A More Complete, Team-First Michael Porter Jr. Is Propelling The Denver Nuggets’ Championship Prospects

In future reflections on the career of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., 2022-23 will likely be remembered as the season when he showed not only that he’d developed his game to be more complete and multidimensional, but also that following his second extended injury absence, he’d matured into a much more selfless and magnanimous player and individual.

These two areas of growth – his skills as a basketball player on the court, and a more evolved mental approach to the game and his team – go hand in hand and dovetail with each other, mutually reinforcing an upward trend of positive development which has manifested in his becoming a huge contributor to the Nuggets’ success in their deep playoff run to the NBA Finals.

Looking only at his statistics in the box score doesn’t really even begin to tell this story. According to NBA.com, compared with his previous playoff outing two years ago, his per-game scoring is slightly down from 17.4 points to 14.6, his rebounds up from 6.2 to 8.0, and his shooting efficiency is roughly the same, with his true shooting percentage (TS%, which accounts for the value of both three-pointers and free throws) dipping just a bit from 60.3% to 59.1%.

The numbers alone clearly don’t paint a picture of the substantially changed player who has emerged this season. Yet anybody who has closely watched Porter throughout his career with Denver can easily see – and hear – the difference.

One clear recent example of Porter’s maturation came in Game 6 of the second round, when Denver beat the Phoenix Suns to clinch a Western Conference Finals berth. Head coach Michael Malone decided to leave Porter on the bench in the fourth quarter, instead closing the game with backup point guard Bruce Brown.

At a subsequent press conference, Malone praised Porter for his response.

“He cares. He wants to win a championship,” Malone said. “He came up to me during the Phoenix series and said, ‘Listen, man, if you want to get Bruce in at the end of the game, whatever you think is gonna help us win the game, I just wanna win.’”

“And so it’s just another example of a guy being selfless, and realizing that this is much bigger than any individual, this is about the collective,” Malone added.

Asked about that conversation, Porter confirmed with his side of the story, explaining, “I think it was after one of the games where Bruce did play in the fourth (quarter), and I just let him know I wasn’t upset, there were no hard feelings. Just whatever the team needs to win.”

“It’s just about winning, definitely just made it clear to Coach that I’m about winning,” Porter elaborated. “If it’s going deeper into the bench, whatever, I was just making it clear to him that whoever needs to be on the floor at a specific time for a specific purpose, then I’m all with that for sure.”

Contrast all of the above with remarks Porter made in the postseason three years ago following a Nuggets loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that left them trailing in that second-round series three games to one (a deficit they’d famously come back from, after doing the same to the Utah Jazz).

Asked about the reason for Denver’s loss after that game, Porter made it clear that he felt he needed more shots, in a statement that was clearly directed at Malone.

“I just didn’t touch the ball. They didn’t do anything different,” Porter said, adding, “To beat that team, we’ve gotta get more players involved.”

The remarks were widely interpreted as a display of selfishness, and also immaturity or a lack of professionalism in the sense of airing them publicly (even by many who granted that there could have been validity to his point).

The type of mentality suggested by those comments couldn’t possibly be further removed from the Michael Porter Jr. the world has seen since his return from injury this season, where he has not only accepted but fully embraced his role as the Nuggets’ third man after two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and starting point guard Jamal Murray.

When I asked Malone about Porter’s mental growth since his previous playoff outing, he cited improved health as a key factor in boosting the player’s confidence.

“With Michael being physically healthy, I think that’s giving him the mental confidence to go out there and play the game at a high level,” Malone explained. “He’s confident, he’s aggressive, and he’s had a huge impact on this team.”

One area of Porter’s game where that increased aggressiveness is apparent is in his work on the boards. With 8.0 rebounds per game, Porter is second on the Nuggets after Jokic, and20th among all playoff players. And as the video below, with plays taken only from the Nuggets’ Game 4 win to close out the Lakers, it’s easy to see that he’s not just standing around opportunistically waiting for the ball to bounce his way, but really crashing the glass and going after it.

While rebounding has always been a strength for MPJ, he has genuinely taken that part of his game to a new level this season, perhaps due in part, as Malone suggested, to increased confidence that comes from becoming more fully healthy.

Improved court awareness has benefitted all aspects of Porter’s game, and the play below illustrates how it’s also helped his rebounding, as he makes a great read to dash in from the three-point arc and put back Aaron Gordon’s missed layup:

And with his three-point shot as deadly as ever – he’s shooting 40.8% from the arc on 6.9 attempts this postseason – Porter’s run outs off “grab-and-go”s for transition threes after pulling down defensive boards are one of Denver’s most potent offensive weapons.

Perhaps the most critical aspect of Porter developing into a more complete player is just how much progress he’s made on the defensive end of the court, an area of growth which Malone has repeatedly praised.

“This season has by far been Michael’s best defensive season of his very young career,” Malone said after Denver’s Game 1 win over the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

“And why is that? I think he’s usings his six-foot-ten frame, seven-foot wingspan, and most importantly, he cares,” Malone added. “He wants to win a championship.”

One crucial aspect of Porter’s defensive growth is that he is no longer seen – either by the Nuggets coaching staff or opposing teams – as a liability on the court who can be targeted. MPJ has averaged a full 33.7 minutes through 15 playoff games, and unlike past postseason (and for that matter regular season) outings, there has not been one instance of Porter getting pulled from a game because Denver’s opponent was exploiting him as the weakest defensive link.

And he’s even had some downright highlight-worthy moments as a defensive playmaker, from clutch blocks and steals, to diving on the floor for loose balls, to straight up solid defensive possessions guarding star players, as seen below where he successfully contains and contests LeBron James on a post-up in isolation.

But the single game which perhaps best showcased the synthesis of both Porter’s continued skills development on the court and his maturation into the more aware and unselfish, team-first player he’s become came when he dished out a career-high six assists in Denver’s critical Game 3 road win over the Lakers on their home court which put the Nuggets up three games to none in the WCF.

Three of these assists were delivered at key moments in the fourth quarter, and Malone cited one of them specifically as one of his favorite plays of the night, in addition to praising his overall performance in the game.

“I have to say, I thought Michael Porter tonight was outstanding,” Malone said. “That to me is a snapshot of Michael Porter’s potential greatness.”

Malone continued, “One of my favorite plays of the night, he caught the ball in front of the Laker bench, he could’ve shot the ball contested, he makes one more pass to Bruce Brown, wide-open corner three, good to great.” [This play starts at the 7:09 mark of the fourth quarter in the video below.]

“That shows Michael’s continued maturation as a player. So, very proud of Michael and the game he played tonight.”

The development of Michael Porter Jr. into the much more complete player he’s become has, by all accounts from his coaches, teammates and the player himself, been largely driven by his desire to help the Nuggets win their first championship.

Now, with Denver set to tip off in the NBA Finals tomorrow against the Miami Heat, he will have every opportunity to put that growth on fully display on the biggest basketball stage in the world. And if Porter keeps playing as confidently, aggressively, unselfishly and just plain good as he has been on this playoff run so far, he will surely help give his team all the chance in the world to win the title.