Denver has had so much success this year that it’s easy to forget they still have Michael Porter Jr., their rookie they drafted with the 14th pick in 2018 NBA draft. Can the Missouri product, who has been out with an injury all year, give the Nuggets an edge next year?
The injury
In this day and age, people easily forget you if you haven’t been around much as of late. That has been the case for Michael Porter Jr. Coming out of high school, Porter was projected to be the number one pick. In the first half of the season opener of his college career however, MPJ injured his back and had to get surgery. He was looking at a long time of rehab and the potential of not coming back that season to play for Missouri.
Porter came back in the SEC tournament however on March 8th and also played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He decided to declare for the 2018 NBA draft and due to injury concerns and of course not having seen enough of him in college, MPJ slid all the way to the end of the lottery. He fell into the hands of the Denver Nuggets, who were willing to take a chance on him as they felt they were ready to take the next step with or without Porter.
Denver didn’t want to rush Porter and when they started of the season well there was no reason to implement him into the rotation. He was still an injury risk and hadn’t played basketball in a year basically. Porter wouldn’t play a single minute in the regular season, making him one of the favorites for Rookie of the year next season, as the Nuggets finished with the second best record in the Western conference.
The fit
If you look at this Denver team, the weakest spot is clearly the SF one. That is no disrespect whatsoever to Torrey Craig (respect by the way for coming back in the game after breaking your nose in the first half against Portland on Wednesday) or Will Barton. Denver just has their clear nucleus of Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Nikola Jokic. Their 4-spot is occupied by former All-Star and max-contract player Paul Millsap. That just leaves the 3-spot to be filled in with a high-end player.
Insert Michael Porter Jr. His talent level is through the roof and there’s no ceiling on this guy. Craig and Barton would make for great complimentary pieces to an already incredibly strong bench, because a healthy MPJ will be a starter in this league.
Porter is just 20 years old and the core previously mentioned are 21, 24 and 23 respectively. Add a veteran presence like Millsap to the team and you have a team that can hurt and fire on all cylinders.
Granted, Millsap’s contract is expensive at $30m/year, but next year is his last. That is only if Denver decides to pick up the team option on his contract. They could also decline the option and ask Millsap to re-sign with the team in free agency for significantly less money, as he’s clearly not a max-contract worthy player anymore.
If you take into account all of those things, I think Denver could snatch the top seed in the West next year. I more than anything want to see MPJ healthy as he looked like an exciting player in high school. Let’s just hope he comes back to full health and isn’t limited by injuries.
Courtside 