Dallas Mavericks: Grading 2019-2020 season of Kristaps Porzingis

Defense

One of the biggest knocks of Kristaps Porzingis during his days in New York was his subpar rebounding numbers. That was not an issue during his first season in Dallas. The Mavericks played him at the five on the defensive end, and he grabbed 9.5 rebounds per game for the year.

The Unicorn continued to be an elite shot blocker too. His 2.1 a night ranked fifth in the NBA this season.

The advanced metrics stood for his defense too. Porzingis produced 2.6 defensive win shares which ranked 26th in the NBA. His defensive box score plus/minus was 0.3 which finished 70th. ESPN’s real defensive plus-minus placed him tenth in the league. The consensus seems to be that Porzingis was one of the NBA’s best defenders this season.

The Dallas Mavericks missed his presence when he was out, but Porzingis did not transform their defense. They finished 17th in defensive rating after ranking 18th in the 2018-2019 season. That is not to say that he was not a positive on this end of the floor. He just did not make the team do a 180.

The numbers again improved during that final stretch. He averaged 10.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks over his last 15 games.

Defensive grade: A-

Porzingis could be the running for Defensive Player of the Year next season. He was a step down from that this year.

Next: Overall grade