2 Raptors players who deserve more playing time, and 2 who need to play less

Jontay Porter needs to play more

If Kelly Olynyk is going to see his role reduced, who on the roster is going to play a larger role? The answer is two-way center Jontay Porter, and more than simply being a warm body, Porter has shown some truly exciting flashes and deserves more playing time to prove whether that can translate to a larger role.

The brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., Jontay has battled injuries that have wiped out the start of his NBA career. He caught on with Toronto on a two-way contract this season and has been highly effective in the minutes he has received. Called into action after Boucher went down earlier this week, Porter played 22 minutes against Nikola Jokic and the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Monday night and completely held his own, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting; the Raptors were +1 in his minutes.

Porter has size at 6'11" and plenty of strength, and he's a totally fine rim protector in drop coverage. On offense, his skill set comes alive, as he is a truly gifted passer and has plenty of touch around the basket and from further out. He is something of a less-polished, less-experienced version of Alperen Sengun (at the high end) or Jusuf Nurkic (at a more average level); could he possibly develop into something approximating a full-time rotation player with that combination of skills?

It's something worth exploring, and if Porter can avoid injuries and the Raptors can give him plenty of rope down the stretch, it's possible that they uncover another undrafted diamond in the rough.