Otto Porter has painted a different picture of himself in the summer league. He's been displaying a more cheerful, positive and motivated image in this year's summer league.
After he contributed a large factor to the third game win for the legendary Washington Wizards, scoring 19 points and gaining seven rebounds, the Wizards management felt they have never been at such a high moment for their team, as of the moment.
Things have not always been perky for Porter. He participated in three games prior to a hamstring strain, hampering things down for him. He had to face a lot of criticisms from fans and sports professionals at the time. He was judged as a poor player, after such a disappointing performance. He subsequently made 37 play appearances, and got average points of 2.1, 1.5 rebounds, within a span of 8.6 minutes in each game.
Things will become challenging the following year. Trevor Ariza was replaced by Paul Pierce. Paul Pierce is expected to retire since he's turning 37 this October. Martell Webster is still recovering from a back surgery.
Sam Cassell, head coach of the Wizards summer league, candidly made these comments about his team's new upcoming challenges:
"Their swagger, you can see it miles away,"
"They feel like they're the best two ballplayers on the court."
Porter made the following comments himself, stating:
"We like to play."
"We have a love for the game. Just going out there and playing as many minutes as we do, it feels great. We know what playing three minutes is, so when we're out there, we're going hard the whole time."