Let us take a moment and give thanks that Otto Porter was not drafted first overall by the Cavaliers, as they considered. Of course, we know the story, Anthony Bennett ended up being the selection, and now he’s not in the league, while Porter ended up going third overall to the Wizards.
Imagine the cries of “BUST!” if it had been Porter hearing his name called first instead. He’s doing well now, but it took him a long time to get going, long even for a third pick. He was injury-prone his first season, and when he did play, he didn’t look good at all. His second year, he played a little better, but his stats were still anemic; if he had the expectations of the first overall pick on him, people would be calling for his head.
Even now, with Porter being a super-solid role-player for the Wiz, that wouldn’t nearly be enough. Would he have a different role in this scenario? Maybe he’d throw caution to the wind and shoot all the shots he wanted. Would he even be able to do that? It’s hard to imagine him shooting tons of contested shots just to get points.
Well, all that didn’t happen, and he’s one of the most ignored top picks in recent draft history. I see the view counts on these Porter videos, and they don’t lie. No one cares about this dude. My Anthony Bennett vids, on the other hand, really suck, but they have tons of views. The roles could be reversed. It was closer to happening than we allow ourselves to think.