Kevin Porter

Kevin Porter was one of the purest passers the NBA has ever seen. The purity of his assists were equally matched by the chaotic turns his career took due to injury and bewildering trades. The winding path conspired to obscure some of the truly masterful accomplishments of Porter.

Normally, I like to narrate from start to finish a player’s career, but with Porter that’s simply not possible. Each theme must be teased and explained on its own. A simple, progressive Point A to Point B story just won’t do.

The No-Name Bullets: Disruptive to sustainable continuity is the lack of a stable name. Don’t worry, Kevin Porter didn’t go about changing his name every day of the week. However, the Bullets franchise he spent most of his career with did.

Kevin spent five full seasons with them and they had three different locations: Baltimore, Capital, and Washington. And of course, they aren’t even the Bullets anymore. So, understandably, Washington Wizards fans of today may have a hard time identifying with Kevin Porter of the Capital Bullets even if he is the best pure point guard the franchise ever had until John Wall showed up.

(Arguments for Rod Strickland will also be entertained).

On the move: Further obfuscating the Porter legacy is that he never stayed in one place too long. Eight full seasons and he never played for a singular location more than two consecutive years.

For example, in his first three seasons, the Bullets did their Baltimore to Capital to Washington dance. Then for two seasons he was with the Detroit Pistons. Then he was traded to New Jersey for half-a-year. New Jersey then traded him back to Detroit for a season. Finally Porter enjoyed free agency and returned to the Bullets. Even vagabonds don’t move around that often.

Hurt: You may have noticed that I mentioned Porter playing in eight full seasons. Devastating injuries obliterated an entire season and cut two others much too short. A cartilage tear in his knee derailed his debut season with Detroit in 1975-76 after only 19 games. He was averaging 12.6 PPG and 10.2 APG at the time.

The following year, the Motor City used Porter for a spare 26 minutes a game instead of the 36 he received before the injury. Debilitating injury struck again during Bullets training camp in October 1981. Porter snapped his Achilles tendon and missed all of the 1981-82 season and appeared in just 11 games in 1982-83, effectively ending his career.

Dime Machine: Despite the tempest, Kevin Porter remained a top notch passer.

Four times he led the league in assists per game. Yes, four times: 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981.

Furthermore, Porter was a stud in assist percentage, which is the estimated number of field goals a player assisted while on the court. Six different seasons (1975, 1977 – 1981) Porter led the league and his career average of 37.5% is 11th among retired players. Porter is the only point guard near the top of the board  who played in the 1970s as all the other guards came along in the 1980s or later.

Indeed, if you just look at the raw list (including active players), five of the top 10 players are still playing. So Porter’s 1970s playing style as a dynamic point guard hub of offense directly feeding teammates presaged a wider trend.

To this point, in 1978, during his moonlight season with New Jersey, Porter decided to make the experience memorable by breaking the record for assists in a single game:

Porter dished out 29 assists… and most of those handouts went to John Williamson and Bernard King, who scored 39 and 35 points respectively to help New Jersey down the Houston Rockets 126 – 112.

“He was just magnificent,” said New Jersey coach Kevin Loughery. “I’ve never seen anyone do quite as well as he did tonight.”

Scott Skiles has since tallied 30 assists establishing a new high, but I doubt we’re sneezing at Porter’s display.

(Okay, we somewhat sneeze at Porter. When he got his final assists, the game was decided. But we’re definitely sneezing at Skiles, who was clearly gunning for the record all night. Porter got his 29 assists in a 14-point victory. Skiles got his 30 assists in a 39-point blowout win in which he played 44 minutes.)

Kevin’s offensive contributions were not merely relegated to dishing the ball, either. He maintained a remarkably high shooting percentage for a point guard (48%) and was known to explode in a timely fashion despite his career average of just 11.6 PPG.

Porter, a 5-foot-11 playmaker, scored 13 of his 21 points in the final quarter [of a 98-92 win over Boston]… Porter also had 11 assists, nine of them in the first half when Washington went ahead, 55-40. “They were gambling quite a bit,” Porter said. “And when they do, you have to take it to the hoop. Hopefully, you draw a foul or they come after you and you can dish it off.”

Knowing when to dish it out, knowing when to take it to the rack to salvage victory for the team. These are the hallmarks of a great point guard. Kevin Porter is assuredly one of those being the first player to record 1000 assists in a single season and along with Bob Cousy is the only player to record a 25 point-25 assist game.

Seriously, the dude had 30 points and 25 assists in 30 minutes and chilled the rest of the night as Detroit smashed Boston, 160-117.

Sadly, sometimes such talent doesn’t get the appropriate stage or setting to illustrate its greatness for all to see and remember.