Michael Porter Jr.: 2018 NBA Draft player profile
By Connor Harr
Strengths
Shooting/scoring
Porter is easily one of the best scorers in this class and it all starts with his shooting ability. He has great form on his shot, and already possesses NBA range. Here’s a look at Porter’s shot off the catch in an exhibition game against Kansas. He does have a pretty low dip on his shot, but I do not mind it when shooters dip off the catch at all. The rest of his shot has little wasted movement and a nice high release.
Other than shooting off the catch, Porter gets to his pretty pull-up jump shot with ease. His pull-up jumper is crucial to his offensive game since he does not have tremendous burst off the dribble.
He mainly pulls up for 3 off of hesitation dribbles, and shows touch from the high post area on step-backs and turnaround moves. Here’s Porter at the Nike Hoop Summit pulling up off a hesitation move on R.J. Barrett.
Beyond his jump shot, Porter can score well in transition as well. His long strides make up for his lack of speed. His developing handle also helps him in semi-transition and spaced-out half-court settings in order to knife through the second line of help with his long strides and his go-to hop step move.
Height
This is the biggest factor in Porter’s NBA allure. When you combine his shooting and perimeter skills with his size, it could equal a lethal NBA scoring option. Porter attended the 2018 NBA Draft Combine and measured in at 6’10.75″ in shoes. Even though his wingspan was only +0.5 at 7’0.25″, his near seven-foot stature makes him a 4 with the ability to play the 5 as well.
This is a favorable matchup offensively against almost any NBA team for Porter and will be a great asset to his teams offense as a whole. The floor-spacing that Porter can offer at the 4 alone is very valuable. Even though his handle could still use some tightening up, he is probably a better handler already than any complementary 4 or small-ball 4 in the NBA.
Putting Porter in a small-ball 5 role could be incredibly unique offensively. There are few players that could match up with him on the perimeter and it would set up the offense to run a mostly five-out system. Running this system would maximize his team’s floor-spacing and open up driving lanes and rim-running opportunities for his teammates.
Rebounding
Despite not being overly strong, aggressive or athletic, Porter is a tremendous rebounder. He averaged 6.7 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game at Missouri. It is an extremely small sample size, playing only 53 minutes all season.
However, when Porter played on the Nike EYBL Circuit in 2016, he averaged 10.9 rebounds per game in 15 games. He finished the EYBL season tied for fourth in rebounding with Jarred Vanderbilt and P.J. Washington. He also out-rebounded future lottery picks in Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr. and Daniel Gafford.
On this play against Iowa State, Porter is at the free throw line while the ball on his teammates shot is coming down. He reacts in the middle of the court faster than anyone on the court, grabs the offensive rebound and finishes with an easy layup.