Porter hoping to put best foot forward for Bulls, Donovan

Billy Donovan didn’t sugarcoat matters when the conversation turned to Otto Porter Jr.

“With the amount of time that he's missed, certainly him being healthy is the most important thing to our team,” the Bulls’ coach said this week.

Whether or not Coby White can handle starting at point guard. Getting Lauri Markkanen back on track. Unlocking the potential of Wendell Carter Jr. Assimilating the ascension of Zach LaVine into winning basketball.

All of those, in the words of Donovan, take a back seat to keeping Porter healthy.

“I've always felt like even before, his time in Washington, he's smart, he's got a really good feel of how to play. He can make a shot, he's a good passer,” Donovan said. “He's just a guy that's not been available very much since he's been here.”

That’s an understatement. Since arriving from the Washington Wizards in the previous management regime’s trade of Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis, Porter has played in just 29 of 93 games.

That included some load management as the Bulls played out the string in 2018-19 and a broken bone in his foot last season that limited him to just 14 games.

Believe it or not, Porter, 27, averaged 76.6 games over a four-season stretch in Washington prior to the trade.

Porter’s impact when he has played is undeniable. The Bulls went 7-5 in their first 12 games after the February 2019 trade. And last season, they won two of five games just before the pandemic paused proceedings as Porter averaged 13.2 points.

He’s a career 40-percent 3-point shooter and solid team defender with positional size.

“My foot is feeling great,” Porter said. “Last year, when I got back out there, my foot felt 100 percent.”

Indeed, Porter attended both the voluntary September minicamp and has been working out individually at the Advocate Center for weeks. Donovan talked about being sensible in the “ramp-up” portion of training camp that features four preseason games in advance of the Dec. 23 regular-season opener against the Atlanta Hawks.

“Just really focus on the healthy aspect, making sure I get my body right, knowing it could lead up to a big season this year with the Bulls where we’re looking forward to doing big things,” Porter said. “You can’t really change the past. And for this upcoming season, I’m just looking forward to it. Get the opportunity to get back out there with my teammates and our coaches.”

Porter said he spent the Bulls’ lengthy offseason working on his ball-handling in transition, shooting and leadership skills. Along those lines, the sociology major at Georgetown said he read several sports psychology books.

He praised Donovan’s communication with him about keeping him healthy, regardless of his role.

“I told him that I would play whatever he wanted me to do, play however many minutes,” Porter said. “It’s totally up to him.”

In a no-brainer move, Porter picked up the $28.5 million player option on the final season of his  four-year, $106.5 million contract. But he didn’t spend much time Friday biting on questions about this being a contract year for him.

And ultimately, he fielded one question too many about his past injury troubles.

“I think this year will be a really good year for [fans] to tune in,” he said.