The Wizards Need Otto Porter to be Otto Porter

By Colby Giacubeno

Last season as the Washington Wizards entered the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. Their first opponent was the Toronto Raptors, a team filled with young players and talent, but not star to count on during big moments. Paul Pierce made his voiced his opinion when he told the media Toronto lacked the ‘it’ factor that it took to win in the postseason.

Pierce had the experience of playing brilliant in postseason games throughout his 17-year career. In his short time with the Wizards, Otto Porter was the player that benefitted most. Porter was the 3rd overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Being a top-5 pick usually comes with huge expectations, but the 2013 draft can be regarded as the weakest there has been in years.

Still, Porter was expected to provide quality behind Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster at the small forward position. His rookie campaign was a disappointment to say the least, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds and only appearing in 37. Granted, the position at the time for the Wizards was deep, there were still expectations for Porter to come in and prove his worth of being the third pick.

Coming into his second season, Ariza was gone, but Pierce had been signed to help mature the young Washington team and instill a winning attitude throughout the organization. Porter was seeing more time now that he was second on the depth chart with Webster dealing with a back injury.

The Georgetown product was putting up better numbers than his rookie year, but still not consistent enough to make the Wizards’ bench a threat at the position. Once the postseason came along, the emergence of Porter did as well. Head Coach Randy Wittman finally made the adjustment in the lineup moving Pierce to the power forward position in order to supply John Wall with more shooters on the floor.

Porter was put in at small forward and seemed to have a rebirth in the opening series against the Toronto Raptors and it carried on into the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks. Since he hadn’t been producing much throughout the season, both team’s defensive focus was on everyone but him.

Porter took advantage of their disregard by hitting the offensive glass and converting on open opportunities from the lackluster defense. For the playoffs, he averaged 9.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. It was evident that Pierce had a tremendous effect on Porter’s confidence throughout the postseason.

Looking forward to this season, Pierce is gone and Porter as asserted himself as the frontrunner for the starting position.

A starting position usually comes with a lot more responsibility, but Porter addressed the media after day three of training camp keeping it simple with the Wizards’ expectations of him, “They want me to continue to do what I do, knock down corner three’s, rebound, and defend.”

It will remain to be seen whether or not he can transfer his success from last season’s postseason to this season. The Wizards aren’t asking him to be anything out of his potential, they just need Porter to put up the solid numbers his did late last season and do so consistently.  One thing is for sure, if Porter can play at the high level consistently this season, he will be a key piece as the Wizards make a run for the Eastern Conference title.