Nuggets: Michael Porter Jr. isn’t wrong to call out playcalling

Denver Nuggets rookie Michael Porter Jr. made a bold move in calling out the coaching staff but it was the right one.

How the Denver Nuggets coaching staff — namely Nuggets head coach Michael Malone — responds to Michael Porter Jr.’s criticism of the team’s playcalling in the second half of Game 4 will be telling.

Although a rookie and likely the type of conversation they would have wanted to remain in the locker room, MPJ’s decision to call out his lack of touches publicly was smart.

In private, Malone could have heard Porter’s suggestions and then easily ignored them in Game 5, with everyone outside the locker room being none the wiser. Yet, if the Nuggets don’t try to diversify their playcalling in Game 5 — getting Porter or any other player that has the hot hand — more opportunities in the offense, everyone will know that Malone didn’t make any effort to alter his gameplan.

That stubbornness and inability to integrate one of the team’s best scorers into the offense on a consistent basis will be as much of an indictment against Malone as his ability to improve the team’s defense and effort throughout the postseason has been an approbation of his coaching ability.

This isn’t the series where Denver can rely on superstar performances from Jamal Murray to lift them past the team favored to win the series. Not because Murray’s performance against the Utah Jazz was a fluke but because the Jazz’s perimeter defenders were nowhere near the level of the Los Angeles Clippers. Just about every shot that Murray takes looks tough and the numbers paint a bleak picture for the Nuggets.

Murray is shooting 38.2% from the field and 34.6% from 3-point range this series (ironically, he also shot 34.6% from three in the 2019-20 regular season). 27 of his 68 total field goal attempts have come against “tight” or “very tight” defense, where the closest defender has been within four feet of him during his shot attempt. Unfortunately, while Murray is shooting 11-27 (40.7%) of these attempts, he’s not efficient on his open shots either. He’s actually worse on “open” and “wide open” shots (defenders at least four feet away from him), converting 15-41 (36.6%) of those attempts.

But back to MPJ.

While the rookie is only shooting 28.6% from three, he’s shooting 45.5% from the field. In addition, though he’s only shooting 7-18 (38.9%) from the field on “open” or “wide open” shots, he’s shooting 13-26 (50.0%) from the field against “tight” or “very tight” defense.

Over the last two games, Porter has been heating up, averaging 17.5 points per game on 52.0% shooting from the field and 50.0% from three.

He scored 15 first-half points in Game 4, being one of the primary reasons the Nuggets were able to battle back from a slow start. However, he only took two shots in the second half and went scoreless, seemingly because Malone was unwilling to find ways feed him more.

While Malone says that he wasn’t able to get Porter good looks in the second half, Porter says that they weren’t doing anything differently. While the truth always lies somewhere in the middle of two stories, the fact of the matter is that Murray and Nikola Jokic have been taking tough shots all series. If Malone wanted Porter to take more shots, he would have.

Perhaps Malone just doesn’t trust MPJ enough but Murray is facing a Paul George-sized hurdle on defense. Murray is just 4-16 from the field with PG as his primary defender, and for that matter, only 1-4 when Patrick Beverley is the primary defender. Joker, who’s averaging a strong 24.8 points per game this series and making a ton of tough shots, needs more help.

Relying on Murray and his pick-and-roll game with Joker to the point where he doesn’t even really try to get Porter more involved when MPJ has actually been more efficient and effective as a scorer this series is just a bad decision.

If Porter is cold, he’s still one of their deadliest scorers because of his natural talent. But when he’s hot, Malone simply needs to find a way to feed him the ball.