Entering his sixth year with the Washington Wizards, the expectations are high for 25-year-old small forward Otto Porter Jr. Head coach Scott Brooks recently spoke fondly of his underrated stud, but also called out Porter for lacking the consistency needed to take his game — and that of the Wizards — to the next level.
“What makes teams play with pace is guys running,” explained Brooks, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. “I love Otto. I love Otto. You guys know that. But he has to play faster. He has to. He makes winning basketball plays. He gets in plays, but he has to do that consistently for us. He can’t do it for a half. He has to do it for the entire game.”
The Wizards suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Eastern Conference arch-rivals Toronto Raptors on Saturday night. The game was extremely close throughout, but the Kawhi Leonard-less Raptors ended up on top with a final score of 117-113.
Despite scoring 11 points and dropping two three-pointers on the evening, Porter's performance still left much to be desired. He tallied only one rebound and zero assists in 25 minutes of action. This comes at the heels of another so-so performance on Thursday's loss against the Miami Heat, wherein Porter scored 9 points, but did not attempt a single three-pointer in 34 minutes of playing time. He was, however, able to chip in 11 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks in the 113-112 loss.
The Wizards are 0-2 to start the season, and Porter will need to show more consistency if he hopes to help his team remain competitive in the wide open Eastern Conference.
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