Recent Cavs tweet says it all regarding Kevin Porter Jr.’s upside

Kevin Porter Jr. is such a promising piece for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Kevin Porter Jr. has big-time potential for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it seems to be a virtual certainty that his role will expand for Cleveland next season. Porter had a productive rookie campaign with 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals per outing.

His advanced handle and ability to change speeds off-the-bounce often led to him getting separation from defenders to generate better looks, and his ambidextrous finishing touch near the rim combined with his body control was impressive.

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Porter’s spot-up efficiency was a key positive as well, and if he can be more efficient on pull-up three-point shots in year 2, that could enable him to have a clip a few percentage points higher than his three-point shooting clip of 33.5 percent as a rookie.

In relation to another positive from Porter’s rookie campaign, though, was his passing feel.

As his first year progressed, KPJ showed encouraging secondary playmaking ability as he had more opportunities, and that led to quality looks for pieces such as Larry Nance Jr., Alfonzo McKinnie and Darius Garland more so as 2019-20 wore on.

In addition to the number of offensive flashes we saw from Porter, while he did over-extend in some instances on-ball, he did do a solid job of deterring drivers on the wing defensively and his activity in passing lanes as a rotator jumped out.

That feel as a rotator/stunter led to KPJ averaging 1.4 steals per-36 minutes as a rookie, which was a notable number for a rookie.

Anyhow, while Porter could potentially be moved into the starting lineup at some point next season feasibly as the starting 2 or 3 with Darius Garland moving to a bench role or Cedi Osman in that regard, Porter should end up getting starting burn either way.

I’d expect to see Porter get more burn with Collin Sexton and Garland both next season often, whether they’re staggered or not, and down the stretch next season, it’s safe to say KPJ should have a key role for Cleveland.

KPJ again showed plenty of flashes of big-time potential for the Cavs as a rookie, and his play in a late February comeback over the Miami Heat was right up that alley. The Wine and Gold looked back at that with them having Porter as their featured player across the Cavs’ social media channels this week, too.

Moreover, a recent tweet from the Cleveland Cavaliers says it all regarding Porter’s upside.

In that February 24 comeback W over the Heat, when the Cavs were down by 19 points entering the fourth quarter, Porter had a career night, as the Cavs highlighted, and was a key reason Cleveland came back and won in overtime.

Granted, Miami was without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, but this was still quite a thrilling comeback effort, as KJG’s own Corey Casey previously hit on. Nance, who was actually playing the 3 in that fourth quarter/overtime stretch, played a significant role, especially defensively, too, and Garland had his hand in the comeback also.

Nonetheless, in that outing, what jumped out was Porter’s upside as a creator for the Wine and Gold, as he had a career-best 30 points on nine-of-18 shooting, to go with eight rebounds and three assists.

Plus, as the above Cavs tweet alluded to, in that outing, Porter became only the third Cavs rookie to record 30 points, eight rebounds and three steals “in a single game.”

That tweet on Tuesday from the Cleveland Cavaliers says it all regarding Porter’s upside as a potential star two-way contributor.

In this comeback effort against Miami, we saw Porter’s on-ball creation ability as a driver, and he hit four-of-seven from three-point range as well, and he had it going on triple attempts off-the-bounce. His secondary playmaking and team defensive feel was showcased in that one, too.

If KPJ can improve on pull-ups next season, of which he only had an effective field goal shooting clip of 34.0 percent, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and be more respectable, it’ll only make him more dangerous as a driver, pick-and-roll player and spot-up threat.

As this Miami game did show, though, and other flashes in other contests, Porter is so difficult to account for if his jumper is working, given his driving prowess and secondary playmaking feel.

His team defensive feel was also on display in that comeback over the Heat, too, and overall, his big-time two-way upside could lead to the Cavs having a potential star down the road on their current roster.

That Cavs tweet showing him in the same realm with LeBron James and Ron Harper (before a horrible knee injury) says it all, in that while he has a ways to go to be more polished, Porter could one day be a special player with further development.

God I can’t wait to see KPJ back in action in his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.