Getty Kristaps Porzingis, Mavericks
The idea was to let Kristaps Porzingis be a bit more like himself this season. Get him into post-up situations, let him shoot the midrange 2-pointer that has long been a staple of his offensive game and get him thriving again on offense, the way he did when he achieved NBA stardom in New York. Previous Mavs coach Rick Carlisle didn’t much want Porzingis doing any of those things, viewing those plays as inefficient ways to score.
New coach Jason Kidd vowed to change that. Through three games, though, you have to wonder whether Carlisle was, in fact, right.
The numbers on Porzingis are especially unsightly. He is averaging 12.7 points and just six rebounds. He is shooting 30.2% from the field and 23.5% from the 3-point line. His free-throw shooting is down to 72.7% — and all those numbers would represent career lows.
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But the worst part for the Mavs is that the attempts to adjust the offense to make Porzingis more comfortable are backfiring. Porzingis is actually getting fewer post-up possessions this year (3.3 per game) than last year (3.7 per game). When he does get the ball in the post, it’s going very badly: Porzingis is averaging 0.50 points per possession, which ranks last in the NBA among players with at least 2.0 post-ups per game, according to NBA.com/stats.
Porzingis is shooting 25.0% on post-ups and turning the ball over 10.0% of the time. Those are especially bad numbers.
Back Injury Has Porzingis Questionable for Thursday
In fairness to Porzingis, we’re only three games into the NBA season and in the Mavs’ previous game, he suffered a lower back injury (which was an issue for him last season) and played only 20 minutes. He is questionable to play in the Mavs’ upcoming game against San Antonio.
Still, there is a disturbing trend for Porzingis. Even when he posts up on a smaller player, which is often because he is 7-foot-3, he has resorted to firing up fadeaway jumpers rather than attacking the rim or taking advantage of his size.
Again, the numbers are ugly. Last year, Porzingis took 3.1 midrange shots per game and made only 39.6% of them—not a very efficient shot at all. This year, he is taking 3.1 midrange jumpers per game and making only 27.3%. That’s terribly inefficient.
Kidd Entered Season Hoping to Expand Porzingis’ Role
Kidd came into the year talking up the impact he expected Porzingis to have, which was a good policy for a new coach walking into a job in which Porzingis was rumored to be unhappy with his role and supposedly had issues with star guard Luka Doncic. Carlisle tended to use Porzingis as a corner 3-point shooter, and Porzingis sees himself as capable of having a bigger impact.
“The simple way to put it is, I want KP to be a basketball player,” Kidd said, per ESPN. “There’s no limitations on just shooting 3s. Being able to roll, to be able to shoot the midrange, to be able to put the ball on the floor — I want him to be who he is, and that’s a basketball player and not just be limited to shooting 3s or crashing from the corner. I want him to feel comfortable on the floor in any spot. I think he’s a weapon. He shoots the ball too well not to be able to shoot midrange shots.”
That’s not true, of course, if Porzingis is making only 27.3% of those shots. Still, expect Kidd to keep emphasizing Porzingis because the Mavs have few other options. He is in only the third season of a five-year deal that still is slated to pay him $100 million more, which makes him difficult to trade.
Adding to that difficulty is Porzingis’ trouble staying healthy—he’s missed 31.4% of his games since coming to Dallas. The Mavs need him to rebuild his career, need him to be a star again. But so far, there’s few signs of that happening.