthy-ish for Finals Game 1 doesn't mean you'll get a full series out of him. It's not just a matter of over-indexing to "one unlucky postseason", as Dallas can tell you from their own experiences. So even if you think KP is more of a value-add to the Celtics on a per-minute basis, if your expected minutes by him are that much fewer (in both regular and post season, no matter how much you try to give him R&R vacations), there's an argument it tips the scales in favor of Towns.
I dunno, it's an interesting problem to think about, at least. Last night didn't sway me all that much on it, because if we had him on our team, he wouldn't have to play against the Celtics - something I really advise against doing in general, because they're going to abuse just about everybody.
But while we track that progress, let's also jump in on a debate that last night sparked in the Knicks thread, one that isn't really about the Knicks:
"would you trade KP for KAT straight up, if they had the same contract so it's purely an on-court question", is a very interesting puzzle. I feel like you can argue that one is a rich man's version of the other, on both ends of the floor, in both directions.
KAT is a more dangerous 3-point shooter, although of course KP is no slouch. But KAT might be the best-outside-shooting big man ever. You absolutely cannot help off of him from the perimeter at all, you have to be right in his face the entire time. In that way, needing to put (say) Jrue on him on defense costs you a lot of help-D equity. KP has great range, but the accuracy comes and goes, his wind-up is long (just like every other part of him), etc - you can help off of him, as long as you're putting enough size on him.
Down low, both are good post-scoring threats, although KP has the foul-line jumper game really perfected, but KAT's turnaround moves and layup game feel more refined, he's a lot more nimble. But a Mitchell Robinson should be able to contain Porzingis' post scoring, whereas it seems like you need an entirely different sort of player to defend Towns.
On defense, Porzingis gives you more rim defense, but of course got ISO'd a bit by smaller players in the playoffs (especially the first 2 games of the Finals), and held up only OK. You can't just hide him and let him roam to help at the rim, TimeLord-style, he can't get back to the perimeter fast enough to be that much of a center-fielder. Towns can contain drives 1v1 a bit better, but offers you almost no help defense and his rim protection is below where you'd expect for a 7-footer.
And then there's the health factor. We have the luxury of saying "play 20 regular-season games and just be healthy in April", for this year anyway, but maybe not in future years, barring a big leap from Kornet or something. And just as obviously, KP's unique and freakish physiology means bad stuff happens to him randomly just that much more often - being healthy for Playoff Game 1 does not guarantee anything at all, hell even being healthy-ish for Finals Game 1 doesn't mean you'll get a full series out of him. It's not just a matter of over-indexing to "one unlucky postseason", as Dallas can tell you from their own experiences. So even if you think KP is more of a value-add to the Celtics on a per-minute basis, if your expected minutes by him are that much fewer (in both regular and post season, no matter how much you try to give him R&R vacations), there's an argument it tips the scales in favor of Towns.
I dunno, it's an interesting problem to think about, at least. Last night didn't sway me all that much on it, because if we had him on our team, he wouldn't have to play against the Celtics - something I really advise against doing in general, because they're going to abuse just about everybody.
