Washington Wizards: Otto Porter Season Review

Otto Porter’s rookie season was a disappointment.  Plain and simple.  The No. 3 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft gave the Washington Wizards virtually nothing in his rookie season.

Porter only played 319 minutes on the season and averaged 2.1 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting.  Porter looked overmatched physically whenever he did find his way on to the court.  His frail build looked even more noticeable in the NBA then it did during his time at Georgetown. Porter was obviously not ready for the NBA by all we got to see from him this season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean his career is already doomed or that it was even his fault for a disappointing rookie season.

The Wizards had a 4.8 percent chance of getting the No. 3 pick in the 2013 draft.  Turns out the odds were in their favor on lottery night.  They got the pick and it was time to nail a top-three pick for the second straight year (picked Bradley Beal in 2012).  In what was considered a relatively weak draft then and now, the Wizards had a tough decision.

They went with a player just down the road in Porter, but why?  They had just signed Martell Webster to a four-year, $22 million deal and veteran forward Trevor Ariza for another year.  Porter would undoubtedly be the third small forward heading into training camp and it didn’t help that he was hurt to start the year.  I get the pick because you’d think he could take over for Ariza after a year, but I thought Porter had a lot of red flags coming out of Georgetown.

He was an inconsistent shooter, he was not strong, and a lot of what he did was through Georgetown’s Princeton offense.  But a team with a win-now mentality isn’t going to give Porter any chance to prove if he can play and it also puts management in a tough position this offseason.  With their first successful year in a long time, the Wizards management will be under even more pressure to continue to win.  So, lets face it, the Wizards are re-signing Ariza and I doubt we see much of Porter unless Webster is dealt.

I do think there is some hope for Porter.  If he fills out his frame, his length on defense could be a nice weapon.  He could be a nice role player for a team at some point in his career, but it is hard to project Porter’s career because he didn’t contribute in any way in his rookie season.