Michael Porter Jr: Overrated, Underrated, or Just Right

[GiannisforMVP34]

Michael Porter Jr is an interesting player. There's not one player that you can 100% compare him to in the NBA. A lot of people who don't really watch him play regularly compare him to Durant because of the similar build and by watching highlights where his handle looks somewhat decent.

If you watch him you can see has a lot of Klay Thompson in his game, but has more of a knack for scoring and has the advantage to shoot over defenders. Although, I must say one of the things that makes Klay Thompson such a great volume shooter is his lightning quick release. Porter's release is slower since he has a dip in his shot. One aspect of his game that goes unnoticed is his finishing at the rim. Porter Jr. He's 4th in the league in FG% (among players who played at least 1000 minutes) within 0-3 feet at 81.6%. Given that he is extremely efficient from really all areas of the court, you would want him to get as much shots as possible. The problem with MPJ is that, are this point of his career, he can't really create quality shots for himself. Whenever he touches the ball and can't immediately shoot, he scans the floor looking to pass even if he still has his dribble. It's pretty frustrating to watch sometimes. He has a couple of moves in his bag that he pulls out on occasion but they all seem planned out and easy to read.

One thing I will say about Porter though, is there is probably only 10-20 players in the league right now that could score 20 easier than him. Even without his ability to create his own shot, he can score 20 points in his sleep. It seems like on his worst nights he still somehow shoots 50% from the field. Defensively, he's getting there. You can tell he knows his rotations a lot better than last year and the start of the season. He's not the best on ball defender, but his length does help him be a serviceable help defender.

Verdict
I would say he is slightly underrated. He's a big reason why the Nuggets have been playing so well. He's such three level scoring threat that moves great without the ball and has really improved on defense. He does need to take initiative and look for more on ball scoring opportunities but I think that will come. You can tell he does not want to make mistakes since he is on a very good team and he can just give the ball to Jokic, so he avoids these situations. He needs to learn that making mistakes is a part of learning and Mike Malone needs to give him the freedom to make mistakes. It will only help them in the long run.

Future Projections
The ceiling for MPJ is through the roof, it all just depends if he can develop his playmaking. We've seen superstars like Kawhi, Jaylen Brown, Jimmy Butler improve this aspect of their game. If MPJ can improve his handle like these players have there's no doubt in my mind he can be a 30 ppg scorer and possibly an MVP candidate. He's shown he's comfortable taking just about any shot, pull ups, step backs, floaters, fading 3's, etc. off catch and shoot opportunities or one or two dribble moves, he just needs a handle to allow him to read the defense and create quality shots for himself consistently. If he doesn't improve his playmaking, I still think he is a 22-24 ppg explosive off ball scorer similar to Klay Thompson and a multiple time all star. As for next season, I think he has a legit chance to be in the all star conversation. With Denver's system I could see Jokic and MPJ carry the Nuggets to a 6-4 seed come all star break with Porter averaging something like 21.8, 9.1, and 1.2.

What you you guys think about MPJ?

[clocsta2323]

Never expected someone to say MPJ had a better knack for scoring than Klay. You can count on one hand dudes who can single handedly win a game. Klay is one of them, MPJ isn't.

[jcardstore]

MPJ is a good player but wildly overrated by hobby guys. Once I get my coffee I’ll come back to write a more detailed post on him as a player.

I see absolutely no Klay Thompson in MPJ so I don’t understand that comp at all

[ACCDADEAL]

No way, overhyped for sure, Michael Beasley like or 100s of other names I could list that have had solid NBA careers, he should have that.

[PacklineD]

He benefits a great deal from playing w Jokic. Shouldn’t be held against him....Jokic is just that good.

[omega145]

Just right as no one really knows....he may develop into a great player or he could just be another average player that we've forgotten about. Everyone acts like they know but we all have no idea if his work ethic will continue to be strong, he'll have the right coaching staff to help develop him or if he'll play in the right system that benefits his play style.

[Archangel1775]

I have no idea who he is but I have a purple Prizm of his so I guess I'm a fan. Haha. But I doubt he's Klay. Klay is spesheel, for real.

[jcardstore]

Bottom line is that MPJ lacks the skills that could elevate him to superstar status.

The major one being: Shot Creation. Every NBA superstar has the ability to create their own shot. MPJ relies almost entirely on being setup, mostly by Jokic. 81% of his cuts are screen cuts vs flash cuts and almost 80% of all of his shots are off screens.

MPJ doesn't have the ball handling skill to create in ISO situations. His ISO eFG% is 35.5%, among the worst in the entire NBA. He's a great shooter in C&S situations but his pull up 3pt% is another indication of his lack of creation ability. He has no ability to breakdown a defender off the dribble and relies on screens to get looks.

Another issue is that he totally lacks any playmaking ability. Even though he's above average for scoring gravity he can't/doesn't turn that into quality looks for his teammates. His overall shot quality is bad but he has a knack for making tough shots.

He's a fine rebounder and serviceable defensively if you can hide him on a slower big. He doesn't have the footspeed or lateral quickness to stay with quicker wings/forwards which will ultimately hurt him because in the playoffs teams are going to hunt him defensively.

Overall, he's a fairly one dimensional player. Great shooter who relies on teammates to get open looks. He's certainly a good player and valuable to a team. He can be a 20ppg scorer who gets 8-9 rebounds a game but without the ability to create a shot his upside is limited.

[jcardstore]

I just can't see how he ever develops ball handling or playmaking being on a team with 2 heavy usage guys in Jokic/Murray. He simply won't have the opportunity to develop those skills and if you don't within your 1st couple years in the league you probably never will.

It's not to say if given the chance he couldn't become an average ball handler or playmaker but he definitely won't in Denver.

[Sjpwa]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Bottom line is that MPJ lacks the skills that could elevate him to superstar status.

The major one being: Shot Creation. Every NBA superstar has the ability to create their own shot. MPJ relies almost entirely on being setup, mostly by Jokic. 81% of his cuts are screen cuts vs flash cuts and almost 80% of all of his shots are off screens.

MPJ doesn't have the ball handling skill to create in ISO situations. His ISO eFG% is 35.5%, among the worst in the entire NBA. He's a great shooter in C&S situations but his pull up 3pt% is another indication of his lack of creation ability. He has no ability to breakdown a defender off the dribble and relies on screens to get looks.

Another issue is that he totally lacks any playmaking ability. Even though he's above average for scoring gravity he can't/doesn't turn that into quality looks for his teammates. His overall shot quality is bad but he has a knack for making tough shots.

He's a fine rebounder and serviceable defensively if you can hide him on a slower big. He doesn't have the footspeed or lateral quickness to stay with quicker wings/forwards which will ultimately hurt him because in the playoffs teams are going to hunt him defensively.

Overall, he's a fairly one dimensional player. Great shooter who relies on teammates to get open looks. He's certainly a good player and valuable to a team. He can be a 20ppg scorer who gets 8-9 rebounds a game but without the ability to create a shot his upside is limited.

If only ben Simmons can shoot like mpj.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by Sjpwa

If only ben Simmons can shoot like mpj.

If Ben Simmons could shoot like MPJ he'd be arguably the best player in the NBA

[sethc1020]

I really like MPJ myself. He was considered a potential #1 overall pick before is back injury in college. That injury has set him back a few years but he is finally starting to look like the guy that could have been the #1 pick in the draft. His maturity left a little to be desired last year but at the same time I love the fire in him and confidence he has in himself. Playing for a good team like Denver that already has a very strong #1 & #2 options limited his growth a bit early on, especially working back from the injury but the second half of the year last year you could really see him starting to come into shape. This year cracking the starting lineup I have seen a lot of growth in his game and his maturity. I was a bit worried when they made the trade for Gordon that it may cut into his PT but that hasn't been the case. Now with Murray going down for the season he is the unquestioned #2 option on the team and has really stepped up to the plate. I think the sky is the limit for him but he definitely needs to improve his ball handling and the ability to create and score on his own but I think that will come with the increased PT and elevated role within the offense. He is still very young at only 22 so the future is bright. IMO

[Dnic]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

If Ben Simmons could shoot like MPJ he'd be arguably the best player in the NBA

If he could even shoot period he would be good....

[Dnic]

These blowout analysts crack me up lol....

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Dnic

If he could even shoot period he would be good....

I mean, he's a 3 time all star by the age of 24. I think' the qualifies as 'good'.

[Dnic]

Originally Posted by tjforce

I mean, he's a 3 time all star by the age of 24. I think' the qualifies as 'good'.

I guess "good", you would be correct although defense in MPJs case can be worked on Simmons will probably never be a great shooter so as far as ceiling I would take MPJ > Ben Kardashian lol

[omega145]

Originally Posted by Dnic

These blowout analysts crack me up lol....

Especially when they talk in absolutes

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by Dnic

These blowout analysts crack me up lol....

Even more amusing are the investorboi boxscore watchers who criticize other peoples analysis while never having done any of their own

[jcardstore]

Plus if you think MPJ is better / more valuable than Ben Simmons you've clearly never watched either of them play

[volblorx8634]

Isn't there a Michael Porter Jr. thread? Can't this discussion go in there?

[Vinny1984]

Originally Posted by Dnic

These blowout analysts crack me up lol....

Care to share your analysis? I’ll take the opinions of a few posters here over any “professional” analysis. Might try and actually read what some of them say and not disregard it because it was written on a forum. You might surprise yourself and actually come away with some knowledge.

[phdbeckett]

In my evaluation, KPJ > MPJ

[BlueXtreme]

Originally Posted by phdbeckett

In my evaluation, KPJ > MPJ

End thread

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Plus if you think MPJ is better / more valuable than Ben Simmons you've clearly never watched either of them play

3 All stars by age 24. Will never be a top level super star the likes of LeBron, KD, etc, but it's reasonable to believe he projects into being a 8-10 time all-star.

[Dnic]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Even more amusing are the investorboi boxscore watchers who criticize other peoples analysis while never having done any of their own

This take coming from you is even more hilarious I watch just about every Mavs and Nuggets games and other games as well, you yourself have already been caught comparing box scores and stats and never even watched the games you are trying to analyze 🤦😂😂😂