{"id":727350,"date":"2026-06-10T12:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727350\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:12:12","slug":"cavs-final-report-card-craig-porter-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727350\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs final report card: Craig Porter Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Porter Jr. hoped to take the next step forward as a consistent rotational player for the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> this season. How close did he get?<\/p>\n

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.<\/p>\n

Cleveland leaned on Porter during the first half of the season when injuries decimated their roster. He quickly made himself useful as an energizer off the bench who could pass, dribble, and defend. His improvements on the defensive side of the floor were especially helpful.<\/p>\n

Head coach Kenny Atkinson challenged Porter before the season to get into the best shape of his life. Increased stamina and endurance became the priority. Porter aced those tests, accepting the challenge and entering the season in better shape than ever.<\/p>\n

This helped turn Porter from a liability on defense into someone who could actually make an impact. Darting into passing lanes and picking pockets are examples of this. Porter finished this season with career-highs in block and steal percentage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coaches love when players heed their advice. Porter was rewarded for his hard work with more minutes this season (1,148) than in his first two combined (1,162). Injuries, of course, also helped open the door for Porter to play more often.<\/p>\n

On offense, Porter\u2019s experience is making him a more polished playmaker. He dished 205 assists to just 59 turnovers, placing in the 97th percentile<\/a> for assist-to-usage ratio. Porter also made an impact on the offensive glass, ranking fifth on the roster in offensive rebounds behind only Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Jaylon Tyson and Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin.<\/p>\n

Still, some things will always work against Porter.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an undersized point guard who isn\u2019t impactful without the ball on offense. That\u2019s because he\u2019s a limited shooter who doesn\u2019t feel confident in his outside shot. He took just 1.5 three-pointers per game, ranking in the 27th percentile<\/a> for three-point volume relative to his position. He won\u2019t be able to co-exist with Donovan Mitchell or James Harden until he can reliably space the floor.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, positional versatility is king in today\u2019s NBA. Porter might have multiple skills, but he lacks the size to truly maximize any of them. His defense, for example, can only be so impactful when he isn\u2019t capable of switching onto bigger opponents.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rate this season as a partial success for Porter. He should be proud of improving physically and taking a step forward on defense. He\u2019ll need to continue working on his jumper, but he can find solace in knowing that his mechanics are not totally broken. He\u2019s got a fine enough shot to believe that marginal improvements are possible for him.<\/p>\n

Moving up from his current place in the rotation will be a challenge. But there are worse things than being a third-string guard in the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Porter Jr. hoped to take the next step forward as a consistent rotational player for the Cleveland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,115848,352401,590,85],"class_list":["post-727350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cavs-analysis","tag-cavs-player-grades","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}