Overview
As the 2015 NBA Draft approaches, we’ll be taking a look at the top prospects in this year’s class to gain a sense of what the Phoenix Suns should do with their pick. Today we’ll be taking a look at Kristaps Porzingis.
Porzingis is a 7’0″, 220-pound power forward from Latvia, who is a very well rounded player overall. In Eurocup play last year, Porzingis averaged 11.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, whereas in Liga ACB he posted 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
It is worth noting he played less than 25 minutes per game in both cases, and he averaged closer to 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per 40 minutes across all competition. Porzingis also posted a Player Efficiency Rating of 20.7 in his 50 combined games last year.
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There is a very slight possibility that Porzingis could still be on the board when the Suns pick at 13, although that seems to be incredibly unlikely. After all, ESPN’s Chad Ford ranks Porzingis as the best power forward in the draft, and ranks him as the fifth best player overall, but other sites are a bit lower on the Latvian. DraftExpress ranks him 10th overall; CBSSports.com’s Sam Vecenie ranks him 8th.
If Porzingis’ name sounds super familiar for some reason, it’s probably because he was expected to enter the NBA Draft last season. In fact, when he pulled out in June, most mocks had him going in the middle of the first round, somewhere in the 15-22 range, right after the lottery. However, it seems like Porzingis made the right choice by betting on himself, and it would be considered a bit of a shock if he made it out of the lottery, let alone if he made it out of the top 10 and fell to where he was projected last year.
If Porzingis were to fall to the Suns at 13, it seems like he’d be a pretty obvious selection, considering that many of the other top big men prospects would probably be off the board, and that wouldn’t really be a bad thing at all. Porzingis is a player that has potential as a two-way stretch-four, which would give the team added depth in the power forward position, in addition to giving the team a potential starter.
Additionally, drafting Porzingis would allow the Suns added flexibility in what they do through trades this year, especially if they did decide they wanted to part ways with the Morris twins, as several have suggested they should try to do.
With that, let’s take a look at Kristaps Porzingis’ 2015 NBA Draft profile.
Next: Strengths