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Wizards’ Kristaps Porzingis is leaner — and starts year without limitations

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Wizards’ Kristaps Porzingis is leaner — and starts year without limitations


Kristaps Porzingis appeared gentle and breezy as he sat down for his first media day as a Washington Wizard. Ever affable, he opened by joking with a reporter about his new beard. He sounded relaxed; he appeared tan. He had spent most of his summer season in his native Latvia with household, coaching and competing together with his nationwide workforce in two FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Earlier than that, there was a month in Spain.

However — and you’ll be forgiven for not noticing on his 7-foot-3 body — Porzingis not solely appeared lighter, he is lighter. The Wizards’ greatest huge man is a teeny bit smaller as of late. He misplaced seven kilos, and he feels the distinction.

“The additional weight doesn’t actually assist me,” Porzingis mentioned. “I have to be sturdy and that’s how I’ll really feel one of the best.”

Porzingis’s focus heading into his first summer season after becoming a member of the Wizards on the commerce deadline final season was his physique. The previous all-star performed simply 51 video games final season partially due to a bone bruise in his proper knee and hasn’t performed greater than 57 in a season since 2016-17.

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Enhancing his endurance was the first aim. Porzingis’s recreation doesn’t require him to be a hulking, bodily bruiser, however by getting right down to a trim 235 kilos and gaining muscle in his legs, he hopes to have the ability to keep on the courtroom for a full season and be extra cell on the defensive finish.

The Wizards are banking on it as they put together for a marketing campaign during which the overarching intention is easy, in case you ask President and Basic Supervisor Tommy Sheppard.

“Simply proceed to enhance,” Sheppard mentioned.

Enchancment for the Wizards means not lacking the play-in event for the second straight yr, staying wholesome and exhibiting that Bradley Beal and Porzingis can flourish as a core duo.

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Porzingis begins his seventh yr within the NBA because the third key determine the Wizards have paired with Beal, who signed a five-year, $251 million contract over the summer season.

Collectively, the 2 are owed $77 million in 2022-23.

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Coach Wes Unseld Jr. mentioned Tuesday the 27-year-old Latvian is starting the season taking part in with out restrictions — gone are the minute caps and the necessity to sit out the second half of back-to-back video games that Porzingis handled final season as he recovered from his knee damage.

Now the query is concerning the chemistry between Porzingis and Beal. The pair by no means shared the courtroom final season as a result of Beal was rehabbing an injured wrist by the point Porzingis arrived. Over the summer season, Porzingis was in Europe and Beal started figuring out in late July or early August. Beal spent his offseason welcoming his third son and recovering from torn ligaments in his wrist.

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They’ve performed collectively in “three or 4 pickup video games,” Porzingis mentioned Friday. The remaining will likely be found out because the season unfolds.

“He’s harmful. He’s harmful, man,” Beal mentioned, providing his first impressions of Porzingis. “I’m jealous I’m not 7-3. I’m an entire foot shorter, however I’m excited. As a result of he’s a specimen. He’s in all probability one of the best huge I’ll play with in my profession — to see his measurement, his versatility, his skill to stretch the ground, unfold the ground. His skill to move is underrated. And his defensive capabilities are underrated, too; he’s one other man I feel had a false narrative about him. I feel he’ll show lots of people incorrect. I’m excited to see.”

Enjoying Porzingis alongside Beal offers the Wizards the chance to stretch the courtroom with a guard who can drive and an enormous able to capturing three-pointers. Each Kyle Kuzma and Beal talked about Porzingis’s passing skill as an added bonus.

“It’s one factor to play in opposition to someone and put together for them, however to see them day-after-day and watch how they transfer in your facet of the ball, it’s been a pleasing shock,” Kuzma mentioned.

Porzingis was competing with the Latvian nationwide workforce when the Wizards held a minicamp in Los Angeles towards the top of the summer season. He and Deni Avdija, who was competing with the Israeli nationwide workforce, had been the one two gamers lacking — 14 others, together with the six new faces Washington welcomed this offseason — volunteered to take part within the team-bonding occasion.

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“Each evening we had guys doing one thing collectively as a workforce. That’s a very powerful factor,” mentioned Kuzma, a former Laker. “Me taking part in on a championship workforce, I simply keep in mind everyone being cool, everyone being collectively in any respect varieties of occasions, although day and evening.”

If he felt he missed out, Porzingis didn’t point out it Friday. His aim for the season is to exceed expectations each for the Wizards and himself.

He landed at No. 86 in ESPN’s sequence of the highest 100 gamers within the league forward of the season, and it rankled him. The Wizards are anticipated to be within the realm of a play-in event workforce once more — relying on how Beal and Porzingis mesh.

“Particularly this yr, I’m coming in with a chip on my shoulder due to the ESPN rank, the this, that, it’s type of — okay,” Porzingis mentioned. “I take advantage of it as gasoline, as vitality. I’m wanting ahead to reminding everyone what I can do on each ends of the ground.”



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Washington

What Washington State’s head coach said after Gonzaga game

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What Washington State’s head coach said after Gonzaga game


Washington State men’s basketball head coach David Riley could point to a few factors that led to Gonzaga pulling away from the Cougars during the second half of Saturday night’s showdown at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

For starters, the Bulldogs’ 15-5 scoring run to start the second half certainly didn’t help the Cougs’ cause. Neither did Ryan Nembhard, who came out of the halftime break even more refreshed after sitting on the bench for the final 9:34 of the first half due to foul trouble. Turnovers and miscues on the defensive end of the floor also started to pile up for WSU, which led by six points in the first half only to trail by three at the break and fall behind by 21 in the second half while the Zags nailed 10 3-pointers and scored 20 points off 16 turnovers.

Consider Saturday night, then, a perfect storm for the Bulldogs (14-4, 5-0 WCC). Led by Graham Ike’s 21 points, Gonzaga pulled away for an 88-75 victory over its in-state rival in a thriller from the Kennel.

Here’s what Riley had to say after the game.

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On what changed for WSU in the second half:

“It was a hard-fought game, and I feel like we had it slip away from us early in that second half where we didn’t stay connected as much, and I personally didn’t do a good enough job of having us ready for the fight. They got some 50-50 balls. They got a couple offensive rebounds, just some toughness plays that second half that hurt us. And that comes down to, we have game plan stuff, we’re gonna have X’s and O’s, we’re gonna have great plays from different players and bad plays from different players, but that fight for 40 minutes, I think, was the difference, and they came out with a little more fire than us.”

On Ryan Nembhard’s impact in the second half after sitting most of the first half:

“He did a good job with their pace. I think he gets them up the floor really well. I felt like it was a lot of factors that second half, and he played a part in that and started isolating some of our bigs when we made a couple of adjustments. [Nembhard is a] good player.”

On WSU’s defensive breakdowns that led to 10 3-pointers for Gonzaga:

“A couple of execution errors. I think one of them we didn’t have a ball screen right, one of them we didn’t order our post defense right. Kind of going into the half that was our thing, when things get tough, or they throw in a 25-second possession, we got to execute all 30 seconds of the shot clock. And I think it was more just cover stuff. We didn’t have that many space cadet errors. I think it was more just kind of one guy doing something that wasn’t exactly right in coverage.”

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What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after win vs. Washington State

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What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after win vs. Washington State


The Gonzaga men’s basketball team pulled away from Washington State for an 88-75 victory in the first meeting between the in-state rivals in over a decade.

Graham Ike led the way with 21 points on 8-for-11 from the field, Nolan Hickman added 19 points and the Bulldogs (14-4, 5-0 WCC) earned their fifth straight win to open league play by putting the Cougars (13-5, 3-2 WCC) away early in the second half. After ending the first half on an 8-2 scoring run, the Zags came out of the second half with a sense of urgency on both ends, sparking a 15-5 scoring run to make it a double-digit margin.

Here’s what Gonzaga head coach Mark Few had to say after the game.

On what he told the team at halftime that led to the strong start to the second half:

“I just told them, ‘hey, we’re in a we’re in a battle. It’s a great game. Both teams are competing really hard, and we’re at our best when we’re in attack mode.’ And they did a great job of taking the message and I thought we really went out and turned defense into offense, and we knew that was going to be a big key for us. [The Cougars] are hard to guard, they’re big and they’re physical, and [WSU coach David Riley] does a really lot of nice stuff on on offense that exploits mismatches. But our guys battled tonight, so I was really proud of them.”

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On the team’s performance while Ryan Nembhard was on the bench for the final 9 minutes of the first half:

“They played great. I told them that in the locker room that that was huge. We haven’t really had to do that all year. And this guy [Nolan Hickman] stepped up. He was amazing tonight. I mean, seven boards … defensively in there, battling in the post. I mean, he did a lot of stuff that, as I said, he’s now, he set a high standard, so kind of be counting on that moving forward, but he and Dusty [Stromer] both really helped during that stretch and [Khalif Battle] and obviously having Ben [Gregg] and then Graham was rock solid all night.”

On the team’s effort on the defensive end of the floor in the second half:

“I thought our effort and our making plays, I thought it was definitely up there [with the best of the season], and just the physicality that it took. Because, again, they’re so much bigger than us at several of those spots. And again, you just don’t see the post-up thing like this, where your guards are getting constantly posted. But so in that way, we fought, we were physical and kind of had to navigate our way through a lot of different actions. There’s staggers and some curls and some switches and all that. For the most part, we did pretty good.”



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Washington Nationals Agree to Terms With Former All-Star Reliever

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Washington Nationals Agree to Terms With Former All-Star Reliever


The Washington Nationals have continued to invest into the pitching staff with another free agency move on Saturday.

Shared on social media, the Nationals announced that they had agreed to terms with relief pitcher Jorge Lopez on a one-year contract. That deal will be worth $3 million plus incentives per Jon Heyman.

This is the third pitcher that Washington has signed this offseason, with Michael Soroka brought in as a free agent and Trevor Williams receiving a new deal to say.

They also added another reliever, Evan Reifert, as a Rule 5 draft pick from the Tampa Bay Rays.

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Lopez made headlines last year with his infamous exit from the New York Mets. He caused a stir after a loss when he referred to himself as ‘the worst teammate on the worst team in baseball.’

For a lot of players, that might spell an end to the season. The fastball-heavy reliever was able to bounce back. He was released and then signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

The 31-year-old came back from controversy as strong as ever, posting a 2.03 ERA over the final 26.2 innings of work.

With the loss of Kyle Finnegan, Lopez makes sense as a potential replacement at closer. He does have some closing experience, but has not been his main role for much of his career.

That season, 2022, was the year he made his first and only All-Star team.

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He is a ground ball machine that loves to force bad contact. Keeping him in a situational role could also be a smart idea, given that he struggles against lefties.

No matter how he is used, this is another good signal that the Nationals don’t want to throw any season away.



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