Otto Porter

[hands11]

Nice little article about Porter in the Post. Probably going to get lost in the excitement of the playoff games, but it's worth a quick read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

My favorite part is the quotes about him from Al Harrington.

Who he reminds me of is Shawn Marion with a jump shot...

...He’s incredible rebounding the basketball, and I think he’ll end up being a great defender with the frame he’s got. I expect him to play major minutes on this team next year no matter who’s here.

I like listening to the stuff Gortat and Harrington say about Porter and the other guys on the team. They strike me as thoughtful guys that see beyond their own situations, really see the big picture. I could see them having careers in coaching when their playing days are over.

I also like that Shawn Marion comparison. It gives you an idea of Porter's potential value and an important role he could play for the team down the line. When Porter gets some man strength on him, I think he's really going to let us play small ball because of his uncharacteristically good rebounding ability just like Marion does for his teams. Only with a jumper, you've got a legit pick and pop floor spacing weapon too and not just a floor runner and hustle scorer.

I could see that. Marion is a real good player who is understated and have been key to DAS for years. A good type if you are designing a balanced team.

[Ruzious]

I think Porter's going to be good - but a young Marion was an amazing athlete who's combo of efficient scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, and steals made him a top 5 player in the NBA in terms of production and efficiency - obviously helped by Nash on offense. Maybe Porter will match up to a way past his prime Marion at some point.

[stevemcqueen1]

I think Porter's going to be good - but a young Marion was an amazing athlete who's combo of efficient scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, and steals made him a top 5 player in the NBA in terms of production and efficiency - obviously helped by Nash on offense. Maybe Porter will match up to a way past his prime Marion at some point.

The comparison isn't perfect. Marion was an amazing athlete in Phoenix. In a different class from Porter. He also couldn't shoot for **** before he got a workable monstrosity of a shot in Dallas and wasn't as instinctive and versatile a scorer as Porter.

Porter is an excellent athlete in his own right. I think he's going to be trying to beat the rap of being a slow, below the rim player from Georgetown for a while. But I changed my tune on him after his combine, and I'm impressed with the little we've seen of him beating NBA players down court and going up for lobs.

[pancakes3]

Porter is an excellent athlete in his own right. I think he's going to be trying to beat the rap of being a slow, below the rim player from Georgetown for a while. But I changed my tune on him after his combine, and I'm impressed with the little we've seen of him beating NBA players down court and going up for lobs.

I've always been a bit confused by players who would go for the layup in college come in and start hammering it down in the NBA. Guys like Harden, Barnes, and a host of other non-Calipari-coached guards come to mind. Even Wade.

[stevemcqueen1]

Porter is an excellent athlete in his own right. I think he's going to be trying to beat the rap of being a slow, below the rim player from Georgetown for a while. But I changed my tune on him after his combine, and I'm impressed with the little we've seen of him beating NBA players down court and going up for lobs.

I've always been a bit confused by players who would go for the layup in college come in and start hammering it down in the NBA. Guys like Harden, Barnes, and a host of other non-Calipari-coached guards come to mind. Even Wade.

Barnes definitely comes to mind. Who knew he was such a dunker and power player? I watched him going back to high school and he always struck me as a very deliberate, smooth, finesse guy.

Beal is another example too IMO. Same rap as a finesse player on offense coming out of Florida, but he goes HARD when he goes the rim.

Must be a cultural thing in CBB. It's a more disciplined and conservative game in general. Plus the floor spacing sucks and possessions take forever.

[Upper Decker]

It really is a shame Porter didn't develop as a rookie into a rotation worthy player. If Washington advances and ultimately plays Miami Porter would really help. If matched up against Miami, Washington would be forced to play small ball. They'd put Lebron at the 4 and dare Washington to play Nene / Gortat together. That's how Miami counters teams with size. Tiago Splitter basically fell out of the rotation in the finals last year. Having a wing rotation of Ariza / Webster / Porter / Beal would be a strong counter punch. Instead, what'll happen is Al Harrington will get most of the burn at 4 against Lebron and that's a lost battle from the beginning.

[Kanyewest]

It really is a shame Porter didn't develop as a rookie into a rotation worthy player. If Washington advances and ultimately plays Miami Porter would really help. If matched up against Miami, Washington would be forced to play small ball. They'd put Lebron at the 4 and dare Washington to play Nene / Gortat together. That's how Miami counters teams with size. Tiago Splitter basically fell out of the rotation in the finals last year. Having a wing rotation of Ariza / Webster / Porter / Beal would be a strong counter punch. Instead, what'll happen is Al Harrington will get most of the burn at 4 against Lebron and that's a lost battle from the beginning.

You are right that the Wizards could have used Porter especially if Ariza gets into foul trouble. Still the Wizards can go with a small ball lineup of Wall/Beal/Webster/Ariza.

I feel like Nene/Gortat can play together enough defensively- both are better than Splitter offensively who was completely ineffective at scoring at the rim against Miami's defense.

Indiana did a really good job defensively primarily playing Hibbert/West. Their problem was that they had too many turnovers and their bench didn't contribute enough (even though guys like Gerald Green, Plumlee, and Augustin on their bench!).

[pancakes3]

As slow as Harrington is, he'd still be a better defensive option than the 198lb Porter.

I think going small ball against Miami is a mistake though. We want to pound THEM inside. Get THEM into foul trouble. Nene did a pretty good job against Lebron in their lone meeting back in January.

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CikztTZJF8A[/youtube]

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgBBRnm0rls[/youtube]

[pcbothwel]

It really is a shame Porter didn't develop as a rookie into a rotation worthy player. If Washington advances and ultimately plays Miami Porter would really help. If matched up against Miami, Washington would be forced to play small ball. They'd put Lebron at the 4 and dare Washington to play Nene / Gortat together. That's how Miami counters teams with size. Tiago Splitter basically fell out of the rotation in the finals last year. Having a wing rotation of Ariza / Webster / Porter / Beal would be a strong counter punch. Instead, what'll happen is Al Harrington will get most of the burn at 4 against Lebron and that's a lost battle from the beginning.

You are right that the Wizards could have used Porter especially if Ariza gets into foul trouble. Still the Wizards can go with a small ball lineup of Wall/Beal/Webster/Ariza.

I feel like Nene/Gortat can play together enough defensively- both are better than Splitter offensively who was completely ineffective at scoring at the rim against Miami's defense.

Indiana did a really good job defensively primarily playing Hibbert/West. Their problem was that they had too many turnovers and their bench didn't contribute enough (even though guys like Gerald Green, Plumlee, and Augustin on their bench!).

Agree with Kanye here, I think the thing Wittman has to do is this. If they go small with LBJ at the 4/5, then we'll counter with Nene and Gortat down low. Both are very good offensive big man and LBJ wont have a chance guarding them without getting into foul trouble in time. The key to making this work is to slow down the offense (maybe have miller in) and stay efficient and take care of the ball so LBJ cant get out running the break.

[dobrojim]

(assuming we do eventually play MIA, and we've got work to do to make that happen)

I'd say you first try to force them to match up with you. Go big. If/when that doesn't work, then
you concede and (try to) match with them. I like that we have a bunch of guys that have some
defensive versatility starting with the best example, TA. Wall/Beal each play bigger than
their actual size. Webster/Ariza/Porter and god help me, even Temple has decent wing
size (yeah I know he's offensively challenged). We have depth wrt to longish wings even
if it's not entirely all quality depth. LBJ is LBJ and no one can really match him. But we've
got a few bodies to throw at that problem at such time as we face it.

[Upper Decker]

It really is a shame Porter didn't develop as a rookie into a rotation worthy player. If Washington advances and ultimately plays Miami Porter would really help. If matched up against Miami, Washington would be forced to play small ball. They'd put Lebron at the 4 and dare Washington to play Nene / Gortat together. That's how Miami counters teams with size. Tiago Splitter basically fell out of the rotation in the finals last year. Having a wing rotation of Ariza / Webster / Porter / Beal would be a strong counter punch. Instead, what'll happen is Al Harrington will get most of the burn at 4 against Lebron and that's a lost battle from the beginning.

You are right that the Wizards could have used Porter especially if Ariza gets into foul trouble. Still the Wizards can go with a small ball lineup of Wall/Beal/Webster/Ariza.

I feel like Nene/Gortat can play together enough defensively- both are better than Splitter offensively who was completely ineffective at scoring at the rim against Miami's defense.

Indiana did a really good job defensively primarily playing Hibbert/West. Their problem was that they had too many turnovers and their bench didn't contribute enough (even though guys like Gerald Green, Plumlee, and Augustin on their bench!).

I don’t want to sidetrack this thread too much, but what does it say about Vogel who had Augustine, Gerald Green, and Miles Plumlee on their bench last year and all of them rotted almost out of the league? Now Augustine and Green are on the short list of possible 6th men of the year candidates and Plumlee was on the short list of most improved candidates. How anyone says he’s a better than average coach is beyond me. That Pacers team is a complete train-wreck.

[Upper Decker]

As slow as Harrington is, he'd still be a better defensive option than the 198lb Porter.

I think going small ball against Miami is a mistake though. We want to pound THEM inside. Get THEM into foul trouble. Nene did a pretty good job against Lebron in their lone meeting back in January.

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CikztTZJF8A[/youtube]

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgBBRnm0rls[/youtube]

I'd play Porter against Battier, James Jones, or Ray Allen. I'd never assign him the responsibility of guarding Lebron. In theory, Porter, even at 198 should do fine against them, but at this point he's not ready. If Miami goes with the small line up and Washington counters by going small Garrett Temple will get quite a bit of run (Beal, Webster, and Ariza can't play forever). I feel the same way about Temple as I do about Gooden. Every minute he's in the game decreases the Wizards chances of actually winning in the playoffs tremendously.

[deneem4]

Well porter your time is coming up this next series...
i predict 8+ points in his 1st game

[Sonny Carson]

Really missing Otto impact.

I know he's not ready to make an impact. But the Wizards sure needed to at least have another player in the rotation.
A more developed Otto could have been an ideal impact player against George (in terms of defense, another offensive threat, etc.)

[dckingsfan]

Hopefully he has already started working for next year

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Hopefully he has already started working for next year

Just as I was leaving GMU's student gym today, Otto was coming into to get some shots in. No bull.

[gambitx777]

I think porter will turn out to be a pretty good player, some guys just need time. I mean He had some reassuring games this year. if we play our cards right this off season, make use of the second round, and don't do anything stupid. having porter and or rice come in to their own could be just the spark we need to get to the next level.

[Illmatic12]

Porter exit interview:

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... rview-2014

Says he'll focus on shooting and ballhandling this summer. I like how he said that Ariza has been mentoring him and he's trying to emulate his playing style somewhat.. it'll be great if we can sub-in Otto for Ariza and not notice a huge dropoff. We just need him to knock down open threes on offense, and defensively learn to use his length.

[FAH1223]

Porter exit interview:

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... rview-2014

Says he'll focus on shooting and ballhandling this summer. I like how he said that Ariza has been mentoring him and he's trying to emulate his playing style somewhat.. it'll be great if we can sub-in Otto for Ariza and not notice a huge dropoff. We just need him to knock down open threes on offense, and defensively learn to use his length.

I've seen him hit a lot of 3s in warmups, practice... His shooting form is a bit more refined than it was this time last year. I think he'll be a good 3 point shooter.

If he can improve his ball handling, it'll be huge. Just seeing what Kawhi Leonard is doing off the dribble and emulating some of Tony Parker's moves is mind-blowing right now to me. Hopefully Otto can improve it to where he can create something out of nothing.

John is relied a lot and Beal sees that.

[Dark Faze]

desperately hoping we're forced into giving Porter major minutes next year