Cavs: Kevin Porter Jr.’s career-high in assists vs. Nets was awesome to see

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr. continues to make strides. His performance on Monday against the Brooklyn Nets showed that, too, as he had a single-game career-high with seven assists, which was awesome to see.

It’s not surprising that fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to have plenty of love for Cleveland rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr.

It’s good to see Porter getting meaningful minutes, too, and though there’s still bumps in the road for him, Porter’s had more positive stretches recently.

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He will still take some ill-advised shots, occasionally pass up open three-pointers of the catch-and-shoot variety, and does over-dribble, but we’re seeing less of that as of late.

In addition, when KPJ is more comfortable just putting his head down and attacking the rim instead of hesitating and then pulling up inside the arc, that’s led to success for him.

Porter’s hit 69.0% of his attempts 0-3 feet from the rim, according to Basketball Reference. He’s thrown down some huge dunks in this 2019-20 season, and we’re beginning to see him unleashed in transition a bit more, and I’ve been impressed with his as a cutter as of late, too.

It was really something to watch KPJ run the floor here and receive a feed from reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova, and Porter followed that up by showing why he’s such a promising part of Cleveland’s future with this emphatic jam on Monday in what was a close 108-106 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

That being said, it’s understandable for Porter, who has averaged 6.8 points on 43.6% effective field goal shooting in 20.5 minutes per game, to have his ups and downs as a scorer as a rookie.

That’s even more the case with him being a reserve player, and on the defensive end, too, though he has had more of a consistent impact there.

Anyway, the key takeaway from this past Nets contest for me was Porter notching his single-game career-high in assists with seven, as noted by Basketball Reference, which was awesome to see.

KPJ is a player that could be a solid secondary playmaker when he’s on the floor with his ability to break down defenses with his handle and change-of-speeds.

More experience and exposure to Cedi Osman, who has had more of a playmaking presence in recent games, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor highlighted, could only help Porter in that way, too.

Despite 1.5 assists per game not broadcasting Porter as being a really heady passer, Porter has pretty good vision for a score-first wing, and I’ve seen that more as the 2019-20 season has progressed. After all, Porter has a respectable 15.0% assist rate, which is fifth on the Cavaliers, according to NBA.com.

Porter’s transition dump-off to Osman here showed the game-to-game growth and unselfishness head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff seem to be preaching in this player development period for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

A hockey assist later on by Porter I’m sure put a smile on Beilein’s face, too, when watching back the film.

This swing to Garland from KPJ which eventually led to a Collin Sexton open three-pointer is a play that the Cavaliers are preaching, and it’s contagious.

https://twitter.com/cavs/status/1199140593919655936?s=20

Now, Porter having seven assists is not going to happen every game for the Cavaliers.

Kevin Love was out for the second consecutive game against Brooklyn due to a reported lower back contusion, and he’s obviously going to shoulder a bunch of the playmaking burden, which makes sense.

He’s a high quality passer for a big, and he is always going to draw multiple defenders to his inside-out scoring skill set.

Again, though, it’s awesome to see from a fan’s perspective, and I’m sure for Beilein, the coaching staff and the organization that Porter is showing growth game-to-game, and as a passer, in particular. Beilein seemed plenty pleased with Porter’s passing growth postgame, too.

That willingness to be a ball-mover will open up more options for Porter as he progresses as a perimeter player for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it could give him more quality cutting chances near the rim.

Porter’s going to have good and bad games in terms of scoring in the 2019-20 season, and in coming years, I would think.

It will take time for him to be consistent in that regard.

Nonetheless, this seven-assist performance was awesome to see from a fan’s perspective, because it shows that KPJ is learning game-to-game and is going to make a concerted effort to apply what the coaching staff is telling him.

I love what I’m seeing from a passing perspective from Porter. That nasty jam was pretty nice, too, though.