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

The concerns scouts had about Michael Porter Jr.’s offensive production have been reduced to rubble with his efficiency and skills on full display this season

Defensively, he’s competent and capable, perhaps not of stopping Kevin Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo any given night, but still serviceable. Offensively, he’s a different animal, shooting at an exceptional clip and possessing a leaping ability off the dribble that almost mimics what common folk could only replicate if they were jumping inside a zero-gravity chamber. And though he does owe a good majority of his production, at least in part, to Jokic – who has assisted Porter on 33 percent of his makes since April 6, per Second Spectrum – he’s growing as a solo creator.

His shot frequency at the rim is down from 41 percent last season to 31 percent this season, per Cleaning the Glass, but his frequency in every other area has increased, along with his effective field goal percentage (64.4 percent, in the league’s 98th percentile). It’s even better since April 14 (up to 69.8 percent).

Even if his frequency at the rim has dropped, he is, at the very least, willing to create off the dribble more often this season than he has previously in his career. His catch-and-shoot hallmark will endure; if you were taller than every defender, and had a stroke as lethal, if not as fluid as Kevin Durant’s, wouldn’t it be yours, too? But to see him try new things – pulling up after blowing by defenders, cutting for easy buckets at the rim, attacking to create them himself, etc. – is as encouraging as it gets.

Though this is undoubtedly at risk of reading as an MPJ lovefest, the “flaws” in his game are things that other teammates make up for. No, not even make up for, which implies that his lack of assists, for example, are negatively impacting his team: they do it instead of Porter Jr. doing it, as his skill set is better used elsewhere. He does leave a bit to be desired when it comes to taking care of the ball, seeing that he has more total turnovers than he does assists this season (66 to 60, which is admittedly scary).

But it’s less dire for him to facilitate to others, given that he’s teammates with a guy who doubles as this season’s presumptive MVP and the best passing big man in NBA history, as well as a litany of guards who are better passers and lesser scoring threats. If Porter begins to refine his passing game and to take better care of the pumpkin when he has it, it will merely serve as an additional Infinity Stone to his personal Infinity Gauntlet. Then, with a snap of his fingers, everyone will be at risk, not just those dealing with him on-ball.

It’s disrespectful to count the Nuggets out given the length of their injury report just as it was counterproductive for 13 teams to fear a 19-year-old’s rehab process over projecting his future. And it was silly for fans and analysts to assume they knew what could happen next this season, no matter how certain their theories seemed to be.

As evidenced by Michael Porter Jr.’s significant, perhaps unforeseen leap, we don’t know what we think we know. We thought we knew that the Denver Nuggets were dead in the water. But their second star – yes, we’re there now – is making sure we now know that we don’t know what we think we know… you know?