2015 NBA Draft Scouting Report: Kristaps Porzingis

Prospect Weaknesses: 

Having watched very little of Porzingis beyond a workout setting, it’s difficult for me to gauge his weaknesses. These were showcase workouts that were meant to highlight his strengths and mask any shortcomings. If anything, depending on what position he ends up playing in the NBA, lateral quickness might be something that opponents take advantage of with him on the defensive end. Here’s some of what others have gathered in terms of his weaknesses.

"On the downside, Porzingis still looks a long ways away from reaching his full potential here, starting with his body, which remains very frail and could make him susceptible to injuries if not developed carefully. He also lacks something in the ways of toughness and awareness, as he tends to avoid contact in the paint and regularly gets pushed around on the interior, not always offering up as much resistance as you might hope. The game moves a little too fast for him at times, and he doesn’t appear to be the quickest thinker around, often looking a half-step slow in his reaction time. All of these things show up in his surprisingly pedestrian rebounding numbers (2.4 offensive and 5.8 defensive per-40). Porzingis also isn’t a great passer, dishing out just 41 assists in his last 1813 minutes of action over the the last three years (spanning the ACB, EuroCup, NIJT and U18 European Championship), or one assist for every 44 minutes he plays. His assist percentage this season (and over the course of career) is one of the lowest of any player in this draft class, which is not ideal for a stretch-4 that teams may hope to run a significant amount of offense through on the perimeter. While Porzingis’ superior size for his position is certainly attractive, at the moment he has very few ways of utilizing his height to his advantage besides his shooting stroke, as he has no back to the basket game and very little interest in playing inside the paint. From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/#ixzz3dLjMdWJT http://www.draftexpress.com"

More from NBADraft.net:

"His finishing ability needs to improve too. With his length, he should be able to finish left and right over people at the rim … The other consideration is regarding his rebounding ability, he struggles to get a high number of rebounds and this leads many people to consider him the new Bargnani … I doubt that he will be as good as a shooter as some are suggesting, because he is not a high volume shooter, but … Porzingis has the athleticism and motor to do better than the 4 rebounds per game he averaged this year … Another weakness is fitting a position. He is obviously a 4 offensively but defensively he needs to be in a system where he will not get exposed for his lack of strength and rebounding, but he will actually shine as a rim protector … Porzingis has the upside to become a key player in the league, but his development is going to be huge for him to not be remembered as just another European who can only shoot …"