After another quiet performance from Otto Porter in the Wizards‘ loss to the Raptors on Saturday night, head coach Scott Brooks had some telling quotes regarding Porter’s performance, as Chase Hughes recounts for NBC Sports Washington.
In the loss to the Raptors, Porter played just 25 minutes and attempted nine shots, with seven of them coming in the first half. Porter was even less active in the opening night loss to the Heat, attempting just seven shots. As Hughes expresses, Brooks believes that Porter should be more active in setting himself up for opportunities.
Brooks stressed the fact that Porter has to get himself open and went on to highlight the need for the team’s wings to run in transition alongside John Wall.
Porter was the team’s most efficient player last season, but only attempted 11.5 shots per game. The storyline throughout training camp and the preseason was for the Wizards to work to get Porter more involved, but so far the results haven’t supported their intentions.
With the Wizards beginning a five-game road trip tomorrow, Porter figures to play a key role in helping the team turnaround after their slow start.
There’s more from the Southeast division:
- James Borrego is liking what he is seeing from Kemba Walker so far. As Matt Rochinski points out for the Hornets‘ website, Borrego calls Walker “a special competitor,” one that the team believes in to lead them to success on a nightly basis. So far, Walker has done just that, averaging 35.3 points and 5.3 assists per game this season.
- With the Heat playing in some high-scoring, fast-paced games so far this season, Ira Winderman wonders if such a strategy fits the team’s current roster. In his mailbag for The Sun Sentinel, Winderman questions if a roster that boasts Hassan Whiteside, Dwyane Wade and Kelly Olynyk (among others) can outscore teams and play at such a pace.
- Winderman also analyzes how Erik Spoelstra has divided playing time up among his bigs, as Whiteside, Olynyk and Bam Adebayo bring different skill sets to the table. With the league continuing to trend small, it will be interesting to monitor how Spoelstra deploys his centers this season and how the Heat can keep up.
With Wonslow and James Johnson out, the Heat have been forced to use 2 big lineups with Olynyk and Bam seeing time at the 4. Those lineups haven’t looked good, especially the ones with Olynyk
As for the pace question, Ira Winderman continues to prove he is a 95 year old dinosaur that is still living in the mid 90s
Porter is just another example of a league that has a broken salary structure. Porter and Batum, both good players, but not max players and the only way their teams keep them is maxing them.