2019 Draft, Pick #30 - Kevin Porter Jr., USC

[cabs]

Probably the best rookie performance by a cavs player since Boobie

 

[J_J]

By far his best game and defensively too. His jumper has been astonishingly fabulous ever since he came back from his injury. Loved when he took initiative to score at clutch moments and does really well in PnR.

I criticized him previously on defense because he usually gets lost but was great tonight. He had good help defense and got his hands in the passing lanes also have to credit to Nance and TT.

I liked how his teammates grabbed him and calmed him down when he got a PF late in the game. He still needs to figure his temper but he knows himself on this.

Very excited for KPJ and looking forward to seeing rest of the season.

 

[FrontPageNews]

Tristan isn't starting either and he is arguably our best player night-in night-out. Same goes for Nance, who has been playing great recently.

Don't fix it if it ain't broke. Some guys work better coming off the bench, at least for now.

we have the worst record in the league. It’s clearly broken. He at least needs a shot a playing the. Sexton/garland hasn’t earned the right to start over him.

 

[red.]

 

[Green Lantern]

I said it in the game thread..KPJ best position is the 2.Thats where he should be when he is a starter.
He has to learn about keeping himself in check .. that tech he got was the result of it looking like he flipped the elbow up, but reality is, I've seen too many players pop another and get away with it.

 

[Bulldog2Buckeye]

Does he make second team All Rookie? I figure there’s about 6 locks (Ja, Zion, Clarke, Nunn, Herro, MPJ) with another 5-7 guys competing for the rest. Hachimura, PJ Washington, KPJ, Hunter, Culver, and maybe Coby White feel like the other guys. I think KPJ should make it over most of those guys

 

[Goldin Brown]

What do we have with this guy? High level NBA player for sure, it seems, right? For a while I've been tempering my expectations and thinking maybe Kevin is a really good sixth man or maybe a solid starter, maybe like a JR Smith type of guy. But performances like this, you really have to consider, is this a star player? This man really has the ability to impact the outcome of games and his teammates see it too, he comes in the game and changes the game for us. Our guys are more than happy to put the ball in his hands and let him do his thing. Also, his improvement throughout the season has been astonishing, he seems to learn incredibly fast. He'll have a bad game or do some bad things in a game, but like the next game or a few games later he's just markedly better. This has been the trend all season, even when he was injured, people were like, "man, I can't wait until we get Porter back". And then he came back and he was better than I remembered. Is this a star in the making? I hope so, I'm here to watch, I'm excited.

 

[CleveRocks]

What do we have with this guy? High level NBA player for sure, it seems, right? For a while I've been tempering my expectations and thinking maybe Kevin is a really good sixth man or maybe a solid starter, maybe like a JR Smith type of guy. But performances like this, you really have to consider, is this a star player? This man really has the ability to impact the outcome of games and his teammates see it too, he comes in the game and changes the game for us. Our guys are more than happy to put the ball in his hands and let him do his thing. Also, his improvement throughout the season has been astonishing, he seems to learn incredibly fast. He'll have a bad game or do some bad things in a game, but like the next game or a few games later he's just markedly better. This has been the trend all season, even when he was injured, people were like, "man, I can't wait until we get Porter back". And then he came back and he was better than I remembered. Is this a star in the making? I hope so, I'm here to watch, I'm excited.

He has the physical tools, and good skills
. scoring 30, and grabbing eight rebounds in 40 minutes is excellent for a rookie, but to think he is elite, we would need to see it more often than not..

But he is definitely capable of starting in the league, that's more than we could say than about the last 20 picks at his draft position..

 

[Goldin Brown]

He has the physical tools, and good skills
. scoring 30, and grabbing eight rebounds in 40 minutes is excellent for a rookie, but to think he is elite, we would need to see it more often than not..

But he is definitely capable of starting in the league, that's more than we could say than about the last 20 picks at his draft position..

Yeah, I think it's probably mentality that sets these guys apart. Most of the star players in the league are highly competitive and extremely hard workers, not sure Kevin is wired that way. Remains to be seen, but he is showing signs.

 

[CavsFan07]

I said it months ago and I'll say it again - he's better than Garland. He's better right now, and he has a higher ceiling going forward.

After many bad picks over the years, the Cavs finally got a steal. Porter at #30 is too good to be true. If he continues to work, watch out.

 

[weepinwillow]

What do we have with this guy? High level NBA player for sure, it seems, right? For a while I've been tempering my expectations and thinking maybe Kevin is a really good sixth man or maybe a solid starter, maybe like a JR Smith type of guy. But performances like this, you really have to consider, is this a star player?

If comping former Cavs, JR Smith feels like his near ceiling to me, unless he makes that jumper less streaky. Maybe a floor of Ricky Buckets (who Collin Sexton is currently tracking as).

 

[saymac]

Keep the young guys don't make the same mistake the thunders did try not to run young players down they are the future they probably read and see some of what we as fans say about them

 

[red.]

 

[RedBlackAttack]

we have the worst record in the league. It’s clearly broken. He at least needs a shot a playing the. Sexton/garland hasn’t earned the right to start over him.

He is playing well in his current role. Is the team winning lots of games? Well, technically we have won 3-out-of-4 games so, even in that sense, it is "working" post-Beilein. But, to your point, is starting KPJ going to turn us from a lottery team looking at a likely Top 5 pick to borderline playoff team? Does it really change the team's current trajectory of being a rebuilding team trying to figure things out?

I've never really understood why there is such a huge emphasis on starting games anyway. It is much more important who finishes games and how many minutes they get than who is on the floor when the ball is tipped in the first quarter. Porter played 41 minutes, the most on the team. He played the entire 4th quarter and overtime. His growth has been pretty astonishing.

Eventually, yes... his play will almost certainly result in a starting spot but I don't see the rush in making it happen when he is improving so much recently with the type of run he is being given.

 

[Cavatt]

He is playing well in his current role. Is the team winning lots of games? Well, technically we have won 3-out-of-4 games so, even in that sense, it is "working" post-Beilein. But, to your point, is starting KPJ going to turn us from a lottery team looking at a likely Top 5 pick to borderline playoff team? Does it really change the team's current trajectory of being a rebuilding team trying to figure things out?

I've never really understood why there is such a huge emphasis on starting games anyway. It is much more important who finishes games and how many minutes they get than who is on the floor when the ball is tipped in the first quarter. Porter played 41 minutes, the most on the team. He played the entire 4th quarter and overtime. His growth has been pretty astonishing.

Eventually, yes... his play will almost certainly result in a starting spot but I don't see the rush in making it happen when he is improving so much recently with the type of run he is being given.

People are clamoring for him to start because the backcourt is just too small. Collin is looking more and more lost on defense. I don't think he is handling the changes Bickerstaff has implemented well yet. Darius has adapted quickly.

This last game had me buying we should bench Sexton more, but I think the fact of the matter is that I am not sure KPJ or Garland is ready for that yet. Bickerstaff needs to have the guts to play those 2 with the starters more just to try it out and see what the chemistry is like.