Kristaps Porzingis certainly didn’t come from nowhere, but his one-on-none workout in Las Vegas two weeks before the draft has entered the world of basketball lore as much as humanly possible in the YouTube age. We have become conditioned to not expect a late riser since there is such a higher level of preparedness for the draft these days, so Porzingis going from a potential top-5 pick to a potential top-2 is somewhat startling.

The extreme length and fluidity of his game makes Porzingis the most attractive international big at the top of the draft since Darko Milicic in 2003. Porzingis is over 7’1 without shoes and has a 7’6 wingspan. It is impossible to overstate how rare it is to find a player as long as Porzingis who is also capable of playing the game like a wing. 

Porzingis is more agile for his size than athletic or even graceful. Porzingis undoubtedly moves well but there is a laboriousness to his mobility, but then you also have to reminder yourself of how extraordinarily tall and young he is at the same time. 

Porzingis is a very good shooter though he’s far from pure in that area of his game. Porzingis shot 75.2 percent on 125 free throw attempts and 35.9 percent on 117 three-pointers this season. In the 13-14 season, Porzingis shot a far more pedestrian 30.2 percent on three-points and 62.5 percent. Nikola Mirotic had similar percentages at his age in Spain and that’s a fairly realistic expectation of his NBA shooting initially, though Porzingis should be the better shooter long-term with better looking mechanics.

Over time, Porzingis will be one of the most multi-dimensional offensive players as a screener. The shooting is there on the pick and pop and he’ll eventually be able to put everything together to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. Porzingis is an entirely different player in those one-on-none workouts than he is when he’s attacking an actual defense in a live game situation. The same fearlessness and nimbleness isn’t quite there yet. The NBA game will appear especially quick to him in these situations even though he’s acquitted himself well in the second best league in the world.

Some of that decision-making manifests in his assist and turnover rates, though his high usage offsets some of that. Opposing defenses will try to turn Porzingis into a passer with a hard double and that will be problematic. If Porzingis struggles early and in a bad way, there is a risk of him becoming primarily a spot-up shooter and that scenario negates what’s we can project if his development isn’t stunted. We saw this happen offensively to Andrea Bargnani, who is a closer comparison on his all-around game than a similar player such as Hedo Turkoglu, who was always a high usage playmaker as a passer. I'm not seeing Dirk Nowitzki, Andrei Kirilenko or Kevin Durant in his game in any meaningful way at all.

Defensively, Porzingis is a disruptive force with his length and will get a decent share of blocks and steals, but he doesn’t project as being transformational on that end of the floor. Porzingis should be a better rebounder than he’s been up to this point and that could just be a matter of the physical maturation process not kicking in yet. Porzingis is more athletic than Pau Gasol, but that type of expectation on defense is more realistic given his demeanor and natural instincts. 

Porzingis is a prodigy capable of having one of the NBA’s most unique skill-sets as a floor stretching big that will also protect the rim. While he’s NBA-ready to contribute, Porzingis is more of a gadget player to help a team play small while remaining big than he is a franchise-changing centerpiece.