Once you're a couple inches out from a boundary where the port faces is irrelevant without acoustic treatment. Given a 2-way speaker and treatment you're better off with a rear facing port where midrange leakage can be attenuated.
2' out from the wall the direct sound will be confused with the first reflection that comes 4ms later, you're going to have a notch at 141Hz, you'll have boosted bass problems at lower frequencies most notably below 70Hz, etc.
Switching to in-wall speakers on a long wall will eliminate all these problems plus baffle diffraction. In-wall speakers plus corner-loaded sub-woofers will provide even more uniform frequency response.
Excellent in-wall speakers are available although I have no experience with them.