Imagining Michael Porter Jr. as a modern NBA center
The big man position in the NBA is undergoing a crisis of existence. There will always have to be five players on a basketball court, and you can bet on the fact that one of them will be taller than the others. Those seem to be the only guidelines upon which we can settle now, the rest up for debate.
To that end, one could look at Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr., an expected lottery prospect in the upcoming NBA draft, and easily see him as someone capable of playing center in the so-called modern NBA.
His height will put him in position to at least physically match opposing centers. Porter, who will turn 20 a week after the draft, measured at 6-foot-9.5 barefoot at May’s draft combine in Chicago. Yet he blocked just one shot in 53 minutes over three games at Missouri and registered a meager 7-foot wingspan at the combine. He’s not the sort of physical marvel that can use his body to take control of the game.
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We did see the kind of damage a quick, tall wing can do as the last line of defense in the 2017 NBA Finals (and throughout this NBA season), though, watching the Warriors use Kevin Durant to protect the rim. In the Finals, with Draymond Green freely floating to LeBron James in transition and Andre Iguodala taking him the rest of the time, Durant roamed the paint and used mobility and instincts where other behemoths rely on strength or leaping ability.
The ability of Durant — the player who Porter has most been compared to over the past 18 months — to hang with big men (Kevin Love in this case) and make timely rotations to the rim puts him in position to block shots that seem to be past his reach. One could envision a similar role for Porter on the right team.
On the other hand, whereas Durant’s legitimate defensive skill, incredible length and IQ make him an All-Defense candidate (he averaged nearly two blocks per game this year), other modern centers rely far more on their teammates and in some cases shirk defense altogether.
Watching the limited game time Porter found this year, he certainly has some of the characteristics that could allow him to shine in a big man role, especially on offense. His sizable frame allows him to finish through contact relatively well, and he got to the line at a solid rate in AAU competition.
In addition to his finishing ability, Porter could be a weapon popping out for 3s in screen-and-roll situations. He has the size and gravity to force opposing defenders into tough decisions.
However, asking Porter to finish lobs or pop out for 3s could limit what has made him great so far as a player. He looked best in the two games to end Missouri’s season when he was moving off the ball and getting easy shots.
Stationing him around the hoop disrupts his ability to operate that way, but could also crumble opposing defenses. The ability to shoot on the move makes big men elite. Pulling off a tactic like playing Porter as the biggest guy on the court, even part-time, could be revolutionary.
On the other hand, Porter is a young player coming off a back injury. ESPN had him falling out of the lottery in a recent mock draft broadcast for precisely this reason — expecting development from Porter simultaneous to his recovery is difficult.
Playing up a position or two and battling with a Steven Adams or even a Draymond Green type could be more physicality than he’ll be ready to handle for a while.
It could also limit his weaknesses. Porter is an undeveloped passer and ball-handler relative to his positional archetype. We have seen Durant stretch the functionality of a 7-footer’s handle to its limit when he faces aggressive defense from small guards like Chris Paul or George Hill (although he certainly seems to have transcended that weakness the past few seasons). Porter struggles in the same way. He also lost a full season with the most talented teammates of his life at Missouri, so in his two full games he often chucked up a shot before the play had developed. That won’t fly in most NBA situations he enters. He will need to pass.
Playing as a big man, that stuff matters less. The possessions he uses would be easier finishes either around the hoop or beyond the arc. Those limitations could help if he never develops the secondary skills to unlock the rest of his scoring power. They also could stunt the growth of the team around him, by not allowing a player as gifted as Porter to fully develop.
A lot of it will fall on coaching, teammates and Porter’s own hard work. But we’ve seen creativity win in these situations before.
The draft writer JZ Mazlish, discussing Nikola Jokic at The Stepien, wrote:
"“Learning to appreciate a player like Jokic can lead to finding other players who make their teams better in ways not immediately obvious.”"
Jokic is one of the most confounding players in the league, destroying positional designations and flipping on its head the idea of what a center must do.
Jokic notoriously finished sixth overall in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus (and fifth in Box Plus-Minus) this season despite a miniscule block percentage and little traditional athleticism to speak of. Plugging an offense-first big man in at the rim does not necessarily sink your team’s chances of competing.
Now, the Nuggets were actually a couple points better per 100 possessions defensively when Jokic played, and he has the size and smarts to impact the game on that end in a way Porter, who has not played consistently in over a year, probably will not. Sometimes getting in the way and being in the right place can be enough, and entire defensive schemes are built to protect a genius offensive fulcrum like Jokic.
That’s not as easy when playing smaller, with someone like Porter at center. Ideally, that type of team would be heavy on switching, a break-in-case-of-emergency weapon. Even for the Warriors, the league’s best team, Green and Durant play center only when they need to turn the pressure up.
To support Porter, a team would need a standout group of wing defenders. It is slowly getting easier to build out a wing rotation as the league covets and develops them more consistently. Eventually, the balance between effective wings and bigs will even out as the league responds to what is winning.
Skill is starting to surpass athleticism in some regards as this happens. Defensive wings have a place in the league to make small ball work and combat the league’s best scorers, but around them, skilled offensive players survive more easily thanks to the advantages they create moving and passing. If we were content with the idea of Porter’s brother Jontay playing center in the NBA, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine Michael doing the same.
Yet when things get tight, non-traditional bigs need to be able to make plays in a pinch. P.J. Tucker was incredible in these Western Conference Finals, yet every so often had to find the right pass or make a floater when all else failed. Porter certainly will not be hidden as a result of his playing center.
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Developing into the type of player who can consistently make an impact as an NBA big man will require significant development and a return to full health for Porter. It will also require a team that is willing to, as Mazlish put it, improve by means that are not immediately obvious.
Out-of-the-box ideas like using Porter as a big man rather than a Michael Beasley-type combo forward can uncover the next great trend in the NBA. It could also be the key to Porter’s ultimate value as a basketball player.