This is exactly where I am as well. The KPJ@PG experiment was definitely worth exploring and the Rockets' rebuild provided the perfect opportunity to size up a player like Porter and see where he might fit best. I too agree that his best role is likely as a scoring wing (and complementary playmaker) or as lead combo guard coming off the bench (ala Jamal Crawford). As a starting point guard his lack of awareness and natural feel for the position just leaves too much to be desired. So while his talent means he could a definitely have a key role on the team going forward, calling him a foundational player or building block may be a bit of a stretch.
Not making excuses for Porter but man....it'd be nice to see how he would do with a better coach. I see so many undisciplined instances in that video that is 100% on coaching.
Or maybe the dude is just not that receptive. IIRC he has come under the personal tutelage of John Lucas. Lucas even went at him hard during half time and KPJ ended up throwing a towel and leaving. I always find it funny people blame the HC for seemingly lack of player devt when we got a dude specifically to oversee Player Devt.
Wow, maybe it was the way the video was edited, but that was... pretty terrible. He put up a lot of inadvisable shots from the outside, leaving his teammates in bad position to get the offensive rebound or get back on D. There was virtually no chemistry between him and Wood in their pick and rolls at the start of the game. His drives into the paint looked pretty out of control, leading to misses or poorly placed passes. Maybe it was just a bad day for him, but if your starting PG is playing like this, you're just not going to win a lot of games.
He's struggled of late and I am unsure of how this will work out but he does have great chemistry with Green and that counts for something. I think you let things naturally evolve. Nix is getting minutes which is a good thing. You don't need a natural point guard when you have a talented sg such as Green. If you think about it the key things you need from a pg to put along side an amazing scoring talent is: defense 3 point shooting ball security decent passing The only one I see KP3 really lacking is his ball security as his turnovers are a bit high but he's gotten much better with the turnovers this year compared to the beginning of the season and last year. The question is do you need a stephen curry or chris paul next to Jalen Green or are you find with a Ron Harper or Derek Fischer? I really don't know. Given that Green and KP3 really don't stagger that much it seems to me that KP3's play making may not be that critical going forward as Green develops more and more into the primary half court ball handler - in which case KP3's defense and 3 point shotting becomes the critical skills and the other areas are bonus. I can see KPJ and Green co-existing with someone like Nix being the point guard for the 2nd unit. It's just too early to say right now. And it's not like the Rockets have a much better option for pg right now. If KP3 continues to develop he could give guys like Stephen curry real problems. KP3 does have the capability to be a lockdown defender. He's showing growth - the question will be - is it enough?
Given how inconsistent he's been this and last year but with spurts of looking really good especially in clutch situations, I really like the idea of him as a 6th man Lou Williams/Crawford type long-term. I just haven't seen him really be able to control a team offensively consistently enough to think that eventually he's going to be a starting PG on par with the current all-star caliber players on contending teams. So my outlook on him is relatively unchanged from early on this season if only reinforced even though he has surprised me with his improvement which he definitely has had. Still doesn't mean he's not a highly valuable player to a contending team in the future in that role.
This is 100% how I feel about Porter. I really want him to work out long term because it gets the Rockets that much closer to a return to watchable ball. And there are reasons, I think, to believe in him at pg (his production at his age/experience at the position). But when he looks bad...
Many of you are Green fans too, and are saying, he is only 20, apply the same patience to KPJ who is learning a new position this with a bunch of rookies to pass the ball to.....he is only 21. DD
His free throws are concerning, especially for a 3rd year player. The only other player off the top of my head with an inexplicable drop in free throw shooting percentage is Westbrook and he still hasn't recovered.
only thing that can save him is a position and role change, and major work on his game during the summer…maybe another coach would provide the 1st 2
Heres hoping that he has been humbled a bit by this season and he puts in the work to make even more dramatic progress for next season and moving forward. He has the talent to be another piece for this team if he puts in the work.
it’s do or die time for him 2 things that will make the Rockets upcoming decision on him quite easy: another outburst, or playing at this atrocious level in year 4 can’t be a PG, or a perimeter player in general, shooting 59% from the free throw line…not even Andre Drummond is shooting it that low this year of players who qualify, KPJr has the lowest free throw percentage in the league How is that possible?
When he threw that bowl of soup did he make contact with anyone? Do we put a 59% chance of success on that shot too?
Starting to lose faith that he's going to live up to his talent level/potential. The third year in the league is when most players start to figure it out. I guess there's no reason to give up on him for another year or so but I would certainly listen if a team was willing to offer a nice package for him.
I like the kid a lot and still have pretty high hopes for him. He's young, so he's going to have his ups and downs especially when asked to play a role he has never played before and in the NBA no less. If anything concerns me, it's his history of acting out. Last time he was seriously challenged, he responded poorly and walked out. Kid is young and fiery, I get that, but he needs to quickly learn how to harness it or it will burn him like Rondo and Artest.
Y'all tickle me with the contortions you all do to blame everything on the coaching. To suggest that any of that was due to poor coaching is laughable.
