Micheal Porter Jr. Is The NBA Playoff's Next Breakout Star
Every playoff introduces a new breakout star to the fans that the general public may not know about, this year that star is going to be Michael Porter Jr.
MPJ has taken incredible strides from his rookie season last year. He up his scoring by 10 points (19.4 PPG), becoming a staple in Denver’s offense after fighting for minutes last year. He’s more efficient and is becoming a better defensive player and not being a liability on the court. Even getting praise from head coach Mike Malone on his improvement and commitemnt:
But the reason why he is going to be the next breakout star is how he has looked since the Nuggets lost Jamal Murray for the year a little over a month ago. Since Murray has gone down, the Nuggets are 12-4 and have moved solidly into the fourth spot in the Western Conference. During that run, Porter Jr. has averaged 25.3 points per game shooting 57.5% from the field and 48.8 from deep. He’s been Denver second best player after MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and they have thrived off one another.
This season, Porter is seeing an improvement in his efficiency and his shot quality. From his rookie season to this season, on unassisted shots, his percentage has gone down by nearly 10 percent (30.3%-20.9%) and his assisted shots have gone up nearly ten (69.7%-79.1%). These numbers show his willingness to buy into the Nuggets culture of sharing the ball and moving the rock for better shots rather than settling for pull-ups and isos which he often did. He and Jokic's dribble handoff combo has been deadly, resulting in better looks for Porter who has capitalized with great shooting. His shot frequency improving shows he’s learning how to be better off-ball and that’s scary for an already great iso-scorer.
As the Nuggets enter the playoffs, Porter Jr.'s talents will be on full display and the team will need him to play at a high level if they’re going to make another deep playoff run like last year where his fellow teammate Murray was the breakout star. The former 14th overall pick is playing at a high level right now to upping his scoring to 27 points per game in the last 10 games, shooting over 50 percent from three, which I believe he can continue in the playoffs. The Nuggets will need every bit of that scoring to compete with the heavy hitters in the West like the Clippers, Healthy-Lakers, and the Jazz.
Currently, the Nuggets will face either the Blazers or the Mavericks in the playoffs depending on how the season finishes out. The Nuggets should want to face the Blazers as they have historically one of the worst defenses in NBA history while Mavericks currently sit top 10. MPJ's ability to score in many ways at 6’10 is a matchup problem for anyone. Nikola performing at an MVP level will take pressure off Porter and allow him to flourish in the Nuggets offense. And with his defense coming around and being active on the boards, he’s impacting the game in ways other than just his scoring.
Buy stock in this budding superstar while you can, because after the tear he is going to go on in the playoffs it will be hard to deny him as one of the better players in the league.
