Cavs: Kevin Porter Jr. has high ceiling as pick-and-roll creator

Kevin Porter Jr. is continuing to show growth as a pick-and-roll ball-handler for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he has a high ceiling in that regard.

At this point, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers are well-aware that Kevin Porter Jr. has a ton of potential.

The 19-year-old rookie still makes his share of mistakes, but he’s continued to showcase big-time finishing ability in both the halfcourt and in transition, and his defensive instincts for a young perimeter player have impressed me.

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What has jumped out to me more and more as of late, though, is Porter’s pick-and-roll ball-handling effectiveness. On the season, as a pick-and-roll ball-handling scorer, he’s only placed in the 28th percentile, according to Synergy Sports.

However, that doesn’t show the whole story.

Porter has not shot well this year on pull-ups, as evidenced by an effective field goal shooting clip of just 34.2 percent on those looks, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and those have often been the attempts KPJ has had in pick-and-roll situations.

What has been the positive and has been consistent, though, is Porter continuing to get separation off-the-bounce, and often via pick-and-roll creation.

He’s also shown enough flashes of shot-making both off-the-bounce and off-the-catch throughout this season for me to believe he can eventually start capitalizing on the separation he can already generate more regularly.

At any rate, in the last few games and really, more so since he came back from a reported left knee sprain, we’ve seen KPJ flash his high pick-and-roll ceiling as a ball-handler.

Porter erupted against the Miami Heat in a huge fourth quarter comeback on Monday, of which our own Corey Casey hit on, as he had a career-high 30 points, and that included 15 points combined coming in the fourth quarter and overtime.

His timing in setting up his screens from Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson, (who is reportedly out versus the Indiana Pacers on Saturday due to a left knee contusion but I wouldn’t imagine is overly serious) in particular, has gotten better as his rookie season has progressed.

This instance against the Heat showed good patience in that realm, and he calmly got space after a Nance screen from primary defense from Goran Dragic near an end-of-quarter scenario.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsCLE/status/1232102274161352705?s=20

The separation he got off-the-bounce and a few key times in the PnR game and clutch shot-making played a big role in Cleveland getting it done down the stretch in that win over Miami. Of course, so were contributions from Darius Garland as a decision-maker, Thompson inside, Nance as a finisher and rebounder and Kevin Love as a steadying presence/passer, too.

Anyway, with KPJ’s athleticism, explosiveness, strength and ability to change speeds, he’s going to be a problem as a pick-and-roll creator in coming years, and next season, I’d assume we’ll see him starting alongside Garland. That would still allow Sexton to have a significant role as a sixth man bucket-getter and feasibly, a key closer, if he’s rolling, and with head coach J.B. Bickerstaff in wins sticking with what’s been working, I’m sure Sexton would still get plenty of minutes to get in-rhythm to perhaps close.

Swinging back to Porter and his high PnR ceiling, his decision-making of when to go to the rack and when to deliver dump-offs or kick-outs has also caught my eye.

A particular sequence on Wednesday in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers, even with them without Ben Simmons and mostly without Joel Embiid, demonstrated how Porter has grown as a PnR ball-handler with his timing.

He still is prone to turnovers in these situations, and Porter didn’t have nearly the same success as a playmaker/finisher in much of Cleveland’s loss at the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, but with his passing vision and overall finishing toolbox/ambidextrous capability, again, the ceiling is high.

Here’s the play I was alluding to in the Philly game, and with Porter’s ability to keep primary defenders at bay on his back, he should improve in coming years with more opportunities as a PnR ball-handler.

KPJ ended up having six assists in that Philly game, and was operating well out of the PnR then, by and large, and against the Atlanta Hawks in a win before the All-Star break, did a nice job feeding Thompson in the PnR, too.

Against New Orleans, a game in which he had five assists, there was an instance early on that showed good recognition from Porter, who also rewarded Nance for getting early post position in transition earlier in the contest (per Fox Sports Cleveland), in which KPJ delivered a nice entry pass to Thompson, leading to a dunk (per the Cavs).

Moreover, in his last 10 games, Porter has averaged a solid 3.1 assists per outing, and he has a robust 17.8 percent assist rate, as indicated by NBA.com.

With his craftiness around the rim and ability to generate space off-the-bounce with his handle, explosiveness and sudden quickness leading into him elevating and with him showing consistent growth as a passer, we’re seeing more and more that Porter has a high ceiling as a pick-and-roll creator.

If he can cut down on turnovers in those situations, of which he has done recently overall, as in his last 10 games, his turnover rate is just 10.5 percent, and if Porter can start hitting his pull-ups more regularly in coming years, he, Garland and Sexton could make a nice trio of pick-and-roll ball-handling guards for the Cavs if those pieces continue to improve.

As this season progresses, I’d expect Porter to get more chances in the PnR for Bickerstaff, who recently mentioned how he’d like to see KPJ at the 1 on occasion, and in this rebuild, I don’t see why the Cavs shouldn’t explore that option.