Cavs: 3 stats that jump out from Kevin Porter Jr.’s rookie season

Porter hitting 40.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers

It’s not as if Porter didn’t hit triples in his one collegiate season at USC, as he hit 41.2 percent of them, per Sports Reference.

Him not having the most natural shooting motion, though, and him coming into the season as a much more comfortable on-ball player made me a tad bit unsure if Porter would be able to hit shots off-the-catch from three-point land.

That being said, KPJ has proven that to be a key strength of his thus far this season, which may or may not resume down the road.

The other statistic that’s jumped out to me from Porter’s rookie year has been him hitting 40.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data. That’s been on a 19.6 percent frequency, which is a fairly healthy one.

So, even though Porter’s hit just 25.7 percent of his pull-up three-point attempts, and has had an effective field goal percentage of only 34.0 percent on pull-ups overall, with his finishing ability and touch inside 10 or so feet and his emergence as a cutter, he’ll still be a key scoring threat for Cleveland whether or not his pull-up efficiency improves in coming years.

I’d hope that pull-up hit rate does, and I believe it absolutely can with how much space Porter can generate, but even with Porter having just a 33.5 percent hit rate on deep shots overall, it’s been really promising to see him hit catch-and-shoot triples at a near 41.0 percent clip.

Also coupled with that in terms of the off-ball viability, while the frequency has only been 5.7 percent, KPJ has placed in the 92nd percentile as a cutting finisher this season, according to Synergy Sports.

Anyway, it’s evident that Porter’s one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ best young players, and his potential appears to be sky high. Oh and by the way, happy birthday, KPJ!