Porterhouse
This isn’t about your favorite steak or steakhouse, this is all about buckets. Two future stars that everyone should have on their radar.
The NBA today is filled with an insane amount of young talent that has so much potential. The two I want to highlight in this article are Kevin Porter Jr. and Michael Porter Jr. Both of these young guys are absolute dogs on the court and are definitely destined to do great things.
Kevin who is a SG on the Houston Rockets recently turned 21 and has made a name for himself in Houston after they acquired him from Cleveland. When “KPJ” was at USC, he was referred to as a “natural scorer” with “maturity issues”. Yes, Kevin has had his moments which is what led to him being dealt from Cleveland, but the talent is there. Houston got him for a 2nd round pick and I guarantee that a few years from now that trade will be looked upon as one the biggest “steals” ever.
For Houston, they struck gold with KPJ after they traded James Harden to Brooklyn and got almost nothing in return. Since arriving in Houston, KPJ has averaged 16.6 PPG & 6.3 APG on 42/31/73 shooting splits. Now for those that like to get on young players for being “inconsistent” know that Kevin has had to get use to playing alongside John Wall and then playing without him once Houston shut him down for the season. Kevin has also shown flashes of being a great playmaker for Houston as he has ten games with seven or more assists.
Kevin Porter Jr. is also the youngest player in NBA history to have 50+ points and 10+ assists in a game after he dropped 50 points & 11 assists on 61/60/80 shooting splits against the Bucks. Again, KPJ has just turned 21 and he’s already shown us that he has the potential to be an All-Star. He’s naturally a SG, but he can definitely be a full time PG for Houston as he has the tools capable. Houston has some wonderful young players on the roster with the likes of Christian Wood and Kenyon Martin Jr. and with the amount of picks that they have over the next few years, I do not see the Rockets being in a “rebuild” for long.
Now “MPJ” is a player that was made in a lab not on earth. He’s 6'10 and can shoot from anywhere on the floor, he can play the SF & PF position which helps Denver in finding mismatches that Michael can then exploit.
MPJ entered the NBA Draft in 2018 and was coming off of a lackluster Freshman year at Missouri in which he spent most of the season injured. In High School, MPJ was the NO.1 ranked recruit at Nathan Hale out of Seattle, Washington. Coached by Brandon Roy, Porter led Nathan Hale to a perfect 29-0 record and won the Washington Class 3A State Championship his senior year. He averaged 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds en route to being named a McDonald’s All-American.
Due to the back injury, he fell to the 14th pick (Denver) and was passed up by the Clippers who had two chances to select him. This is significant because just last year MPJ announced his arrival in the bubble as he played a part in getting the Nuggets to the WCFs after a second 3-1 series comeback against the Clippers. In the Bubble, MPJ averaged 14.2 PPG on 50/39/82 shooting splits in 26 games.
Michael is only 22 and has shown on multiple occasions that he isn’t afraid of the moment. The Nuggets are of course Jokic and Murray’s team, but that hasn’t stopped MPJ from getting the most out of his minutes, even if it means creating his own shots and challenging the locker room to get him the ball.
With Murray being sidelined with a torn ACL, MPJ has had to step up and he’s definitely shown that he’s more than capable of shouldering some of the load as Jokic will deal with a high amount of attention in the playoffs.
In the 17 games that Murray has missed since the injury, MPJ has averaged 24.8 PPG on 54% shooting. One thing I’ve noticed about Porter’s game is that he is a efficient scorer which is rare in a player that’s as young as he is. This season he has a true shooting percentage of 66%.
Another thing that I’ve noticed is that he isn’t deterred by missed shots, and he plays with high energy. Not to mention that he handles the ball well for a guy his size. Some have labeled him as “the next KD”, and although that’s far fetched, you have to admit that MPJ does have some KD in him.
Both KPJ & MPJ have bright, bright futures ahead of them and for me personally, I can say that I am more than excited to see how these two guys improve their games as they get older and gain more experience. The NBA is truly in great hands with all of the young talent it possesses, and both KPJ & MPJ will play a huge part in taking the game to new heights.
