All summer, the Houston Rockets hinted that Kevin Porter Jr. was going to be their starting point guard this season. John Wall not being in the picture only makes this even more of a reality.
At a charity event availability, Rafael Stone indicated that the organization views him as a playmaker. This was also when it was an open secret that Houston was going to select Jalen Green with the second overall pick. Green being a shooting guard obviously brought up questions about the Rockets' plans with Porter, but moving him up a position was actually not a bad idea.
“Kevin’s talented enough that he’s positionless,” said Stone at the availability. “I do believe his best skill right now is passing. His court vision, his handle allows him to make plays for others. That is already at a near-elite level.”
Porter displayed his playmaking chops last season when Wall went down with a season-ending injury. He was asked to create for others and, for the most part, did a good job. Obviously, there are areas he will need to clean up — namely turnovers. However, he seems very enthusiastic about this new role with the team and doesn't view it as anything drastic.
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“Honestly, I've never really seen myself as a shooting guard or a point guard,” said Porter at Rockets Media Day. “I've always seen myself as a combo guard before I got here, because I've always been able to playmake. My passing, to me, was one of the best things I could do, but a lot of people couldn't see that because I wasn't able to playmake a lot where I was at. I feel like coming [to Houston] showed them that playmaking side.”
For what it's worth, Porter has experience playing point guard from his middle school and high school days. Obviously, doing it at the NBA level is a completely different ball game. It does look like he's up for the challenge though.
“I've always been vocal,” said Porter after his second day of training camp practice. “That's kind of half of being a point guard, so I already have that coming into training camp. In my training camp with Cleveland I was the small forward, off-ball type of dude, but I was still vocal. Me just being vocal throughout the years has kind of helped me transition to being a point guard.”
And he's right. If you've ever been at an NBA game, the point guard is always barking orders, approaching different players about certain things, and instructing people where to be on the floor.
A great example of this is Chris Paul. If you could turn down crowd noise at a Phoenix Suns game, fans at home would quickly grow tired at how much (and how loud) Paul talks to his teammates.
“You're an extension of the coach,” said Porter. “You're the floor general. Whatever the coach tells you, you tell the other people. You're just projecting his voice. A lot of people come up to you talking about literally everything because you're the head honcho. You're the head snake. It's really important for your point guard to have that type of chemistry with the coach, because if not, the coach is saying one thing and the point guard is saying another thing. It's not going to work like that. Having John [Lucas] around, having the same head coach, the same GM as last year — I already learned from them. I know what they want, I know what they're looking for from me, and that kind of helps ease things out.”
Playing Porter at lead guard does present significant defensive concerns for Houston. Defense has never been a quality of his to write home about — quite the opposite actually. Porter was the worst defensive player in basketball last year, per ESPN's Defensive RPM metric. Even if you're not a fan of the metric, the eye test reveals him to be an objectively poor defender. However, Porter ended last season talking about how he wanted to improve on that end and is confident that he can be better this season.
“I'm more of an on-ball defender, so I've been keying in on my help-side [defense],” said Porter. “More so rotations, that's what I really got to get good at. I can guard 1-4. I'm long, lean, and fast. This is the fastest I've been and the quickest I've been, so I'm very confident that even if I get beat, I can recover. I'm very confident in my defense this year.'
Confidence is obviously part of the equation, but Porter hasn't played a minute of basketball yet this season. He'll have to prove that he can be substantially better in a number of different areas entering his critical, extension-eligible offseason next summer.
“I stay working on my game,” said Porter. “I want to be able to do everything great. Defense, pass, shoot, IQ, literally everything. That's my challenge to myself. I feel like I can be that type of player. So that's where my craft is.”
It will certainly be an interesting season for the young Rockets guard.
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