2019 NBA Mock Draft: Tankers beware

The next chunk of the draft will be a run of sophomores who could have been first-rounders in this draft. Porter is in position to rise depending on how he performs as the focus of the offense at Missouri.

As a freshman, Porter completely leap-frogged out of his brother Michael’s shadow to put himself within shouting distance of the lottery on some draft boards. He eventually opted to return to school, and will use the extra season as an opportunity to work on his body and his defense without his brother in place to sop up offensive possessions.

Last year, the freshman scored 16.1 points, grabbed 11.1 rebounds and dished 3.7 assists per 40 minutes. He shot 36 percent on over 100 attempts from distance, and was in the top 15 in the country in Box Plus-Minus, which measures a player’s impact on the box score per 100 possessions.

Although Porter blocked 2.7 shots per 40 minutes, he will have major concerns to address about his defense moving forward. That will the biggest product of his extra season in college — if he can turn his intelligence and mobility into defensive impact, he will be a can’t-miss big man.

For now, teams will watch him carefully to see if he can reach his potential as a Nikola Jokic type, an elite passer with positional shooting upside and good size.