How Craig Porter Jr. Can Block Anyone's Shot
The guard explained the magic behind his unlikely skill.
CLEVELAND — Most guys in the NBA grew up with a favorite player. Almost everyone looked up to someone. Guards in the league often look up to the late Kobe Bryant or Stephen Curry. Guys on the wing typically idolized LeBron James or Kevin Durant. A common answer for bigs is Anthony Davis or even Dirk Nowitzki.
While the idolization of all-time greats sets a lofty standard for players, it gives them a player to chase or model their games after. Guys can’t be James or Durant, but they can strive to play like them. They can take bits and pieces from what they see on the court and see how they can try and fit it into their games.
One of the influences on Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Porter Jr.’s playing style is a bit more unique. He looked up to Hall of Fame center Dwight Howard.
“When I was younger, I just always played on a shorter hoop and I just would dunk the ball all the time. And I was just fascinated with wanting to dunk,” Porter told The Inside Shot. “And at that time I was probably around 10 or 12. So he was in his prime and with Orlando and I mean, he was a dominant player.”
Some of Porter’s formative years coincided with the dominant peak of Howard. In Howard’s final five seasons in Orlando he won three Defensive Player of the Year Awards, was voted All-NBA First Team in all five seasons and finished top five in MVP voting four times.
While the ferocious dunks and offensive game that Howard possessed at that time was a big part of his success, it wasn’t the only thing that resonated with Porter.
“Some of the blocks just looked crazy, like you’re sending shots to the 20th row or whatever. But I don’t know, I was just fascinated by it,” Porter said. “It was almost like— same with the football aspect, I used to just watch compilations of the hardest hits and like, it was just those highlights stood out to me for some reason.”
That’s the area where Howard’s game ended up impacting who Porter is as an NBA player, despite a difference of eight inches in their listed heights. Howard stood at 6-foot-10 compared to Porter’s 6-foot-2 stature1. He’s become known as a shorter player with an ability to protect the rim in a way that’s unexpected.
While he’s been in-and-out of the rotation this season, when his opportunity arises, he’s made a handful of game-changing blocks for the Cavaliers against players with significant size advantages over him. His victims include the 6-foot-10 Paolo Banchero, 7-footers Chet Holmgren and Ryan Kalkbrenner, plus several others much taller than the 6-foot-2 Porter.
Last month, Porter sat down with The Inside Shot to watch back some of his more memorable blocked shots.
The first clip shown to Porter is his block of Holmgren when Oklahoma City visited Cleveland in January.
“The whole time I was running back, I just kind of realized once he got the ball, he was gonna be the one taking it, especially once he saw a smaller guard,” Porter said. “I just tried to track the ball wherever he put it. I was gonna try to wrap it up because it would have been hard to meet him at his highest point. So I just tried to get it before he could get off the ground.”
