Rockets ‘excited’ to add Kevin Porter Jr., but debut isn’t imminent
Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said Friday that he’s quite excited by Houston’s latest trade for talented-but-troubled prospect Kevin Porter Jr., a first-round pick in the 2019 NBA draft from Cleveland.
However, due to some well-publicized personal issues in recent months, the 6-foot-4 guard hasn’t practiced or played with the Cavaliers in the 2020-21 season. As such, even though he’s now officially a member of the Rockets, it will likely take some time before he’s ready for NBA games.
Here’s a portion of what Silas said prior to Friday’s game in Detroit:
The main word that you use is developing. He hasn’t played in a while, so it’s going to be up to us to really come up with a good structure for him, on and off the court, for him to be successful. We’re committed to that.
He obviously is very talented, he’s versatile on both ends of the floor. He can do a lot on the basketball court. We feel like we have the structure in place to let him be successful. I spoke to him last night, and he’s excited about the potential of adding to our group. It’s up to us to have honest conversations, back and forth, and develop a relationship. But it’s an exciting thing, to have a young guy who has potential. I feel like, with what Rafael [Stone] has done and what Tilman [Fertitta] has done and what I’m trying to do, kind of aligns with putting something together to where he can be successful.
We don’t really know what the next step is, as far as when he’s going to be coming down, and what the plan is. That’s something, we’re going to have to sit down and really think about what’s best for him, and what’s best for our group. He hasn’t done much in a little while. He’s been working out at high schools in Cleveland, just trying to stay in shape, but that’s nothing near playing in an NBA game. So I wouldn’t anticipate him playing in an NBA game relatively soon. We just have to make sure that the structure is in place for him to be able to succeed on the basketball floor, as well as off.
Silas said he spoke at length with Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, a good friend, regarding his experiences with Porter. “He made me feel good about getting the kid, for sure,” Silas said of that conversation.
After playing in college at the University of Southern California (USC), Porter was the No. 30 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He averaged 10.0 points (44.2%) and 3.2 rebounds in 23.2 minutes per game as a rookie and showed flashes of strong play on both offense and defense, but fell out of favor in Cleveland after several concerning incidents.
The Rockets, however, are hopeful that assistant coach John Lucas can help. “Houston plans to have Lucas, who has helped several NBA and NFL players overcome personal issues to get their careers back on track, work closely with Kevin Porter Jr.,” tweeted ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Whenever he joins the team, the 20-year-old will be a backcourt option behind veterans John Wall, Victor Oladipo, and Eric Gordon.
