Since the start of the season, Marcin Gortat has joined the Wizards staff as assistant in charge of interior development for Wes Unseld Jr. The Pole had five great seasons in Washington from 2013 to 2018 and therefore knows the house well. . The collaboration seems fruitful for the moment, even if the former pivot continues to learn his new job.
“In general, being a coach is not easy. You have to be there early in the morning, be available to train with all the players on the pitch. And you have to hold everyone accountable every day. Because it’s up to you to make sure they progress on this training. It’s new for me. I’m still learning, and hopefully I’ll improve.”did he declare.
Marcin Gortat thus had the opportunity to work many times with Kristaps Porzingis. A collaboration there also facilitated by the talent of his pupil, it being clear that the Latvian has a much broader offensive palette than his.
“It’s very easy to work with Kristaps. I mean, it’s definitely an incredible talent. There aren’t many things I can teach him. Offensively, he’s probably six times better than me.”he humbly acknowledged.
A lack of aggressiveness, the symbol of these Wizards?
The former position 5, who still has a typical screen in his name, also believes he can complete KP’s arsenal in attack, in particular by encouraging him to be more aggressive towards the circle on “pick-and-roll rather than playing pick-and-pop more regularly.
“I can give him some advice on different defensive situations on the pitch, for example in terms of rebounding, or to better place the screens”, he added before discussing his lack of aggressiveness. “He needs to open up after the screen. He’s constantly shooting outside shots, and he doesn’t want to open up to the basket. »
If Kristaps Porzinigs displays a correct 37.5% of success behind the arc in 5.5 attempts behind the arc on average per game, only 13.9% of his offensive situations end in a drive towards the circle. It is also through this type of aggressiveness that this hunger is expressed, the absence of which Kristaps Porzingis lamented in his ranks a few days ago… The future will tell if Marcin Gortat has been heard.
| Kristaps Porzingis | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2015-16 | NYK | 72 | 28 | 42.1 | 33.3 | 83.8 | 1.8 | 5.5 | 7.3 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 14.3 |
| 2016-17 | NYK | 66 | 33 | 45.0 | 35.7 | 78.6 | 1.7 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 1.5 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 18.1 |
| 2017-18 | NYK | 48 | 32 | 43.9 | 39.5 | 79.3 | 1.3 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 22.7 |
| 2019-20 | DAL | 57 | 32 | 42.7 | 35.2 | 79.9 | 1.8 | 7.7 | 9.5 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 20.4 |
| 2020-21 | DAL | 43 | 31 | 47.6 | 37.6 | 85.5 | 1.9 | 7.0 | 8.9 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 20.1 |
| 2021-22 * | All Teams | 51 | 29 | 45.9 | 31.0 | 86.7 | 2.0 | 6.1 | 8.1 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 20.2 |
| 2021-22 * | DAL | 34 | 30 | 45.1 | 28.3 | 86.5 | 1.9 | 5.8 | 7.7 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 19.2 |
| 2021-22 * | WAS | 17 | 28 | 47.5 | 36.7 | 87.1 | 2.2 | 6.6 | 8.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 22.1 |
| 2022-23 | WAS | 62 | 33 | 49.2 | 37.5 | 84.9 | 1.8 | 6.6 | 8.4 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 23.0 |
| Total | 399 | 31 | 45.1 | 35.7 | 82.6 | 1.8 | 6.2 | 7.9 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 19.5 | |
