Should The Los Angeles Lakers Take A Gamble On Kristaps Porzingis?

If the 2015 NBA Finals have taught us anything, it’s that the interpretations of defined positions are more obscure than ever.

Versatility is king in the modern NBA. Contrary to years past when positions were delineated through one’s physical stature, whether if you’re a shooting guard or center in today’s league is determined by who you can guard and the areas of the floor in which you are most effective in.

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Sure enough, scouts are drifting away from assessing a player’s ability to protect the rim by the measurement of their height. Instead, a prospect’s wingspan and standing reach gives a much more conclusive indication of which positions an NBA-hopeful can potentially play.

For such reasons, a player like Draymond Green — who stands a smidge less than 6’6″ without shoes — can successfully anchor a defense at the 4 and 5 positions thanks in large part to his disproportional 7’1″ wingspan.

On the other hand, traditional back-to-basket 7-foot plotters have gradually become an obsolete commodity in 2015. If you can’t hit an open 18-footer or slide your feet well enough to contain the pick-and-roll ballhandler for small stretches within a given possession, your role as a big will be limited in the modern-day NBA landscape (see: Andrew Bogut).

More so than ever, the value of athletic freaks and shooters are accentuated on current NBA rosters. If you’re a physical marvel AND you can shoot the lights out, chances are you’re a global icon (see: Kevin Durant).

With that being said, while Jahlil Okafor is incredibly skilled and — barring a significant injury — will average somewhere along the lines of 20 and 10 at some point in his career, his skill set simply does not comply with the direction the NBA is heading.

He is a low-post savant with a tremendous feel for the game on the block. However, he plays primarily below the rim and his range is limited out to about 15 feet. And if his free throw shooting is any indication (51 percent free throw shooter in college), Okafor may have a hard time developing a face up J.

His defensive woes have been well-documented, and despite his gargantuan 7’6″ wingspan, he failed to showcase his ability to serve as a rim protector during his lone season in Durham, N.C.

While the Los Angeles Lakers have a rich history of building their teams through the interior presence of a primitive center (see: Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain), the Lakeshow brass may be wise to adapt to how the game is being played in the 21st century and take a gamble on Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis has conventional center length, towering over his opponents at 7’1″.  Like most European bigs, the lanky Latvian also possesses a highly functional jumper with range extending out to the NBA 3-point line.

In addition, Porzingis is anything but your run-of-the-mill 7-foot stiff. Most notably, he has tremendous lateral quickness, and the ability to hedge out to stay in front of guards, while recovering quickly enough to protect the basket.

Explicitly, Porzingis is one of only three players under the age of 20 in the Spanish ACB league history to average more than 2.9 blocks per 40 minutes. Not to mention, he was also the most prolific shot-blocker in U-18 European Championship history, posting a mind-numbing 6.6 blocks per 40 minutes.

When you consider his shooting touch, athleticism, and size, you can easily envision a prime Porzingis playing crunch time minutes in the 2020 NBA Finals — given his penchant for injecting floor spacing and versatility to protect the rim while venturing out onto the perimeter.

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However, as with any 19-year old, Porzingis does have his throngs of flaws.

At present, he is painfully weak and often shies away from contact. In fact, he averaged just 2.2 free throw attempts per 40 minutes this year. Moreover, in spite of his explosiveness, he converted on only 48.7 percent of his at the rim tries — due in large to his failure to absorb contact.

Additionally — in contrast to the work he puts forth on the offensive glass — Porzingis is a very poor defensive rebounder at this point in his career. In particular, he often gets manhandled in the trenches and does a very lethargic job of rebounding outside of his area.

And, of course, fairly or unfairly, Porzingis will inevitably be compared to — and will have to fight his way through — the horrors of past 7-foot international draft busts; namely, Darko Milicic, Jan Vesely, Yi Jianlian, and Andrea Bargnani.

But here’s an out-the-box proposition: just because he’s a highly touted stretch big of European decent, he doesn’t have to end up as either the next Dirk Nowitzki or Nikoloz Tskitishvili. Porzingis may very well be the next Rasheed Wallace or Channing Frye.

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Back to the question at hand, however; should the Los Angeles Lakers roll the dice and pick Porzingis — in many ways, the poster child of the prototypical big going forward?

Personally, if the Lakers were to gamble on a lesser-known prospect, I would prefer it to be Mario Hezonja — the 6’8″ sharpshooting ultra-athletic swingman out of Croatia.

The skepticism surrounding Porzingis’ frail body frame — especially his weak base — and his below average feel for the game (in particular, his passing ability as a stretch big) are legit concerns regarding his potential to reach star status.

Nevertheless, come June 25, the time is ripe for the Lakers to shake things up and take a calculated risk at selecting a prospect with superstar potential — whether the flier should be taken on D’Angelo Russell, Mario Hezonja, or Kristaps Porzingis is still very much an objective debate.

However, given L.A.’s checkered past and the franchise’s inherent ability to attract marquee free agents, the Lakers will most likely take the safe route and draft Jahlil Okafor.

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