Mar 30, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Darren Collison (7) loses the ball as he trips below Washington Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. (22) during the second quarter at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Wizards: Porter Quietly Having Career Season

The Washington Wizards haven’t had much to be proud of this season.

From the looks of it, the Wizards will be missing the NBA Playoffs this season. Injuries, bad coaching and poor roster construction have led to one of the least memorable seasons in recent memory. Virtually nothing has gone right and the season couldn’t end sooner.

John Wall‘s best season in the NBA will go to waste. Unfortunately, people will quickly forget about his individual success. For the first time in his career, Wall is averaging 20 points and 10 assists per game – numbers that should theoretically elevate him among the league’s best.

His teammates, however, have been somewhat disappointing.

Marcin Gortat is who he is at this point in his career.

The 31-year-old is a solid, versatile big man, but expecting him to play at an All-Star level would be unfair.

Bradley Beal has been injury prone and continues to fail to live up to expectations. The rest of the roster – with the exception of a few players – isn’t even worth discussing.

But, through all of Washington’s troubles, Otto Porter has quietly had the best season of his career.

While we’ve been busy debating about Beal and Randy Wittman‘s coaching, Porter has begun to play at an impressive level. For the season, Porter has put up a career-high 12 points and five rebounds on 47 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent from deep. His percentages have steadily increased even though he didn’t get consistent minutes until this season.

Over the past five games, Porter has averaged 14 points on an impressive 56 percent shooting.

His outside shot, which has been the biggest weakness in his offensive game, is starting to come along too. Porter has drilled over 47 percent of his 3-point shots over the past five games on roughly four attempts per game.

Porter doesn’t have a skill-set that will result in many appearances on SportsCenter, but he’s more than capable of being a third scoring option, especially when he’s hitting shots from the perimeter.

His mid-range jump shot has been nearly automatic lately, and now that he’s starting to hit shots from three, he’s become one of Washington’s most efficient offensive weapons.

Of course, Porter needs to continue to develop before he solidifies a long-term spot on the roster. With that said, there could be a case made that Porter has been better than Beal this season. He’s a more versatile player and he’s displayed a better touch from the outside – a part of the game that should be an advantage for Beal, but hasn’t been.

There have been plenty of players on the Washington Wizards that haven’t taken advantage of their opportunities, and Porter is not one of them. He’s grabbed the opportunity and ran with it. Porter has finally been freed and it’s time to embrace him as part of the team’s core.