Philadelphia 76ers: 2019 NBA Draft prospect primer

Kevin Porter Jr. – USC

With the 2019 NBA Draft less than a month away, we’ve officially entered into ‘Mock Draft season’, where pundits, writers, and bloggers (like yours truly) comb through the best players college basketball has to offer and theoretically select the next great member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Will any of it actually come to fuition? I guess it depends on how things fall, but if The Ringer‘s latest Mock Draft 2.0 is to be believed, the Sixers stumble into a lottery-level Pac-12 talent.

That’s right people; we’re talking about USC guard/forward Kevin Porter Jr.

Porter, the son of Baltimore/Capitol/Washington Bullets point guard Kevin Porter (hence the Jr.), is a 19-year-old wingman from South Seattle Washington. The 16th ranked prospect in his class according to Rivals.com, the five-star recruit took his talents to USC, where he spent one indefinitely suspension-shortened season playing for Andy Enfield‘s Trojans.

While USC wasn’t particularly good in 2018-19, despite having their first 5-star recruit since DeMar DeRozan back in 2008, Porter shined in his 21 appearances with the team, recording an average of 9.5 points, four rebounds, and .8 steals while shooting 41.2 percent from 3 point range on 3.2 attempts a game.

Not amazing, but not great either.

From there, Porter finished out the season on suspension and never again suited up in the Cardinal and Gold, instead focusing on continuing his career in the NBA, presumably as a first-round pick.

But, what could fans in the 215 expect from Porter on the court if he were to fall to 24?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

If you didn’t stay up late to watch middling Pac-12 basketball programs (so everyone), Porter has publicly stated that he’s modeled his game after everyone’s favorite scorer James Harden. Like Harden, Porter likes to dribble, drive, and score in iso situations. While this obviously isn’t what most teams are looking for from a non-superstar, especially one who’d probably start off his career coming off the bench, that may not be the case in the City of Brotherly Love.

While Brett Brown prefers 3-and-D basketball players – especially on the wings – about as much as any currently successful NBA coach, the 76ers have actually been in serious need of a player coming off the bench who can score the basketball in a variety of different ways from all over the court.

Though Porter isn’t exactly a 3-point assassin in the same vein of Landry Shamet, who finished 13th in regular season 3-point shooting percentage (42.2 percent), 2018’s MR. Basketball Seattle did shoot the ball well in his 21 games at USC, finishing out his career in Los Angels with a 51.2 percent overall shooting percentage.

That’s pretty good.

But if Porter is so good, why would he still be available at 24? Well, his game has some pretty noticeable flaws.

In 21 games with the Trojans, Porter only shot 46 free throws attempts; about two a game. While this isn’t great for a player who drives to the basket as much as Porter does, the fact that he only made 24 of these shots or about 52 percent of them, is even more worrisome. Typically scouts want a scorer to hit 90 percent of their free throws, 50 percent of their shots from the field, and 40 percent of their shots from 3 point range. When a player misses over 40 percent of their free throws, that typically signifies a lack of discipline and commitment to the craft.

Speaking of a lack of discipline, Porter is also a pretty bad defender.

Facing off against mostly Pac-12 opponents, many of whom won’t ultimately end up in the NBA, Porter looked very shaky on the defensive end of the court, slacking off of his defender and instead focusing on hauling in a defensive rebound.

But hey, Brett Brown loves guards who rebound – just ask James Ennis – so who knows, that may actually be a plus.

Ultimately, whether Elton Brand decides to select Kevin Porter Jr. or not will depend on his maturity and fit inside the Philadelphia 76ers’ veteran-heavy locker room. While he may not be a perfect fit, Porter has a chance to become a solid player that has the size, speed, and switchability to thrive alongside players like Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. If he’s there at 24, as The Ringer suggests, there are far worse players to select in the first round.