Kevin Porter Jr. has flashed tons of potential on both ends this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I firmly believe he can become the Wine and Gold’s best defender in the near future, too.
Us fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers have all at some point marveled at rookie Kevin Porter Jr.’s offensive tool box this season, of which is currently suspended until further notice due to precautions being exercised to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Porter, who is just 19, is a player that though he still has a ways to go and does force it as a ball-handler and passer still, which is understandable, has a rare combination of handle, strength, explosion and ability to change speeds.
Overall, KPJ’s 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals per contest this year (as noted by Basketball Reference) have been very promising.
Plus, frankly, at a fairly solid 6-foot-4 and 203 pounds, of which he could feasibly add some muscle in coming years even, Porter’s the most athletic player on the Cavaliers’ current roster. Larry Nance Jr. is probably the other in that conversation, I’d say.
That athleticism for Porter to me, though, will also translate as he gets more and more experience for Cleveland on the defensive end of the floor, and perhaps more so.
While Porter’s defensive rating this season of 113.2, according to NBA.com, has been far from exceptional, and KPJ has to get more consistent on the money end of the floor in the team sense, his feel leads me to believe he’ll be a high impact player in that realm fairly soon.
I’ll also reiterate that for a 19-year-old, that’s not something that should be expected, and that plays right into me believing that in the near future, KPJ can become the Cavs’ best defender.
Porter’s recognition as a helper is especially encouraging
Porter’s defensive play again in some respects at first glance, hasn’t suggested he’s been really locked-in, but when watching games, that’s not been the case.
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Porter does seem to have some mix-ups, and he’s still learning when it comes to getting through to contest under control in terms of off-ball screen situations. At times, he seems to be unsure of when to double/stunt.
That sort of thing also seems to apply to Collin Sexton, who I believe could be an impact defender in due time with more experience on the perimeter and has shown more and more glimpses of that as the season’s progressed, too.
Porter having 1.6 deflections per game this year in only 23.2 minutes per outing has also been a pretty robust number to me, and the way he’s been getting deflections and/or steals has been especially encouraging.
The youngster has been able to time up passes on the weak and strong side on a considerable amount of occasions, and even though it’s not always leading to deflections/steals, the more active he is in that regard, the more opponents will be thinking about his presence in passing lanes.
That will, in turn, cause his on-floor impact in the team sense to be more constant game-to-game in coming years, and his ability to time up passing lanes is not something we see regularly this early on in a young players’ career. That’s especially when considering the Cavs’ defense, by and large, has been anything but spectacular around KPJ.
Thus far going into the NBA’s season suspension, Cleveland has had the league’s second-worst defensive rating.
To me in the near future, though, with his ever-improving feel as a rotator and with him already often splitting opponents on the weak side with ease to contest and deter drivers, I believe the more Porter plays in coming years, the better Cleveland’s team defensive metrics will be.
Plus, when KPJ’s out there being a factor in passing lanes, the Cleveland Cavaliers are ever-willing and able to take advantage in transition. That’s even more so when adding in a speedster in Sexton and a player with terrific team defensive instincts and a much-improved handle in Nance, who is an outstanding finisher on the break at the rim, too.
Moving on, the other part of why I believe Porter can become the Cavs’ best and most impactful defender in the near future is more in regards to the individual sense.
Positional switchability
I’ll first touch on that Porter has had his struggles from time to time from an individual perspective defensively, but for a rookie, let alone one that only started four collegiate games in his lone season at USC, that’s understandable.
Porter does need to cut down on unnecessary fouls, and he does need to clean up his closeouts as he can over-extend at times. In plenty of stretches throughout his rookie season, though, he’s done more than commendable work on-ball defensively.
That’s even been against 3’s, and he’s definitely held his own in terms of being in better position to deter drives than say, a slower and less fluid Cedi Osman, who has been Cleveland’s starting 3.
Anyway, while it’s based on potential at this point and from what I’ve seen thus far, if he can be mostly healthy in coming years, Porter could have noteworthy positional switchability.
Granted, him staying healthy is a relative question mark, as KPJ has missed 13 games this year combined due to a left knee sprain and a concussion (and he missed another, and was for suspended for one), but the Cavs do not have other players than KPJ that are legitimately able to guard 1-3.
Porter has shown he’s capable in plenty of stretches of walling off perimeter drivers, staying attached to deter pull-ups and dump-offs in pick-and-roll coverage, and he has very strong and quick hands that have often limited opponents’ effectiveness when trying to create separation.
That combination is not one that other regular rotation players for Cleveland have been able to show on even a semi-consistent basis, either, at least on the perimeter, and even Alfonzo McKinnie when healthy is not nearly as switchable.
Plus, that’s been shown in primary matchups against 1-3 for KPJ at times throughout the year, as he has guarded a variety of primary playmakers, which has helped out pieces such as Darius Garland and Osman to some degree already. That’s been with fairly inconsistent rim protection behind Porter for many of his minutes, too, as his former teammate John Henson didn’t play a ton in most instances, and trade deadline addition Andre Drummond is still in a somewhat feel-out process with the Cavs on both ends.
In terms of Drummond in this semi-debate, here, who I believe will eventually opt into his $28.8 million player option for 2020-21 and could end up being a nice pairing with Kevin Love, he is a very active interior rotator and nice post-up defender. I applaud him for being second in the league in steals this season thus far, too, and even more so as a center (according to Basketball Reference).
That being said, Drummond is not a player that can realistically make an impact outside the paint on D all that much, and he can get exposed in PnR coverage against perimeter players.
At any rate, for now, the expiring Tristan Thompson, who is reportedly unlikely to re-sign with the Cavs in the coming offseason (whenever that will be), per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, is probably the Cavs’ best defender on the roster currently. Also, Nance, who is a tremendous defensive communicator as well and who can more than hold his own in PnR, could be in that conversation, too.
However, with Porter’s combination of athleticism, quick and active hands both on and off-ball, his encouraging recognition skills, solid 6-foot-9 wingspan and his potential to be more and more a very switchable defender 1-3 as well, I firmly believe he can become the Cleveland Cavaliers’ best defender in the near future.
Now if the Cavs ended up adding Auburn’s Isaac Okoro or USC’s Onyeka Okongwu in 2020 NBA Draft, perhaps I’d revise that feeling. Either way, though, KPJ has big-time potential on both ends of the floor for Cleveland, and I also believe Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will get the most out of KPJ, given that Bickerstaff and the rookie have reportedly developed a pretty lasting relationship already.