Three ways the Cavs can maximize Kevin Porter Jr.’s play next season

The third way the Cleveland Cavaliers could maximize KPJ next season: Play him some at PG

As was alluded to, Bickerstaff talked about his desire to experiment in the Cavs’ remaining games early on after he took over as head coach, and that again, included utilizing KPJ some at point guard. This desire seemed to come from the handling ability that Porter had shown throughout the season, as stated before.

This plan never came to be, as the NBA season again would be suspended due to COVID-19 and a concussion that KPJ sustained had kept him sidelined for the Cavaliers’ last three games of the season.

Looking at the roster, depending on how the 2020 NBA Draft goes, the Cleveland Cavaliers could be left with just two point guards on the team with Darius Garland and Exum, as Dellavedova is set to be a free agent. With Exum’s injury history, which has most notably included shoulder and knee issues, it would be wise for the Cavs to look to add another point guard or to give KPJ some meaningful minutes there.

Through the last six or so games, it seemed as if KPJ was making some strides as a passer. Looking at his last five games, excluding the game where he left early due to injury against the Boston Celtics, he averaged 4.2 assists per game compared to just 1.8 turnovers per game.

In addition, as KJG’s Dan Gilinsky highlighted recently, in his last 12 games, KPJ had a 17.1 percent assist rate, which ranked fourth behind Dellavedova, Garland, and Collin Sexton in that stretch, per NBA.com.

Looking at the Cavs’ roster, they have quality dump off options for KPJ in Andre Drummond, assuming he picks up his $28.8 million player option, which is reportedly likely, along with Nance, who both could give Porter easy assists.

Porter also has some shooters to use at his disposal in players such as Windler, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, Collin Sexton and Garland, who could all work off-ball and maneuver around screens for KPJ to hit for open triples.

All in all, KPJ at point guard could become a real thing next season and with improvements to roster construction as well as some creativity from Bickerstaff, we could see some serious improvements from Porter in the near future.