The Dallas Mavericks are still learning and developing their defensive identity for this season. Kristaps Porzingis could transform them into an elite unit on that end of the floor.
Porzingis excels as a rim protector. He blocked the eighth-most shots in the NBA during the 2017-2018 season. That sounds impressive already, but Porzingis only played in 48 of the 82 games. He should rival Myles Turner and Rudy Gobert for the lead in shots blocked this year.
KP also rates as one of the best and most underrated defenders by FiveThirtyEight’s DRAYMOND metric.