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Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks apparently can't get his starting small forward Otto Porter to shoot the ball more. The man was so desperate that he sought the help of the media to ask the former third overall pick of the 2013 NBA draft to take more shots.
“I know you guys aren’t trying to do me any favors here, but if you guys could do me one favor: Just yell at him every time he doesn’t shoot the ball. Just scream at him,” Brooks jokingly asked the reporters during NBA media day per Fred Katz of The Athletic. “Ask him questions about that every time: ‘Otto, why don’t you shoot?’ He needs to shoot the ball. He passes up three or four shots a game.”
The former Oklahoma City Thunder coach added that he can't make the light any greener than it already is for the lanky forward.
Brooks, who is now entering his third year as coach of the Wizards, has surely taken notice of Porter's consistent development year after year. The former Hoya has seen his three-point percentage increase every year he has been in the NBA.
Porter shot 36.7 percent from deep in his first year as a full-time starter for the Wizards in 2015-16. He improved that the following season to 43.4 percent, and in the 2017-18 season, he upped his percentage even further to 44.1 percent. Moreover, his field goal percentage has been above 50 percent over the past two seasons.
The Wizards regressed last season after falling a game short of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016-17, perhaps mainly due to All-Star John Wall's injury-plagued year.
With the Wizards looking to have a bounce-back year, it would definitely help if Porter gets to that next level, and becomes the third star that will complement the team's All-Stars in Wall and Bradley Beal. Perhaps the way that he can do so is if he heeds his coach's call: shoot more.
