Atlanta Hawks: 5 options for pick No. 3 in 2018 NBA Draft
By Ty Delbridge
No. 4 Michael Porter Jr.
- Height: 6’10″
- Weight: 214 lbs
- Age: 19
- Position: SF/PF
Before Michael Porter Jr. hurt his back and missed most of his freshman season rehabbing, Porter was being talked about as the No. 1 player in this entire draft. He went to the University of Missouri as a five-star recruit and was the No. 2 player in the country.
He only played in three games last season, but averaged 10.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.3 assists in 17.7 minutes per game while shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from the 3-point line.
When healthy, Porter has the physical tools and offensive skill-set to be a primary scorer for a team. The Ringer labeled him as a “tall, athletic forward who can drain shots from anywhere, but must hone his ball handling to reach his scoring potential”
Porter can play both power forward and small forward and is ideal for today’s NBA. Because of his back injury, he has fallen down the draft boards, and the Hawks may view him as one of the best players available based on need.
The Hawks do not have a go-to guy and could use Porter as a central part of their offense. They need to get some better players around him so he doesn’t have to do everything and can even play off-ball. The Hawks could use Porter at the 4 and have Collins be the starting center. They probably would want to add a more established power forward later on so they could slide Porter to the small forward in the future. The Ringer compared him to guys like Harrison Barnes and Otto Porter Jr.