Mateus Ponitka, an All Around Regional in the hands of Radonic

Mateus Ponitka (29 years old, 1.98 meters) is now a Panathinaikos player, as announced by Rezzo Emilia. Coming off a great EuroBasket 2022 – where nobody understood why he didn’t finish in the tournament’s top five – the Pole comes to bring quality to the ‘green’, but also something else.

Ponitka is a player who has shown what he can do at EuroLeague level in recent years. Not coincidentally, his acquisition of Panathinaikos is another step in the logic that Dejan Radonic wanted to work with players who have experience from the institution in order not to need an adjustment period in top club competition.

That Sportish Gifts with the help of InStat Scout the new acquisition of Panathinaikos.

Poland’s Ponitka

There are a few things that need to be clarified about Mateusz Ponitka. Starting with the obvious, the Pole is a modern guard/forward. A player who can compete in all perimeter positions (from point guard to small forward) and has also made some (small) moves from the power forward position.

On top of that, there’s one more detail that people should keep in mind: Ponitka has largely… lived two basketball lives for the past few years. He was asked to do various things in Poland and in the teams he played for from 2017.

In Poland – as shown at EuroBasket 2022 where he shone – he was the main ball leader and the one who started it all. According to InStat Scout, Ponitka assisted 35.1% of Poland’s pick and rolls in the tournament (1.02 points per possession, a good number).

On a personal level, the Polish guard/forward showed 30.7% of his possessions in a pick and roll situation while at the same time showing another 13.1% of his attacks in isolation situations (one on one), altogether almost 50% of his attacks were personal phases . At the same time, his 5.4 assists brought his team 12.5 points per game as he was the team’s main creator. At Zenit, however, the situation was different.

Ponitka from Zenit

On a collective level, things changed significantly. With the exception of the 2017/18 season, when he played for Tenerife and whose main executor was in the pick and roll situation (19.3% of the team, i.e. 22.7% of his own attacks manifested in this way), was Ponitka Second executive shot with ball in hands.

In his last three years at Zenit (2019-2022), the 29-year-old guard/forward mainly played a secondary creator role – he was clearly behind in the team hierarchy in terms of execution through a pick and roll position. Evidence of this was that he never accounted for more than 10% of Zenit’s pick and roll in any of those three seasons (he reached 8.6% in the 2020/21 season).

At the same time, he was – especially in the last two years – the second passer and at the same time the second best creator of the team. He practically had the role of point forward. According to InStat Scout, Ponitka’s 3.4 assists last season (2021-22) gave Zenit 8.1 points per game (first was Jordan Lloyd with 4.6 assists for 11 points per game), while in the 2020-21 season 3 his assists per game averaged 7 points (Kevin Pangos was first at the time with 6.7 assists, averaging 15.5 points).

A point striker who loves to run in the open field

According to InStat Scout, Ponitka displayed his attacks in the following ways over the past three years that he played:
spot up (Stop shot): 16.2% of ball possession, resulting in 0.95 points per ball possession (average number)
Pick and roll: 15.4% of his holdings, giving 0.91 points per holding (good number)
cuts (cuts to basket): 14.9% of his possession, 1.13 points per possession (good number).
crossing (Surprise Situation): 13.4% of his possession, yielding 1.36 points per possession (very good number).
catch and drive (Offending excludes defending and shooting): 10.2% of his possession, giving away 0.98 points per possession (good number).
Post (Backgame): 7.3% of his possessions, giving up 0.66 points per possession (average to poor number).

What does it all mean in… just Greek. Ponitka is one point forward. A player who feels comfortable with the ball in his hands. He knows how to find his way to the basket, how to create situations for himself and for his team-mates with penetrating power. At the same time, he moves extremely well off the ball and knows how to find the gaps in opposing defenses to go there and receive a pass.

Also in the open field, the Pole must be awarded an excellent performance. Having the comfort of getting the ball down to open up the surprise – something that helps him and that he’s an excellent defensive rebounder so he starts the transition himself – but also to close the “wings”. fill when he doesn’t have the ball, he can offer solutions in Panathinaikos.

At the same time, there is a clear flaw: Ponitka is not a shooter. His 72/210 3s in all competitions over the last three years (34.2%) and just 38/121 spot-up 3s (shooting from a standing position, where he only shot 31.4%) show he’s more of an everyday shooter is. However, it can’t be said that he had a total of 40/103 threes (38.8%) over the same period according to InStat Scout when unmarked (undisputed). shot 38.7% on pinpoint threes from both corners (19/49 in all competitions),

However, what is a fact for Ponitka is the lack of a pull-up game (shot after dribbling). Relatively slow mechanics in his shot do not help him there. This can also be seen from the fact that in the last three years he has only fired 38.4% of his shots from 3 to 6.5 meters (30/78). These are the attempts he made from mid-range, which is the classic shot from a player who shoots well from dribble. Here is his shot chart over the past three years in all competitions wearing the Zenit shirt:

A multitool and the need to find context

Ponitka is a player who has many of the qualities that Dejan Radonic likes. He’s a perimeter player of height and a high basketball IQ who can plant and create the ball, but also moves extremely well without it. His erratic shooting is a problem but it is a fact that the Panathinaikos coach has learned to build teams that don’t have enough shooters but weigh down any opponent with their size and the fact that they are compact and principles on both sides of soil have .

With that in mind, it will certainly be interesting to see how Dejan uses Radonic Ponitka. Given that the squad has players who like to have the ball in their hands (Walters, Andrews, Giorgos Kalaitzakis and Grigonis, although the latter plays far from it), Ponitka needs to find the context in which to move around to keep the balance in the region.

At the same time, it’s clear that the Pole will be more effective if he has players at his side opening the field for him, which is a question mark at the moment, especially considering Panathinaikos’ high line. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that Ponitka can have quite good moments with Giorgos Papagiannis in pick-and-roll situations, “marry” well with Lee and Grigonis in the perimeter, and find his chemistry with – once his teammate at Zenit – Gudaitis.

At the end of the day, Panathinaikos added a multi-tool to his list. A class player who has learned in recent years to move with and without the ball in his hand, who knows the requirements of the EuroLeague. What remains is to find the context in which to use it. The sequel, on the floor.