I was going to headline today’s edition, “Why Michael Porter Jr. Deserves Your Respect.”
But the man’s an NBA champion.
He’s battled back from three back surgeries to be one of the most available players in the league.
He’s having a career season for the fourth seed in the West.
I don’t have to make the case for MPJ. He makes it himself.
But after Wednesday night’s 39-point career-high-tying performance against the New Orleans Pelicans, I do think it’s important to take a second and recognize that MPJ has made good on so much of his promise.
No, he’s not an All-Star. But years ago, when Porter first got minutes in his rookie season after missing his first year recovering from one of his back surgeries, the thought was that Porter could be Denver’s 2nd best player if Murray didn’t pan out.
Murray panned out, they won a title, and yet in a year where Murray has struggled and Aaron Gordon has missed time with injury, MPJ has been Denver’s second-best player.
In preseason, we hyped up Porter, talking about how he looked like he leveled up, that he’d added multi-dimensionality to his game. He got off to a rough start and we threw that away. But here he is, a three-level scorer.
On Wednesday, yes, he knocked down open threes when they doubled one pass away off him. (Have I mentioned how bad New Orleans’ defensive gameplan was?) He cut inside over and over with confidence, making clean catches and strong finishes.
He snagged rebounds. He made plays in transition including the extra pass. He finished over, through, and around defenders.
Michael Porter Jr. is a complete player now. He’s been the Nuggets’ second best player. And while he has and remains the Nugget’s best option if they choose to make a trade, it’s impossible to argue they need to trade MPJ to make them better.
Because that’s what Mike already does.
