Hawks geared for long-distance offense next season

Porzingis shot 5-for-12 from three-point range in Latvia's 78-62 win over Portugal on Monday, but it was the length of his threes as well as his accuracy that stood out. The 7-foot-2 sharpshooter sank some of those threes from well behind the arc, some with a foot on the center court logo.

Those deep threes are not uncommon for Porzingis, who is regularly among the NBA leaders in average three-point distance. Back in January, Porzingis made a career-high eight three-pointers from an average distance of 29.6 feet — nearly five full feet behind the line.

Porzingis repeated the feat in April, tying his career-high with eight threes in a win over the Chicago Bulls, with four threes coming from beyond 27 feet and two longer than 30 feet.

After the game, Porzingis told The Athletic, "If my efficiency doesn’t change, I just take those deeper ones. It’s maybe a little bit more comfort, just knowing the guys are not going to be able to get there at all for a decent contest and just taking my time and letting it fly."

Atlanta's Trae Young is also one of the NBA's deeper three-point shooters, putting up 6.3 shots per game between 25 feet and 29 feet in 2023-24, though he dropped to 5.3 deep threes last season. Still, he's very comfortable shooting well beyond the arc.

The Hawks were 14th in made three-pointers last season, so adding Nickeil Alexander-Walker (38.1% on threes) and Porzingis (41.2%) will add a missing long-range dimension to their offense. But with Young and Porzingis both forcing defenses to guard more than 30 feet from the basket should open up more driving lanes for teammates. 

For a team that was already eighth in two-point percentage, that could turn a mediocre offense into an elite one. It also might turn a play-in team into a serious playoff threat in the Eastern Conference.