Otto Porter Jr. is no longer questionable to take part in Monday's game against the New York Knicks, declaring himself “100% ready” prior to the early Eastern Conference tilt. The Chicago Bulls wing needed six stitches to close a cut in his mouth after taking a Stanley Johnson elbow to the face during Saturday's home opener against the Toronto Raptors.
“I feel 100 percent ready to go,” Porter said after the Bulls' morning shootaround, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “As long as I can eat, I'm fine. Just trying to be available as much as possible. Unless I can't play, I'm going to work with my teammates.”
Porter has had his share of struggles through the Bulls' first three games of the 2019-20 season, now averaging 7.3 points in 23 minutes on a baffling 26.1% from the floor and 23.1% shooting from deep. The sixth-year wing is a career 48.2% shooter and one of the most consistent marksmen in recent memory, connecting on 40.3% of his 3-point shots.
Despite similar issues with Zach LaVine, Tomas Satoransky, and other teammates, the 6-foot-8 wing noted it's something that will pass once the Bulls figure it out.
“It's only a few games,” said Porter, talking about the team-wide shooting issues. “We're still getting our legs up under us. We're still learning as a group. We're still learning our identity. The 3-point shots, as long as we can continue to take them at a high clip, we'll start making them. We're not shying away from shooting 3s. We're going to continue to shoot them and start making them.”
The Bulls, who followed advanced analytics to incentivize players to shoot more threes this season, are shooting a mere 29.2% from distance in three games thus far.
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