Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. didn’t get the honor of being named to an All-Rookie team.
Denver Nuggets rookie forward Michael Porter Jr. wasn’t named to the 2019-20 All-Rookie first- or second-team, which is unsurprising given that he only played 48 games before the NBA hiatus.
Compete voting for NBA All-Rookie teams: pic.twitter.com/IogtfhqY17
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) September 15, 2020
MPJ did receive nine second-team votes, with his nine total points ranking 15th among all rookies (so, if there was an All-Rookie third team, he would have made the cut).
Porter has proven himself to be a skilled shooter and enjoys crashing the boards, where he sed every bit of his 6’10” frame. The rookie averaged 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game (while shooting 49.5% from the field and 42.2% from three) prior to the the league stopped play.
In August’s seeding games, he averaged 22.0 points and 8.6 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game, leading to him being the only rookie named to one of the NBA’s All-Bubble teams.
However, the voters were not allowed to let the seeding games be an influence.
If only the pre-bubble games are included, Porter’s scoring average would rank 18th among the league’s rookies while his rebounding average would be in a three-way tie for 8th. For the whole regular season, his scoring average ranks 13th and his rebounding average ranks 7th among rookies.
His win shares for the entirety of the season, 2.9, rank 4th among rookies. Meanwhile, he ranks 5th among rookies with .154 win shares per 48 minutes.
Despite not being named to an All-Rookie team, Porter is undoubtedly one of the most talented rookies and he’s one of two rookies playing more than 20 minutes per game this postseason.
That shows the value that he has to his team and, along with his ranks in a few stats, highlights how he’s one of the more impactful rookies in the NBA.