Denver Nuggets: Should Michael Porter Jr. start this season?

The Denver Nuggets continue to experience the injury bug with Gary Harris missing time to a left adductor strain. But once he returns, Michael Porter Jr. should go back to coming off the bench because that is where the team found consistent success.

After starting the season 5-5, the Nuggets are now 15-11 through about a quarter of the season, and there are a few reasons for their bounce back. For one, Michael Porter Jr. returned from his COVID protocol and provided his prolific scoring that was dearly missed – he’s shooting .497/.400/.786 while averaging 14.5 points and 6 rebounds during 27 minutes per game. Second, the team was fully healthy when they were stringing some wins. But the primary purpose for Denver’s success is because Porter was coming off the bench.

Michael Porter’s offensive prowess is best utilized off the Denver Nuggets bench once Gary Harris returns from his injury.

When Denver started the season, head coach Mike Malone had Porter in the starting lineup with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap, and Gary Harris. Now it made sense at the time to have Porter in the starting lineup. He was the 14th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, had a top-notch offensive performance in the Orlando bubble, and is considered one of the core members of the Nuggets moving forward.

Yet, having Porter in the starting rotation didn’t translate to wins or an efficient lineup (granted, it’s a small sample size), which explains why Denver went 1-3 to start the season. With Porter, Jokic, Murray, Millsap, and Harris as the starting five, they had a net rating of -10.2. This rotation put up many points, but they were a turnstile on defense – 116.8 offensive & 127 defensive ratings.

But once Porter exited the starting lineup because of COVID protocols, it allowed Will Barton to slide right back into the starting rotation. And with Barton back in the starting lineup, the Nuggets improved on both sides of the ball, translating to a 10.1 net rating. Their defensive rating dropped from 127 to 113.1, while their offensive rating improved from 116.8 to 123.2 (they also went 6-4 will Porter was gone).

It’s a little confusing that Denver’s scoring output would increase with Barton in the starting lineup instead of Porter, considering Porter is by far the better scorer. But just like the old adage: sometimes less is more.

The Denver Nuggets already have two prolific scorers in the first unit with Jokic and Murray, and adding a walking bucket like Porter to the starting rotation doesn’t mean more points. As history has shown us, whenever there is a Big Three, someone has to take a lesser role to allow the other two to shine. Whether it was Chris Bosh taking a backseat to Dwayne Wade and LeBron James on the Miami Heat; Kevin Love getting fewer touches with Kyrie Irving and LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers, or Klay Thompson taking fewer shots with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant on the Golden State Warriors. Bosh, Love, and Thompson all had to accept a lesser offensive role for their teams to flourish, and the same would be for Porter if he stayed in the starting rotation.

Porter would have to take the backseat between Jokic and Murray because the latter two are the established veterans and the franchise’s faces. Also, Denver has already invested so much money into both of them that it would be insane to ask less from Jokic and Murray.

And to add on top of that, Porter is the weakest defender between the three – Murray and Jokic aren’t great defenders either. Yes, porter is averaging 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, but that isn’t necessarily a good indicator of his defensive performance. Let’s just take a quick look at their defensive ratings:

• Jamal Murray = 109.8
• Nikola Jokic = 111.8
• Michael Porter Jr. = 113.8

Some of you probably think that having Porter come off the bench makes no sense because the Denver Nuggets are 3-3 with him in the starting lineup. However, the Nuggets defeated teams whose rosters were not at full strength or are lesser teams than them. So Denver should defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and a Los Angeles Lakers team that didn’t have a fully healthy Anthony Davis.

Conversely, the Nuggets lost to the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, and a fully healthy Lakers team – games they need to win if they want to be serious contenders.

For a team looking to make another deep run in the playoffs, Denver needs complementary units, and having Porter come off the bench this season would do just that. Porter coming off the bench would prevent his usage rate from dropping significantly, and his defensive liability would be better hidden.

As I wrote recently, the Nuggets bench unit struggled because they lost so many vital veterans this past offseason and lacked scoring. Having Porter in the second unit adds the missing firepower. And so far, we can see Porter in the second group paying dividends. A lineup of Porter, Jamycheal Green, PJ Dozier, Monte Morris, and Facundo Campazzo produces a 126.9 offensive rating and a 98 defensive rating – Denver also went 5-1 with this bench rotation.

A while back, I discussed how Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics head coach Red Auerbach conceived the idea of the sixth man by moving one of his top scorers to the bench. By moving one of his top scorers to the bench, there was more firepower to the second unit to help take advantage of opposing teams’ bench rotations.

Am I saying that Porter should never be in the starting lineup? That he will never improve his defense? Or that his ceiling is just a bench scorer? No, I’m not saying any of those things whatsoever.

Since the Nuggets’ defense took a significant step back this season, they should shift their lineups around where they can keep their foot on the peddle to rack up points effortlessly. Moving Murray or Jokic to the bench isn’t going to happen. And moving Harris to the bench probably wouldn’t help the cause of providing more bench scoring either. Having Porter come off the bench as the number one option for the second unit will allow the Denver Nuggets to torch opposing benches – of course, once Harris is fully healthy.