Washington Wizards’ Otto Porter Should Shoot More

Washington Wizards forward Otto Porter has become one of the NBA’s best 3-point marksmen, so the team needs to get him more shots.

The knock on Otto Porter coming out of Georgetown in 2013 was that he was a jack of all trades, but master of none.

Given the Washington Wizards‘ success with getting the most out of their wings, particularly because of John Wall‘s passing, the organization still chose Porter third overall, hoping that he would eventually develop an elite skill.

The modern NBA, in many ways, is built for players like Porter, who’s 6-foot-8 and has shown a willingness to defend.

He fits the 3-and-D bill – meaning, he’s capable of defending multiple positions and knocking down shots from the perimeter on a consistent basis.

But he didn’t enter the league with that developed arsenal.

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He merely had the potential to do so.

Four years later, Porter has blossomed into exactly what the Washington Wizards wanted.

After struggling to find a rhythm offensively, which was mainly caused by his fragile confidence, Porter has become one of the league’s most efficient players.

Porter is second in the NBA in 3-point percentage, just behind Utah Jazz swingman Joe Ingles.

Porter is making 46 percent of his 3-point shots while attempting 4.3 shots beyond the arc per game.

Over the past five games, Porter has displayed a level of comfort from three that’s almost unmatched by the rest of his peers (with the exception of the obvious).

On Wednesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Porter made a career-high 6 threes on 10 attempts. He scored 25 points. Then on Thursday night, Porter followed that performance by tying his career-high, making 6 threes again versus the New York Knicks.

Porter is leading the Wizards in field goal and 3-point percentage, but much of that could be attributed to his low usage.

Wall and Bradley Beal are attempting the most shots in their respective careers, making it harder for the rest of the players to elevate their scoring totals. Porter, somehow, has broken that rule. He’s putting up over 14 points per game this season and has averaged 18 over the past five contests.

Since he’s been hitting shots at a seemingly unsustainable rate, there’s question about whether or not the Washington Wizards should look to give Porter more shots.

After the win on Wednesday, Brooks spoke about wanting Porter to shoot more when he gets into that unconscious rhythm.

“The way he was shooting, he should have shot 10 more, Brooks said.” “Six-for-eight [and] even the two misses were right there. John [Wall] was looking for him, finding him, and the way their defense was collapsing on John, he made the right reads.”

Beal, whose shooting percentages have dipped over the past two games, acknowledged that Porter should have taken more shots against Memphis.

“Yeah. I should’ve gave him the ball a little more,” Beal said. “Shoot some more threes. Whenever he has it going that’s all he need is one to go in and the rest are good as gold.”

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Porter is shooting over 10 times per game, but he’s making nearly 6 of his attempts – almost all of which come from three. If the Washington Wizards want to get the most out of Porter, they have to see if he’s capable of being a legitimate scoring option a nightly basis. And there’s only one way to do that: let Otto shoot.