Washington prevails despite ‘snitching’ by Otto Porter Jr.
Former Wizard’s scouting report not enough to beat old team
CHICAGO – For all of his six years in the NBA, Otto Porter Jr. has worn red. Still, the Chicago Bulls’ vibrant, ruby-colored jersey looks a bit odd on Porter. Not just for his former Washington Wizards teammates, whom he said goodbye to this past week after getting traded before a game in Milwaukee. The new work threads shock Porter, too.
“It was kind of weird,” Porter said of putting on a Bulls uniform. “Still hasn’t hit me yet.”
Count the Wizards’ 134125 win over the Bulls on Saturday night as more than a dress rehearsal. Porter, as well as the two players he swapped places with ahead of the trade deadline — Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis — appear to have adjusted to the fit of their new teams.
Porter, no longer the tertiary character in the Wizards’ triumvirate, said he never expected to leave Washington but has elevated to become a clear-cut leader on a young Bulls team. Porter shot in volume (6-for-15 overall) on his way to 17 points.
Parker, free from Jim Boylen’s doghouse, could not figure out why his relationship soured with the Bulls coach but can now play the position where he feels most himself. Parker started the second half in place of a hobbled forward Jeff Green (hip) and scored 20 points as a key part of a Wizards bench unit that produced a season-high 64. Washington won its second straight game since the trade and improved to 24-32.
“He’s a playmaker,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said of Parker. “We’re lucky to have him. He does a lot of good things for us. We’re going to use him as we have used him the last couple of games. We’ve been watching film on him and we feel like this is his best way to contribute to our team, being like a point forward.” TV: Radio:
And Portis — no matter which jersey he wears, he sees red on the court — finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds and made sure the Bulls felt his presence. In the opening quarter, Portis leveled Porter and walked past him without extending a hand to help him up. Before the buzzer, he whacked Wayne Selden Jr.’s layup attempt off the glass.
“I was hurt the last 48 hours,” said Portis, who hasn’t been shy in voicing his opinion about the trade on social media. “But when I got to the game [in Washington against Cleveland on Friday], those hurt emotions went away.”
The United Center served as the platform for all three players to perform in their new roles. Each man had his own motivation.
Porter looked like a new man in a Bulls uniform. Gone was the player whom the Wizards spent the past two seasons chastising for not shooting enough. By the end of the first quarter, he had launched more shot attempts (five) than any Wizards player, including two-time all-star Bradley Beal (four). He seemed to rather enjoy one particular bucket against his former mates.
Although Porter prides himself on being a complete player who makes the right decisions, he attacked whenever possible and took Chasson Randle to the rim around the 3½ -minute mark of the opening quarter. When Porter finished the play through a slap on his forearm, he walked toward his new teammates on the sideline and flexed his muscles.
Porter didn’t always need brawn to best the Wizards. When Beal tried to find a teammate in the corner, Porter jumped the lane and intercepted the pass. Beal mouthed “my bad” while backpedaling to the defensive end. However, when a foe has six years of institutional knowledge on his side, mistakes like that can happen.
“Yeah, I was telling Coach everything there was to know about Washington,” Porter said, smiling, when asked about his first video session breaking down the Wizards as an opponent. “Everything. I was snitch- ing.”
For his film-room information, Porter has needed just three days to become a favorite of Boylen’s.
“Everyone has a different style of leadership. His approach already is respected. His spirit is acknowledged,” Boylen said. “When you have a guy in his second film session repeating what the coach is saying how we’re going to do stuff — and we ask questions during our film session, [such as] ‘What is this?’ — and he’s the guy answering already, it’s powerful.”
Although Parker once shared a strong bond with Boylen, he spoke candidly before the game about the deterioration of that relationship.
This season with the Bulls, Parker started 17 straight games, but his role changed after Fred Hoiberg was fired Dec. 3. Once Boylen moved to the head seat, Parker went to the bench. Five games later, he fell completely out of the rotation.
“It was a total 180, definitely,” Parker said, sharing his view on how the relationship with Boylen changed. “At that point, we never had controversy. I always had his back, you know, with things that we had in-house problems with. Always had his back, always had everybody’s back.
“Just to see that relationship go sour, not from my end but from his end, was just bad. Because you trust the guy,” Parker continued in a soft-spoken voice.