Denver Nuggets: Michael Porter Jr. is no third wheel, he’s a second star

The idea that the Denver Nuggets are dead in the water is irresponsible, especially considering the star in their midst

With once-ascendant title hopes looking grim, and the season’s silver lining coming down to whether or not people will use their brains and award Nikola Jokic his most-deserving first MVP award, Mike Malone’s squad went back to the drawing board in the hopes of finding a solution. They didn’t have to look very far.

Enter Michael Porter Jr., whose draft stock once plummeted due to lingering back issues and a small real-basketball sample size at the college level, but lest we forget was once considered to be the best player in his class and the presumptive top pick in whatever draft he ended up entering. For him to fall into Denver’s lap at 14 in 2018 all-but forced the Nuggets to take him; at the time, the risk may have matched the potential, but to have the option of taking a possibly transcendent teenager in the middle of the first round is pass up a free coffee that the Starbucks barista made by accident. What’s the worst that can happen?

While his first two seasons seemed to hint at the proverbial worst actually happening – they were sputtering affairs in which Porter missed a lot of time while rehabbing his back, and when he did see the court, would turn in efficient, if still middling results – his ascendant third season has been cause for chatter. Without Jamal Murray and the rest of the injury report roster, Porter was thrust into a second option role, not something he’s unfamiliar with, but certainly something he had yet to experience on the professional level. He’s made it work, and then some.

Porter’s averages on the year are up in just about every category, but since Murray’s injury, he’s been providing offense at a blistering clip. Since April 14, Porter is scoring 25 points per game, just 2.1 points less than Jokic, and shooting 56.9 percent from the field on 16.5 shot attempts. From three, he’s shooting roughly eight times per game and making just a tick under 50 percent of those attempts. Just last night, he became the third Denver Nuggets player in the last 20 seasons to score 15 or more points in 30 straight games — the others are Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, decent company to keep.

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For overall context, Michael Porter Jr.’s season averages sit at 18.9 points per game on 54 percent shooting from the field and 44 from three. So, either way, he’s been quite good this year. This significant rise, however, wasn’t necessarily a given.

It also hasn’t necessarily been a given that Porter would be viewed as someone players would want to play alongside, or a player coaches would want to coach. He’s never been afraid to speak his mind on how any number of situations are handled, and who by – last year, he blamed a Los Angeles Clippers’ team doctor for his fall in the draft, and also called out his coaching staff in Denver due to a lack of touches in a game the Nuggets lost. To his credit, though, this season has served, in some ways, as a sort of refresher. Perhaps you’ve forgotten, he might say, that I was once a five-star recruit. Perhaps you’ve forgotten, he might also offer, that I’m better than you.

He doesn’t wear that same zest on his sleeve – at least not always. Porter’s mug often remains still, as if detached from the action. An ESPN camera might slowly zoom in on his face ahead of an out-of-bounds play and cause viewers to wonder aloud, “does he know they’re about to play?” Their fears are quickly disposed of when the 6-foot-10-inch sharpshooter skips off a flare screen to catch, shoot, and drain a triple from 28 feet out. Oh, and even better: it’s still only the first quarter. He’ll hit seven more of those before the night is over.

While the above is an observation, a hypothetical, the situation isn’t uncommon for Porter – him coming off screens, or playing in pick-and-roll situations, that is. At least not since April 14; he’s working off screens 17 times per game since then, as opposed to 9.4 times before, receiving handoffs 5.6 times (2.4 previously), operating in the pick-and-roll game 2.9 times (up from 1.2), and taking it himself in an isolation set 2.6 times (that was just 1.2 before Murray’s injury). In some ways, albeit sick, Murray’s injury has benefitted the Nuggets in the sense that they now have a better idea of what Porter can offer them from an offensive standpoint.