On solid footing
Injury-plagued Porter finally feeling good, is ready to contribute
Otto Porter Jr. was the big tradedeadline acquisition for the Bulls in February 2019, but they’ve barely had a chance to see what impact he canmake on the floor. Injuries and the abbreviated 2019-20 season have limited Porter to just 29 games during his Bulls career.
Porter, who is entering the final year of his contract, has had a long layoff to recover because of COVID-19. He told reporters the foot injury that kept him sidelined most of last season now feels 100% and added hewas also healthy by the end of last season when he played in the final five games.
“Just really focus on the healthy aspect part of it,” Porter said during a videoconference Friday afternoon. “Making sure I getmy body right, knowing it could lead up to a big season this year with the Bulls, where we’re looking forward to doing big things. It’s a new year, a new start and we’re going fromthere.
“I’m just really focused on this year. You can’t really change the past.”
And nowthe challenge for the Bulls is to keep Porter, 27, healthy for a full season.
Injuries have ruined the last two seasons for Porter, limiting him to 14 games last season (foot) and 56 games in 2018-19. The last time he played close to a full season came in 2017-18, when he played 77 games for theWizards.
When he is on the court, however, Porter can still be a valuable player for the Bulls. He is one of the team’s best shooters, capable of playing the kind of versatile two-way style the new Bulls front office values.
Porter has averaged 11 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in his career and is a 40% 3-point shooter. His numbers have been even better during his brief Bulls career — averaging 14.8 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 44% from 3point range.
“With the amount of time that he’s missed, certainly him being healthy is the most important thing to our team,” coach Billy Donovan said earlier thisweek. “He’s smart (and) he’s got a really good feel of howto play.
“He can make a shot, he’s a good passer. He’s just a guy that’s not been available very much since he’s been here. The more we can keep him healthy, keep him ready, that really, really helps the group.”
With the compact schedule leading up to the regular season, the Bulls are going to monitor player workloads throughout training camp and the start of real games. Donovan this week alluded that Porter could be one of the players brought along more slowly because of his injury history.
“That’s totally up to his decision,” Porter said. “He’s doing a good job of communicating with our trainers and with me, just making sure I’m coming in and getting extrawork done as far as formy body.
“Out there on the court, I just want to feel my best, and right now I feel really good, really strong, and the foot is feeling really strong. We’ll go from there.
“As far as the minutes and such, that’s totally up to Coach. I told him Iwould play whatever he wanted me to do, play however many minutes. It’s totally up to him, and I’m definitely down for doing that.’’