If the Cleveland Cavaliers were to make a starting lineup change in coming games, as has been recently suggested, they should have Kevin Porter Jr. take Collin Sexton’s spot for a number of reasons.
Coming into the 2019-20 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was always going to be about the development of the young players.
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With that, many expected the Cavs to have more than their fair share of losses, considering they’re in the midst of a full scale rebuild.
With all the youth the Cavaliers have, there will be tons of growing pains along the way as the Wine and Gold and their fans have witnessed this year, and positive steps by the young guys will show in some wins, but a lot of losses will come.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year so far is the early growth of rookie Kevin Porter Jr. Porter came in as someone who was very raw, but his talent is undeniable.
Again he came in needing a lot of work, but considering where he was at the start of the season, the amount of growth Porter’s had since is impressive.
Early in his rookie season, he would hesitate on open catch-and-shoot three-pointers and he is now at least shooting them with much more confidence.
Porter is shooting only 32.2% from three-point land on the year on 2.6 attempts per game, but in his last 12 games, he’s hit 42.9% of his shots from deep on a similar 2.9 attemps per outing, according to NBA.com.
This isn’t just about his game on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, either. Coming into that contest, you could see Porter continuing to mature, continuing to gain confidence, and the game is starting to come to him more.
Against the Rockets, he finally had his breakout game as a professional, where he scored a team-high 24 points on nine-of-15 shooting, including six-of-nine from three-point range, to go with three assists, as shown by ESPN. Though Porter had trouble defensively in matchups on-ball against James Harden, that’s hardly a big deal, and Harden was knocking down so many tough shots on his way to a ridiculous 55-point game.
Porter did still compete at such a high level, and he came away with three steals in the game, too, and his timing with that for a rookie is something else.
This isn’t to say that Porter is a finished prospect, as he’s still only 19 years old. The end of the game offered the growing pains a rookie in the NBA will have, and a crucial turnover on an in-bound pass in the last few moments ultimately put the game on ice, but he also showed how far he’s come and a glimpse of the player he could eventually be in that Houston game.
Still, KPJ was a a huge part of the Cavs’ second unit igniting a comeback from a 14-point deficit at one point.
The starting lineup has struggled mightily, mostly in these last 15 games after a surprising start to the regular season. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com even suggested that it was time for a starting lineup change after a 110-88 road loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday.
In my opinion, if a lineup change is going to take place, the Cavs should insert Porter into the starting lineup and move Collin Sexton, who is really manning the 2, to the bench.