Michael Porter Jr. came into Missouri with high expectations. After barely playing college basketball due to injury, where does he stand as a 2018 NBA Draft prospect?
There are few players that could only play two minutes of regular season college basketball and still be a possible top-five NBA Draft selection. Michael Porter Jr. is one of them. His unfortunate back injury in his first regular season game forced him to sit out for three months.
Porter returned to play in the SEC Tournament. It immediately became evident that Porter was far from fully healthy once he entered the game. He went on to play one more game where his team lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. While Porter wanting to play and help his team was admirable, it did not really do much for him.
He struggled in both games, averaging 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists. Both games were losses and also featured a lot of questionable shot selection from Porter. Thankfully for him, this play had little effect on his draft stock, ainly because Porter was the No. 1 ranked recruit in his senior season of high school (only to be dethroned of his position once Marvin Bagley reclassified).
Teams have had the opportunity to see Porter at many different high school all star settings and USA basketball events. After an unforeseen college season, Porter definitely carries a level of mystery to many fans.
Here is a breakdown of Porter’s strengths and weaknesses as a prospect, featuring a substantially smaller amount of video because I spent most of my time going through Michael Porter Jr.’s high school games.