Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Otto Porter Jr. Is Ready to Bring Toronto Exactly What the Raptors Are Looking For
He may not be Kevin Durant, but for now, Otto Porter Jr. is ready to hit the ground running and bring the Toronto Raptors exactly what the organization is looking for.
It's been three years since the Raptors climbed to the NBA mountaintop and hoised the Larry O'Brien trophy back in 2019. Since then, so much has changed. Only two rotation players remain from that group, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, and a little more championship know-how is never something to overlook.
Enter Toronto's biggest offseason acquisition to date, the 29-year-old Porter, a 6-foot-8, of course, 200-pound wing, fresh off the heels of an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors.
Porter had planned on re-signing out West for next season, but when the Warriors refused to come up to his asking price, he began to look elsewhere. Eventually, multiple offers came in, he said, and Toronto became the obvious destination.
"This is definitely a place I wanted to go to," he said during his introductory press conference Wednesday afternoon at the OVO Athletic Centre. "My wife is from here, it’s just a lot easier for the family. A great organization, a great team, young team that has aspirations to get back to the top.
"Winning a championship last year in Golden State, I feel like I can bring that experience here to help the younger guys out."
Porter is suddenly one of the veterans for the Raptors. In his eight years in the league, he's seen just about everything there is to see. He's gone from a high prized No. 3 draft pick by the Washington Wizards and a max contract kind of player to an injury-plagued role player and eventually an NBA champion.
"I['ve] seen what it took to put it all together," said Porter who averaged 8.2 points in 22.2 minutes per game for the Warriors last season. "I think that I learned a lot from being in Golden State that I can bring to this team, especially with the younger guys."
All that knowledge is certainly helpful, but Porter's most important skill for Toronto next season is going to be his shooting. He's been a 40% shooter from behind the arc for his career and has nailed 42% of his catch-and-shoot looks from three-point range over the past six seasons. For comparison, last season the Raptors shot 37% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers, approximately a league-average rate.
"It’s key to today’s NBA, spacing the floor. And I was able to do that in Golden State and help space the floor for guys to penetrate and get to the rim," Porter added. "Hopefully I can bring that here, where VanVleet can get downhill more, Pascal can have more room to operate, Scottie have more room to operate. And to bring defensive pressure on the ball, pretty much switch one through five, and that’s huge."
That switch-everything defensive philosophy the Raptors deploy certainly piqued Porter's interest, he said. It's a "fun" style of play to have so many wings who can do a little bit of everything and wreak havoc on opposing offenses, he added.
The next little while is still up in the air for Porter who is still coming down from the high of the championship and could use a little time off. He and the organization will likely get together and start crafting an offseason plan while keeping the workload light on Porter who has dealt with injuries for much of his career.
Before long, it'll be right back on the court as Porter and the Raptors try to recreate the success both he and his new organization had not too long ago.
"I’m looking forward to a new opportunity here in Toronto," he said, "to get back to that championship."
Further Reading
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