I have always been a fan of Bob Ryan, but apparently, Bob is not a major fan of the Boston Celtics new addition, Kristaps Porzingas. Ryan made his dislike of the Porzingis acquisition on his podcast. Here are a few excerpts:
"I'm not a fan of this guy (Porzingis)"
"He's 7-3, going on 6-2"
This guy is 7-3 and he plays small. He always plays small"\
"Why is he on his fourth team in seven years?"
"The last thing I needed in my Celtics life is another guy cranking up big, stupid threes"
So why the dislike? Is it Porzingis and the way he plays? Or is it the modern NBA game itself. Ryan goes way back to the 60's when Bill Russell manned the middle for Boston. And then it was Dave Cowens in the 70's and Robert Parish in the 80's.
Russ and Dave played before the trey came to the NBA, but neither fired from long distance, although Cowens occasionally threw up a long ball. When Parish arrived, the 3-point shot had ben instituted, and guess what his 3-point history shows for his entire career? He was 0-for-6 on treys, although his "Rainbow" mid-range shot was deadly. But all three of these Celtics centers worked hard in the post.
I go on record as disliking the overuse of the 3-pointer, and I believe so does Bob Ryan. Bob's "cranking up big, stupid 3s" would be my first indicator. But it does have its place in the modern game. And the 7'3" Latvian does some work in the pivot, both on offense and defense, and he has averaged 35.9% on 3-pointers in his career - and 38.6% in the post-season. I hated losing Marcus Smart, but trading for Porzingis could pay dividends for the Celtics.
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