Kevin Porter Jr. struggled through most of the night, stumbling through one of those games the Rockets hope will bring the hard lessons needed to realize the potential they see in him. A night later, he already had turned things around with solid play from start to finish.
This is the investment the Rockets have become willing to make in a lost season, the gain they hope to find in the pain. It is why they changed course to deal Victor Oladipo, making sure Porter starts and will keep starting when John Wall returns, possibly as soon as Wednesday against the Mavericks.
It is similarly why K.J. Martin, their other 20-year-old, has been playing 20 minutes a night, bringing flashes of above-the-rim potential while presumably learning from mistakes.
The goals never were clearer than in Porter’s play in the Rockets’ back-to-back to start the week. On Sunday, Porter went 5-of-15 with eight turnovers. On Monday, he had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in just 30 minutes, making five of his 10 shots in a matchup with Chris Paul, the epitome of veteran point guard savvy.
“I thought Kevin Porter Jr. was really, really good as far as making plays for his teammates and getting into the seams of the defense and kicking out to shooters or little dump-off passes,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “It’s coming along.”
Porter’s decision-making in those seams can be the difference between forcing shots and making simple plays, between struggles like Sunday’s and strong performances like Monday’s. At 6-4 and sneaky strong, he can get shots off in crowds, but they are tough shots. Though he would seem to have the skills to go one-on-one, he has scored just .64 points per iso possession, compared to .84 as a pick-and-roll ballhandler. Both seemed to point to the need to learn from trial and error.
“We all can’t forget that he’s a 20-year-old who played some last year, who played in the G League bubble this year, who is trying to find his way and has his ups and downs as we are going through this period of the season,” Silas said. “I don’t look at the numbers with him. It’s (about) improvement on a day-to-day basis. It’s practice habits. It’s getting the team in the right spots. It’s doing things to put pressure on the defense, whether it’s with his dribble or making plays for others.
“That’s a lot for a 20-year-old kid who hasn’t been with us for very long. He wasn’t in training camp. We’re just kind of throwing him out there.”
Against the Pelicans on Sunday, Porter made three of 12 shots inside the 3-point line and struggled defensively. The Rockets were outscored by 13 points in his 32 minutes. Porter, however, looked ahead, seeming to embrace the challenge to turn things around, tweeting, “I Gotta be better.”
A night later, he was. Though he always plays at a measured pace unusual for a player so young and inexperienced at the point, having only made the move to the position after the Rockets acquired him from the Cavaliers and sent him to the G League in January, he was more controlled when he got in the lane. He seemed to penetrate with a plan rather than get caught needing to make an escape.
“K.P. was pretty good,” Silas said. “He almost had a triple-double. A 20-year-old running a team against one of the best teams in the west — that’s pretty impressive.”
Martin also had his moments, with the usual mix of highlight plays, including a lefthanded catch and slam off a lob from Sterling Brown and a flying rejection of a Cameron Johnson layup on an alley oop.
While Martin was above the rim, Porter scored — save an early two-handed dunk when he broke free on a drive — with his feet largely on the ground, finishing drives, sinking a 3-pointer and putting in an offensive rebound. Scoring, however, comes naturally. The signs of improvement are related to guiding an offense.
“Being a playmaker and a point guard, there’s not times to not … get your guys in position to score or be … successful,” Porter said. “I’ve always got to be on myself to be the head of the snake. That’s probably been my biggest adjustment.”
The play of the Rockets’ young players, with rookie Jae’Sean Tate adding 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and veterans Kelly Olynyk and Brown a combined 13-of-15, could not deliver a win Monday. The Suns scored too easily through much of the game.
But playing pivotal minutes in a tight game against a top team can bring the sort of experiences the Rockets would like to accelerate their young players’ growth.
“For sure,” Silas said. “Every opportunity that these guys have to be on the court, especially against a good team like Phoenix — well-coached, veteran, very good team — all of these experiences go in the bank. They will draw from these experiences in the future.
“As disappointing as it is to lose and go through losing another game, it’s invaluable for both guys to be on the floor and kind of see what it looks like to be productive in the fourth quarter against a good team when they’re gunning for you, when we’re hanging in and playing well.”
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One night’s struggles can produce the next night’s dividends for Rockets’ Kevin Porter Jr. - Houston Chronicle
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