Denver Nuggets: 5 reasons Michael Porter Jr. was a good pick
By Ty Delbridge
The Denver Nuggets stayed put at pick No. 14 and ended up drafting Michael Porter Jr. He was a guy the Nuggets were not expecting to still be on the board when it was their turn to pick.
The Denver Nuggets got arguably one of the most talented players in the entire draft at pick No. 14 by selecting Michael Porter Jr.
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, Porter was one of the most talked about players. He was a top recruit in high school, and five minutes into his college career he suffered a severe back/hip injury. Porter ended up missing most of the season besides the last two games. He was being talked about as the No. 1 pick before the injury. ESPN had Porter ranked as the No. 2 player in the high school class of 2017.
During the pre-draft process, Porter was being talked about as a top-four pick even with the injury. But teams took a hard look at Porter’s medical records and what they saw must have scared them as it caused Porter to slip all the way to No. 14. After getting drafted, Porter explained why he thinks he slipped.
"“The teams at the very, very top of the draft told me last week I was their guy. They were going to take me. Then the hip episode happened, and then doctors got involved and they got scared. So once one team gets scared, a lot of them get scared. And that’s what caused the drop.”"
Porter is a 6’10”, 211-pound forward. He is highly skilled on the offensive end and has the potential to be the best player from this class. After he was drafted, ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups compared Porter when healthy to ”When Kevin Durant was in his 20s.”
The Nuggets at pick No. 14 are getting tremendous value, and Porter is worth the risk. They are right on the edge of making the playoffs and can afford to take it slow with MPJ and make sure he is 100 percent healthy from his injury. Even if Porter has to miss an entire season to rehab, he was the right pick. Porter may not have been a guy who was on the Nuggets’ radar, but here are some reasons he was a good pick.