Bulls Can Groom Bobby Portis into a Point Center
Chicago Bulls rookie Bobby Portis drew comparisons to Kevin Garnett in his first NBA season. Could his game possibly evolve into a Giannis Antetokounmpo-type of player someday?
Big guards or point forwards in the NBA are some of the most valued tweener player types. Those kind of athletes have both the size and handles, plus court vision for the role of team playmaker.
Bobby Portis was fortunate to play in a college system that needed each player to run out on the break and attack the hoop. At times this season, you saw Portis grab a rebound and streak up the court before his man can catch up and slam it home for the Bulls.
Looking back at his draft profile, he might be able to play some type of point forward-slash-big point guard when the Bulls want to go big. Training for the role in the summer might bode well for his stock with the Bulls for the rest of his career.
Portis worked his butt off in college and made all his years count as a high-motor, high-energy, power forward. Whenever Portis was inserted into the Bulls lineup last season, he scrapped and clawed for every offensive rebound he could grab. He would also run out for a possible dunk whenever the Bulls had the chance for a fast break; a habit picked up as an Arkansas Razorback for two seasons.
Portis is a trooper and could learn the big point guard role in the Hoiball system if he chooses to. He’s not a shy player.
More from Bulls News
- The dream starting 5 for the Chicago Bulls 5 years from now
- Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu inspires the future with new school program
- Chicago Bulls NBA 2K24 full roster ratings, risers, and fallers
- Bulls sign a pair of promising guards to Exhibit 10 contracts
- When does NBA Training Camp start? Dates Bulls fans need to know
If Portis decided to become a better ball-handler and shared the ball more moving forward, you could try and make the comparison to him and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks because he runs the break so much whenever he has the chance to go for a rim attack.
Although Antetokounmpo is the better post defender than Portis, Portis is the better rebounder and looks for easy scores in transition just like Antetokounmpo.
Both are obviously tall enough to look over the defenses and he is a good passer (when he wants to be), looking for the team shooters from his stint in Las Vegas last summer with guys like Doug McDermott. Even if Portis is not a freak athlete like Antetokounmpo, he could still bring the ball up and have sets designed with him as a “point center”, overlooking the defense and the Bulls offense could add a dimension that would be tough to match up with.
If he can run the ball over the half-court line in the three seconds that Fred Hoiberg wants, why not have him bring the ball up to ease up the Bulls’ guard chores throughout games? It certainly beats watching Jimmy Butler walk the ball up and preen for 15 seconds of the shot clock before deciding to attack the hoop.
What big man can chase Portis around once he steps on the gas going upcourt like Antetoukonmpo does? He can outrace guards with bigger steps and longer strides and dunk over an opposing guard or pass off to open shooters on the wing like McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Justin Holiday.
Portis is not strong enough to defend post-ups by NBA bigs yet, but he can be a defensive weapon as a wing defender playing passing lanes, blitzing pick-and-roll sets and defending the perimeter well enough to keep both drives and corner threes from killing the Bulls.
According to Ian Levy and Darryl Blackport at Nylon Calculus: the Bulls led the league last year in allowing drives and lay-ups at 28.8 per game. If Bobby Portis were playing out on the perimeter to defend drives and had a backstopping shot-blocker, you could expect that number to go down significantly.
Hoiberg could get Portis performing a similar role to Joakim Noah, if Noah decides to pass on the Bulls next season and cash in elsewhere. Portis could further improve his game and the Bulls coaching staff can work on getting his handles tighter and more efficient to run an offense at times.
Portis could go down the traditional route and bulk up to get stronger for defending the pain. But, if Portis stays lighter on his feet and keeps that gazelle-like athleticism and learn to play a point guard-like role by improving dribbling skills and playmaking, he could become a huge asset in the future.
Before his body wore down later in his career, Kevin Garnett was a dynamic player on both ends of the floor. He could do everything for a team. Portis as a big point guard will be a better transition than turning him into another Taj Gibson defender with extended shooting range.
One reason why I thought getting Portis to emulate someone like Andre Igoudala might be better for him in an earlier article: the Bulls aren’t good at creating unusual mismatches with their best players playing roles no team can handle easily.
Next: 2016 NBA Draft: Texas center Prince Ibeh and France's Petr Cornelie
Portis turning into a phenomenon as a big point guard should have more upside than just settling for a run-out rim attacking forward or catch-and-shoot stretch four. Even Garnett had great handles himself as a stretch-four in Minnesota before settling into the center position for Boston, where he won his first and only ring.