Kristaps Porzingis has only played three games since being acquired from Dallas last month, but the Wizards are encouraged by what they’ve seen, writes Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Porzingis was sidelined by knee soreness at the time of the trade and didn’t start playing until Sunday. He has averaged 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per night and has contributed as a rim protector and play-maker as well.
“It’s tough, it’s been a handful of games, so he’s still trying to work his way through it. He’s going to have some big nights and he’s going to struggle at times, just like everybody else,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “But he’ll find that level of consistency, it’ll even out. He’s too good of a player.”
Porzingis has barely practiced since coming to Washington, Wallace notes, so he’s still trying to develop chemistry with his new teammates. He will miss tonight’s game at Portland for precautionary reasons because it’s the second night of a back-to-back, but Unseld doesn’t expect him to have any more restrictions for the rest of the season.
“Of course, I want to play and have longer stretches of playing,” Porzingis said. “Sometimes it kind of creeps in your mind and you want to force some things out there because, ‘Ah, I might be coming out in a couple minutes,’ so I just [need] to have that calmness and knowing that I’m going to get there. I just need to stay focused and play the right way.”
There’s more on the Wizards:
- The five-team trade that Washington was part of last summer continues to evolve, observes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Although there’s a perception that the Wizards got the better of the deal because Russell Westbrook has struggled with the Lakers, the pieces they got in return have already changed significantly. Spencer Dinwiddie, Montrezl Harrell and Aaron Holiday were all shipped out at the trade deadline.
- Westbrook’s desire to go home and play for the Lakers sparked that five-team deal, but he had a much better situation in Washington, contends Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Westbrook became a team leader after sparking the Wizards to a late-season surge that got them into the play-in tournament last season, Buckner points out. He also had an All-Star backcourt partner in Bradley Beal who was willing to adjust to his style of play.
- Jordan Schakel‘s new two-way contract will cover two seasons, tweets JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors.
WSH made a good trade for them because they got rid of RW (after he requested a trade) and thus got rid of both his toxic contract and the potential headache of having him around unhappy. It almost doesn’t matter who they got in return, as long as it wasn’t guys with equally bad contracts, and it wasn’t (they got three guys with benign contracts, and the fact that they moved one of them, painlessly, btw, only confirms that it was a good trade of WSH. It truly doesn’t matter who might be deemed to have gotten the better of the trade, because (like with most trades) the parties weren’t similarly situated.
“The parties weren’t similarly situated” is just a cop out because you don’t have the necessary intellectual capability or you’re too lazy to assess multiple situations (like with most trades). The Wizards won the trade on multiple fronts and the fact that they COULD trade pieces they got for Westbrook was further evidence of that fact.
Something suspicious is definitely happening w Porzingis…why isn’t he practicing?
Will someone answer me already for f*** sake?
How long people will keep saying that WAS won that trade?!?!?
When they clearly lost it, now if that trade had gone down for Beal they won, but Russ was their best player & swapping an All-NBA player for a bunch of bench bums, can never ever be a good trade!
Just the flexibility alone has allowed then to win the trade. Not to mention you add in Kuzma and KCP, three 2nd Rounders they can still use, PLUS their returns for the players they have traded it only makes it THAT much more of a win!!
Allowing the Wizards to build around Beal with Kuzma, KCP, Hachi, Avdija, Gafford, Carey Jr., Kispert, Todd, and now Porzingis PLUS with flexibility moving forward is a huge SUCCESS for the Wizards!!!
Otherwise, they’d still have some of the youngsters, but just primarily Westbrick to fill out the roster and ZERO flexibility moving forward!!!
If that were still the case, and Westbrook declined any at all, then Beal likely would have demanded a trade himself..Then, they’d really be starting over from scratch and up the creek without a paddle!!
Beal is still leaving and that trade isn’t bringing the wizards a championship
The Wizards are unlikely to compete for a championship anytime soon regardless if Beal stays or leaves.
One good thing is as good of a coach as Scotty Brooks is, DC having Unsled’s presence is a good way to build a team players want to go to. Brooks is great fit for RW, and elsewhere, but Unsled is a sign Wizards serious about building a contender. Still many roster adjustments, drafts and trades away. 2 seasons, DC could be top tier.
Russ isn’t an All-NBA now, so that’s pretty poor analysis on your end. You should never base a trade on what a person has done, otherwise you become the present day Lakers.
Steph Curry isn’t the only elite player who disagrees with you. RW definitely only thrives as an Alpha with proper load management. Proven in DC last 30 games of the season. I’ve never heard someone who had to guard or try to score on RW say “he’s easy to play against”… usually RW is guarded in double and triple once he’s at high post. His legs burnt from mismanagement, his outside shot at worst of his career because he’s asked to do everything while other players in rehab. Only missed one game for Lakers. But I can see newer NBA fans only going by this season, not understanding how terrible Lakers coaching staff has been overall.
RW took a lot of usage and pressure away from Beal. He may have had a better/healthier season with Russ around. Things worked well last year and as it stands they’re lottery bound this year. Still, they are younger and more complete. The Wizards need to figure out how to be healthy and I’m sure Kristaps doesn’t moves that needle for them.
Scotty Brooks took a while and Beal’s long injury was major, but last season when Beal & RW were clicking late in the season, there weren’t any teams who could stop Wizards if Beal’s shot was falling. Scotty Brooks should still be wherever RW is, but not likely. Anything would be an upgrade over FV. I always trust my eyes. RW load management lacking, and his legs can’t carry Lakers through the injuries that are a result of load management failure. As far as Wizards go, Porzingus with top trainers and less perimeter play on offense (similar bad habits as AD), Porzingus is definitely potentially a Tim Duncan centerpiece to build a team around. Jokic is the Tim Duncan of today’s era. That is a beast!
Porzingus wasn’t happy as second/third banana in Dallas. Essentially what Wizards ‘earned’ in trading away Westbrook was Porzingus and CPope. I love CPope. Solid team player, plays D without needing to be asked, good shooter especially with other teammates drawing doubles, CPope knows where to be innately in those situations. I feel CPope was a bigger loss than Caruso. Caruso is a good hustle player, good point guard backup, but Caruso seems a bit injury prone. So if Vogel learns how to coach, I’m leaning towards Lakers winning the transaction overall. On the fence, because Lakers really need CPope. Harrell, too; but Vogel has no clue how to coach unique talents like Harrell & Westbrook. Bron, CPope, Caruso and a few others are self-coached. But just like Bron, RW is an alpha who needs to run the whole floor. All Vogel has to do is give RW the fastest players to run all 24 minutes of 2nd half (most of his turnovers are guys playing half tilt not cutting fast enough), and Bron run first half to wear opponent down. RW can still dominate if he’s not ragged out game in game out. Vogel been terrible with load management probably worst I’ve ever seen seriously I don’t know how he’s still there.