Kristaps Porzingis knows that there's a stigma attached to long, athletic European big men who tend to captivate attention in the days before the NBA Draft. For every Dirk Nowitzki, there's an Andrea Bargnani, and for every Pau or Marc Gasol, there's a Nikoloz Tskitishvili or Darko Milicic.
"I don’t like being labeled soft," Porzingis told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. " ... I've got to prove to coaches and GMs that I'm not soft just because I’m from Europe. They need to see that I'm not just some skinny white guy, that I'm going to be there fighting."
The 7-foot-1 Latvian – pegged as a top-five pick in the June 25 draft for a few months now – went through a workout for several team executives in Las Vegas last week, and since then the superlatives have been flowing freely.
According to reports, the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers were so taken with the workout, they could be considering the power forward in the top three. Wojnarowski reports that Porzingis worked out for the Lakers privately on Monday.
Concurrently, Porzingis has also spent the past few weeks combating the stereotype of the Euro stiff.
According to Wojnarowski, however, praise for Porzingis comes from some interesting places.
"I love his face-up game," Kevin Garnett told Yahoo. "He's got that mid-range shot. I've seen a lot of tape where he plays against guys like Shaq, a guy he can't bang inside with. So faces up, does his little step-back move. ... Amazing."
Anthony Davis adds: "When he gets the ball, he's already making his move. He's so aggressive going to the basket, getting fouled. And he’s extending his range."
Some have speculated that Porzingis could be the most talented player in this draft, but thanks to past results, there is still a dice roll for a general manager in selecting the European, as one league executive explained to Wojnarowski.
"If Karl Towns doesn't turn out, you could survive that," the source said. "If Porzingis is a bust, you're probably getting canned."
