We haven't seen much of Kristaps Porzingis, but we've seen enough to know he can unlock a lot in Boston

The NBA schedule makers wasted no time in messing with the Boston Celtics. 

By giving them three games in four nights, the Celtics have been forced to pivot away from their stated franchise goal of finding players who accentuate their stars to trying combinations of role players trying to find a standout. 

We’ve seen about 25 minutes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown so far, and not all of those minutes were shared with Kristaps Porzingis or Jrue Holiday. None of those guys played on Monday and the four guys who did play Wednesday night got a whopping 17 minutes. 

Buried in the midst of these precious few minutes of meaningful basketball are nuggets of information. To find them, I have to basically channel my dog by putting everything in my mouth to determine if it’s food or not. 

So let’s start with an easy-to-digest morsel: Kristaps Porzingis has a chance to do something really special for this Celtics' offense

The most obvious choice is to get him in the action with one of the Jays and force defenses to make a choice: 

Overreact to an All-NBA player getting into the paint? No problem, there are a lot of passing options that present themselves. 

Porzingis getting the ball back sets him up for an easy look because he’s super tall. And now the overreactors are overreacting again because now the Celtics have a center who can make that shot. 

Sorry, Robert Williams, but I think 40 minutes combined of Porzingis on the floor makes it plainly obvious what the Celtics were hoping to accomplish. Porzingis can also pass out of this shot to a wide-open Derrick White if he wants.

If a team wants to stay home on Porzingis on these pin-downs then Brown just rises up for what’s become a signature shot for him. 

These are playoff shots. These are the kinds of shots Boston will need to get and convert in playoff situations. This was run early, but we’re looking at late-game options here. Boston can even run a double pin-down with Horford and Tatum on one side and Brown and Porzingis on the other and give the point guard an option. Everyone can adjust and step back to space the floor if the ball goes to the other side. 

Another big way Porzingis can unlock another scoring level is in transition. 

The Celtics are emphasizing early offense opportunities, and in this play, Porzingis and Derrick White take advantage of a retreating defense concerned about shooters. 

“We just have a lot of talent. We have a lot of cross matches,” Joe Mazzulla said after beating Philadelphia for a second time in the preseason. “We have a lot of advantage basketball players that when they catch the ball, they can easily recognize an advantage and we just have to get to that as quickly in the shot clock as we can, because defenses, once they get said they're really hard to score against and you don't want to deep into the shot clock.” 

White’s ability to hit floaters demands attention, so the big has to stay up a touch longer. You saw the same impact of White running that pick-and-roll the first time these teams played. 

But doing this in transition is especially effective because there's less help … if there's any help at all. 

Porzingis running down court, finding the ball handler, and creating this advantage helps replicate a lot of what Robert Williams was able to give the Celtics in similar spots, but with the added ability to read the defense and pop out for a short jumper. 

And that shooting ability is going to be huge.

When he pulled off the trade, Brad Stevens was sure to note Porzingis’ ability to pull from deep (this was officially a 28-foot shot) with a quick release.

This is an important shot because it will force defenses to stay closer to him further away from the basket. That will open up a lot of driving lanes for his teammates. And if a defense forgets that he can do this, he has no problem hitting from that spot. He hit a second one from almost the same spot right before halftime. 

Add to all of this his ability to get post ups and clean looks almost at will, and we’re seeing the full gamut of what Porzingis will do for this offense. 

There aren’t a ton of examples available on video, but the few that are out there make it clear that this was a good decision by Stevens. Porzingis has been a very good player for a long time, but his situations haven't always been ideal. This time, it’s hard to imagine a better mix for him. 

Maybe eventually we’ll be able to see it fully in action.