The high amount of steals show Porter Jr’s knowledge of rotations and timings as well as his quick hands. Stephen Noh of The Athletic did an excellent job breaking down Porter Jr’s defense. This excerpt from the piece stood out in particular:
"Porter does have some definite strengths on defense. He is a tough rebounder and a good box-out guy. He understands help rotations very well, which is an aspect the Bulls have struggled with while employing Jim Boylen’s aggressive schemes. He also has a good nose for the ball and his steal numbers have been solid. Team defense is where Porter shines, and the Wizards’ defense has been significantly better with him on the floor the past two seasons. He’s a smart player, and he will help the Bulls guard better. But he’s not a world-class stopper."
That’s the former third overall’s pick value on defense. Offensively, Porter Jr.’s ability to make an impact off ball is valuable when playing with a high-usage player like LaVine.
The Bulls are hoping that the team has success in the future with LaVine and Markkanen leading the offense and Porter Jr. being a high-volume, efficient shooter while being a good team defender who can help mask some of the deficiencies that Lavine has as well as give LaVine a player he can trust on offense.
Zach LaVine is a flawed but useful player. He can get tunnel vision at times, but he showed some growth last year operating the PnR (0.90 points per possession) according to Synergy’s tracking data. The Bulls ran a heavy diet of PnR as LaVine ran it 40.2 percent of the time. The Bulls should run a lot of spread pick-and-roll with their full healthy – knock on wood – starting five.
Unless Kris Dunn is suddenly a vastly improved player, Tomas Satoransky will supplant him as the lead guard with Wendell Carter Jr. replacing Robin Lopez. This is the closest thing the Bulls have had to a modern offense since the Warriors went and changed the offensive philosophy of the NBA! A shift in philosophy would greatly benefit Zach LaVine and Otto Porter Jr. is apart of that shift.
The former Georgetown Hoya and the former Bruin complement each other, and it shows in the numbers as well. The Bulls had a positive plus/minus when both Otto Porter Jr. and Zach LaVine shared the court together, and the lineups with Zach LaVine on the court without Otto Porter Jr. were a – 1.6 according to NBA.com’s data. Porter Jr. had a positive effect on another member of the Bulls core as well in Lauri Markkanen.
When the two shared the court, the lineup was a 1.7. When Porter Jr. was off the court, the lineup was a -2.5. It’s often up for debate in sports on whether talent or fit is more important. You can rarely find both, but when you do, you can’t let that player walk.