It's not often that the San Antonio Spurs express interest in big-name free agents. Yes, they signed LaMarcus Aldridge during the summer of 2016, but that is pretty much where it starts and ends in terms of glamorous signings for the Spurs.
However, San Antonio may be getting set to peruse the free-agent market for a star again during the summer of 2019. The star player they will be pursuing? New York Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason.
Now, before we go any further, the key word there is “restricted,” meaning the Knicks can match any offer any other team makes for Porzingis. It's hard to imagine any scenario where New York doesn't match, but, for the sake of discussion, let's say the Spurs are able to pry Porzingis away from the Big Apple.
Just how good would Porzingis make San Antonio?
Let's start with the obvious: Porzingis needs to get healthy. He is just 23 years of age, but he already has a rather significant injury history, including a torn ACL he suffered last February that has kept him sidelined to this day.
As talented as the Latvian is, his health concerns are a bit scary and will likely scare some teams away from offering him a full max contract of four years and $122.4 million. That comes out to $30.6 million annually, a heavy price for a guy who has played 72, 66 and 48 games, respectively, over the course of his first three seasons in the league.
You also need to take into consideration the fact that Porzingis is 7-foot-3, meaning he may be more prone to injury than wings and guards. For someone who has already torn his ACL, his massive size is a bit worrisome.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's focus on Porzingis as a talent.
When it comes to pure, all-around ability, there are few players in the league who can match up to Porzingis. As a matter of fact, a legitimate argument can be made that Porzingis has more raw talent than any big man in the NBA not named Anthony Davis. He is that special.
We are talking about a 7-foot-3 monster who can actually put the ball on the floor and get to the basket while also possessing the ability to knock down three-pointers, not to mention the fact that Porzingis has a nice arsenal of low-post moves.
As a matter of fact, prior to going down with the knee injury last season, Porzingis was shooting 39.5 percent from three-point range. Did I mention he is 7-foot-3? He was also showing a penchant for getting to the free-throw line, averaging 5.7 free throws per game (6.4 per 36 minutes).
Overall, he was averaging 22.7 points per game.
Imagine Porzingis alongside of Aldridge, who is easily one of the most offensively gifted big men in the league. Gregg Popovich would have two bigs who could space the floor, and both move their feet well enough defensively where you could play them at the same time.
A legitimate argument can even be made that Porzingis is better defensively than offensively, as his ridiculous length and athleticism allows him to both protect the rim and adequately defend the pick-and-roll.
While most seven-footers struggle mightily in defending the perimeter, lumbering around to try and stick with guards on switches, Porzingis is actually fairly adept at it, possessing solid lateral footspeed and the length to recover and contest shots if he gets beaten.
No one is going to confuse Porzingis for Kevin Garnett in terms of his pick-and-roll defense, but the important thing is that he can stay on the floor against teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, who shred teams with pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops.
Also, in spite of not having a great defensive reputation while with the Portland Trail Blazers, Aldridge has improved significantly on that end of the court to the point where he is actually a good defensive player.
Porzingis and Aldridge would form a lethal frontcourt duo, and with young guards such as Dejounte Murray (who is out for the 2018-19 campaign), Bryn Forbes, Derrick White and Lonnie Walker, the Spurs would have the potential to be incredibly versatile on both sides of the floor.
Of course, where there are huge pros to Porzingis' game, there are also some cons.
One thing in particular that Porzingis needs to hone is his shot selection.
Porzingis shot just 43.9 percent from the floor last season, posting a true-shooting percentage of 53.9 percent and an effective field-goal percentage of 48.9 percent.
Those were not far off of his career numbers of 43.7 percent, 53.5 percent and 48.8 percent, respectively.
That is something that Porzingis needs to change, as those are not efficient shooting statistics. Oddly enough, he takes a lot of contested mid-range jumpers, which is something you would not expect from a guy who is 7-foot-3.
That's not to say the mid-range jumper should not be a part of his game, but it should not be prioritized. With his length, Porzingis should be living around the rim, and if he is going to take jumpers, they should mostly be threes, where he shoots the ball at an efficient rate.
In addition, Porzingis needs to improve his floor vision, or at least increase his willingness to pass. He tends to become a black hole sometimes offensively, something that is absolutely not going to work on the Spurs. Aldridge also faced that criticism in Portland, but the difference is that he has always been a very good passer, an area where Porzingis really struggles.
The good news is that this kid is just 23, so he has plenty of time to improve upon his weaknesses.
The Spurs are clearly missing star talent right now. Aldridge is aging and will not be able to carry the load much longer, and while San Antonio has a bunch of other nice young pieces on its roster, none of them have superstar potential.
But Porzingis does, and adding him could provide the Spurs with their next franchise player and potentially continue San Antonio's tradition of all-time great big men.
The Spurs are not very good at the moment. They are disciplined and they play hard, but they aren't a very good basketball team for the simple fact that they lack talent. Porzingis would change that instantly.
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