The Warriors might have gotten themselves a massive upgrade at the four and the five.
Newly acquired center/forward Kristaps Porzingis made his Warriors debut on Thursday in a loss to the visiting Boston Celtics, which seems to have impressed Golden State’s principal owner Joe Lacob.
“He showed you a little bit about what he can do and why we got him,” Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard. “He’s always been one of my favorite players, to be honest, just in terms of his skill set, his size.”
In his Warriors debut, Porzingis scored 12 points, making 5-of-9 shot attempts and 2 of 5 3-point attempts, and recorded one rebound, one assist, and one block in 17 minutes off the bench.
With Porzingis’ size and length, Golden State trading for the 7-foot-3 forward addressed one of the areas it has been lacking for a few seasons.
“You know, Mike Dunleavy and the guys always laugh because I’m always yelling for more size,” Lacob said.
“And we finally got it. He’s 7-foot-3, so I’m happy with that. We’ve got two real 7-footers on the team now [along with Quinten Post]. I like what I saw. Let’s get him ready, get him back to playing, get his timing back, and get [him] used to our players. I think it’s encouraging.”
Porzingis was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline in early February in exchange for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.
Despite the questions surrounding his health, Porzingis can be a tremendous asset with his size and abilities to score at various levels. The one-time NBA All-Star can certainly be a big contributor if the Warriors can make a playoff push in their final 26 games of the season.
“I don’t know when [Curry]’s coming back,” Lacob added. “But we’re just going to have to gut it out, win some of these games. The good news is we’re not too far away from falling [in the standings], but we’re not too far away from moving up a little bit, too.
“I think we have a shot. I’m an optimist, as you know. I think our players, hopefully, will step up and play as best as we can, integrate Porzingis, get Curry back, and hopefully we make a decent run.”
Golden State currently is eighth in the Western Conference standings with a 29-27 record. With everyone staying healthy, including the oft-injured Porzingis, the Warriors would be in a prime position to make a late-season push.
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