If Porter drops to 7

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#5
I've got Porter in my top 6 (with Ayton, Bagley, Bamba, Doncic, Jackson). If Porter is the only one of those players to fall to our pick, I say take him unless he's a medical red flag. If TWO of those players fall to our pick, I don' t know - it would depend on who else was there and the medicals, of course.

Porter could end up being either a steal or a bust due to his injury - it's just impossible to guess which.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#6
Man, I really don't like Porter.

Between the back injury and his best case being something in the Rudy Gay, gets points but doesn't help you win at all and is actually a net negative, mold of offense only player...

I get that we need a number 1 option, but still.... I'd rather have one of the Bridges.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#7
Man, I really don't like Porter.

Between the back injury and his best case being something in the Rudy Gay, gets points but doesn't help you win at all and is actually a net negative, mold of offense only player...

I get that we need a number 1 option, but still.... I'd rather have one of the Bridges.
Well I'm a big Mikal Bridges fan, but to be fair to Porter, he was prior to the injury considered one of two players who would battle for the number one spot, the other being Doncic. Obviously we have little to nothing to go on from college. Anyone that's using those last two games he played as a means of judging his abilities, is just plain nuts. I saw a couple of his highschool games and one of the highschool all star games, don't remember which one, but he outplayed Bagley in it.

Prior to the injury he was an above average athlete who could score from anywhere on the floor, and who could put the ball on the floor and attack off the dribble as well. Frankly I'm getting a little sick and tired of these Rudy Gay comparisons as though Gay is a terrible player. Rudy was, and apparently still is a very good basketball player. But like every player, it's all about fit, or lack of fit that determines the results. If memory serves, Tatum was subjected to the same criticism, and when I last checked, he's doing just fine. My bet is that the Kings would love to have Tatum starting at SF.

To my mind, and to echo the Capt and Telemachus, it comes down to his getting a clean bill of health from the team doctors. If there's even a shred of doubt in that area, then you pass. But if you believe he'll return to his original form, then he would be hard to pass up. As much as I love Mikal, I think I would have to take Porter. My hope is that both players are sitting there when we pick. And with the 7th pick in the 2018 draft, the Sacramento Kings pick, Trae Young!!!!!:p Just kidding, just kidding....
 
#10
If Porter is healthy and available at #7, I think we have to swing for the fences and take him.

The Kings need an alpha scorer and he may have the highest upside of any player in our range.
I don't think this is our greatest need. I would take a wing that can defend the perimeter right now. Maybe porter is that guy but that's the skill I'm looking for right now.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#12
Well I'm a big Mikal Bridges fan, but to be fair to Porter, he was prior to the injury considered one of two players who would battle for the number one spot, the other being Doncic. Obviously we have little to nothing to go on from college. Anyone that's using those last two games he played as a means of judging his abilities, is just plain nuts. I saw a couple of his highschool games and one of the highschool all star games, don't remember which one, but he outplayed Bagley in it.

Prior to the injury he was an above average athlete who could score from anywhere on the floor, and who could put the ball on the floor and attack off the dribble as well. Frankly I'm getting a little sick and tired of these Rudy Gay comparisons as though Gay is a terrible player. Rudy was, and apparently still is a very good basketball player. But like every player, it's all about fit, or lack of fit that determines the results. If memory serves, Tatum was subjected to the same criticism, and when I last checked, he's doing just fine. My bet is that the Kings would love to have Tatum starting at SF.

To my mind, and to echo the Capt and Telemachus, it comes down to his getting a clean bill of health from the team doctors. If there's even a shred of doubt in that area, then you pass. But if you believe he'll return to his original form, then he would be hard to pass up. As much as I love Mikal, I think I would have to take Porter. My hope is that both players are sitting there when we pick. And with the 7th pick in the 2018 draft, the Sacramento Kings pick, Trae Young!!!!!:p Just kidding, just kidding....
Well, I haven't seen much of Porter, so if you think he's worth a shot, I'll acquiesce to the wisdom of one of our resident "draft prospect guys" ;)
For the record, I was all about Tatum last year. I think my favorite pre-draft scenario was us grabbing him and DSJ at 10. I think Tatum is a bit more of an all around player than Porter.

I'm standing firm on my hatred of Rudy Gay though. I've seen more than enough of that guy!
 
#13
I would take him if he drops. Has more potential upside than the players that should be left on the draft board. I'd rather swing for the fences than come away with a role player. I thought he looked like he had a good foundation to build on and that was even with the rust after he came back. You could see glimpses in there of what he's capable of.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#14
Interesting.....I can't say I've seen Porter at his best but I've seen Mikal Bridges.......I think Bridges is going to shoot up the rankings
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#15
you have to be careful of those players that drop as the draft approaches, the Kings have fallen for that trap once too many times. It may be too good to be true. I'd really hope the front office does their homework on all the prospects they bring in for workouts. That said, I'd have to see how he checks out medically for one, two, I'd like to see how he fares in his workouts. Not much college tape to go off of so you'd have to go back to his high school tapes and Mickey D's All-American game to see if there is anything there worth drafting.
 
#16
you have to be careful of those players that drop as the draft approaches, the Kings have fallen for that trap once too many times. It may be too good to be true. I'd really hope the front office does their homework on all the prospects they bring in for workouts. That said, I'd have to see how he checks out medically for one, two, I'd like to see how he fares in his workouts. Not much college tape to go off of so you'd have to go back to his high school tapes and Mickey D's All-American game to see if there is anything there worth drafting.
True, the Kings have had some bad luck with players falling to them in the draft, however I think this is a consensus 9 player deep, possibly more draft. Depending on teams needs and who climbs and who slips a bit, Porter at 7 might not seem unreasonable.
 
#18
Porter is a big risk, but I would probably take it at 7. I'm not 100% sure of his position but he has a lot of talent that works well in today's NBA and it's been said he has "go-to-guy" scoring ability. He was rated higher than a lot of the guys ahead of him coming out so assuming his health checks out I think he's worth the risk.
 
#19
I would unquivocally take Mikal Bridges over Porter if both are on the board. Porter is a nice prospect, but serious question, what appreciable difference is there between him and Skal? Ballhandling maybe a little better?
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
#20
He should be on the the short list of candidates for our pick. I don't have a good read on him yet. Like baja said those two games he played for Missouri this year basically mean nothing as he obviously wasn't in game shape yet. There's some risk there with the back injury -- I don't know anything about the long-term prognosis but "back surgery" is not something I want to hear associated with a prospect. Joel Embiid is the obvious success story (so far...) but I feel like the track record of players sliding because of serious injury concern is not all that great. Brandon Roy comes to mind. We also have some draft capitol invested in Harry Giles' knees already which is another consideration. We don't want to be mortgaging our whole future on multiple players recovering from serious injury. So I'm nervous about Porter but he's too talented to dismiss outright. If there's anything even slightly wonky with his medical report I would probably shy away but it's too early to know that now.
 
#21
Having never seen him play and only going off of articles, I'm wondering why exactly everyone is so high on him? I hear "go-to scorer" and "alpha" thrown around, but from what it sounds like to me, he has a nice shot, including a step back, but doesn't appear to be elite at anything else.

I hear he's not a great ball handler, distributor, or athlete, so why is he such an "elite" scorer? What else does he have going for him outside of size and shooting? Based on what I've read, I can't figure out why he's projected to potentially be such a beast at the next level.
 

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#24
depends on who else slips and how porter looks in combine. I also want to have our doctors take a good long look. That being said IF Vlade feels good about Skal/Giles and thinks he can land one of the better SF's in free agency a calculated risk with Porter is just the kind of move that can pay off big time. I am not nearly as well versed on College ball as I was a decade or so ago but there were good reasons that he had been discussed at a top 3 pick before the injury.
 
#30
There was a strong reason why Michael Porter Jr. was regarded as the #1 recruit in the nation for the class of 2017. Don't let these injuries and bad press about him fool you. I've seen him play and the kid is very mature compared to many other players his age entering the draft. Loves the game of basketball and has played against many older men in different leagues during the off season. At times he made other grown men look like children. Every player has weaknesses and HIS weaknesses are easily fixable with the right staff around him (not saying our staff is the best). If healthy, I can easily see him being one of the best players coming out of this draft..... and YES he is a small forward.
 
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