What to look for in Michael Porter Jr.’s NBA Summer League performance

Unassisted field goals

In an ideal world, Porter develops into an unstoppable three-level scorer who can bail out the Nuggets when their offense bogs down. For Porter to get there in the NBA, he needs to get plenty of repetitions where he creates his own shot via isolation. I don’t see Porter spending much (if any) time in the NBA G League, so over the next two years, his time in the summer league and preseason–however brief–will be of crucial importance when it comes to building his confidence level in his game back up to where it was when he was a scoring machine at the amateur level.

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Porter will be great in Denver because he is a talented scorer with size who can generate unassisted baskets, and will be joining forces with arguably the best passing center of all time. That is why he was the perfect selection for the Nuggets in 2018, he will be a useful player for them even if he doesn’t reach his absolute ceiling.

If Porter is able to show off decent touch on his midrange looks and post-up opportunities, we will be able to have some confidence that he can hit the ground running next season. The 3-point shot may take some time to come along after the prolonged absence–shout out to the NCAA extending the college 3-point line– but the ability to score in the mid-post area should be there even without much lift on jump shot.