Relentless energy and effort is something you can consistently count on from Craig Porter Jr. The third-year guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers works his butt off for every single minute he is on the basketball court. Right now, that matters tremendously for this team.
The Cavaliers' issues have extended far beyond simply being a matter of injuries. Cleveland plays like a team who knows it has talent, more often than it is acceptable or desirable. Porter — a player who worked his way up from a two-way contract — does no such thing.
Kenny Atkinson has turned to the young guard more and more as this Cavaliers season has progressed. Many, including Brian Windhorst of ESPN, are of the opinion that the reasoning really just comes down to the willingness of Porter to go all out when stepping on the court.
"[Atkinson] is trying like crazy to get consistent effort," Windhorst said during an appearance on 5 Good Minutes With Windy. "Craig Porter is the one who's doing it, so he keeps rewarding Craig Porter, trying to get everyone else to do it."
Effort is the currency that Craig Porter Jr. keeps cashing in with Cleveland
Earlier this season, Jaylon Tyson was forced to awkwardly field questions about the Cavaliers' struggles. Tyson told the media it should not be up to the young guys to raise the effort levels on the court for Cleveland. Despite that, the Cavaliers have endured that exact problem.
Porter has done well to bring the type of hustle and grind which the entire team could benefit from. Atkinson took a shot on swapping out Lonzo Ball in favor of his younger contemporary in the backcourt bench role. The latter has delivered over that span.
The matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 29 was the turning point. From that game onward, Porter has done all the little things that don't show up in the box score, while also doing plenty that does.
Bad news? CPJ, much like Lonzo, has struggled as a scorer. Porter has averaged only 36.7 percent from the field during that span. Everything else has more than made up for it.
Porter has also averaged 6.0 rebounds, including 2.3 on the offensive glass, 4.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 22.7 minutes per game. The Cavaliers are 5-2 over that stretch. The former undrafted guard has registered the seventh-best net rating (4.5) on the team during that time too.
Porter should have his job locked down for the rest of this campaign. For a team that is often all too happy to kick it into overdrive during the fourth quarter after coasting for the previous three, the Cavaliers guard refuses to give anything but a consistently reliable spark when opportunity calls.