Cam Johnson hasn’t exactly hit the ground running in Denver, still struggling mightily to find his jump shot and his offensive game in general. But to make matters worse, Michael Porter Jr. has exploded for the Nets in recent games.
In fact, over the past six games, since Cam Thomas has gone out of the Brooklyn lineup with an injury, MPJ is averaging 27.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game on 48.2% shooting, 36.4% three-point shooting, and 88.4% free throw shooting.
It’s one thing to see him hitting shots; that’s no surprise and has never been out of character for Mike. But for him to be operating like a lead scorer, this efficiently, while even getting teammates involved and helping the Nets win, has been crazy to behold.
It’s not like the Nets are some juggernaut; they’re just 2-11 on the season, and they won’t be sniffing the playoffs any time soon. But they’ve been contending in recent games, and they got an impressive, wire-to-wire victory over the Wizards on Sunday night. Most shockingly of all, perhaps, in the Nets’ last two games, MPJ has 7 assists in each contest.
For a guy who was basically known as a black hole, his passing and playmaking bag has come a long way. It’s not like he’s ready to lead an elite NBA offense, but it’s still pretty amazing to see the strides he’s taken in such a short time.
Nuggets would never have traded this version of Porter Jr.
It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation now for the Nuggets. On the one hand, MPJ had plateaued in Denver, hitting his ceiling as little more than a knockdown shooter. Making around $40 million a season, that wasn’t really a tenable situation.
The Nuggets had to move him, and doing so not only allowed them to upgrade the starting lineup with Cam Johnson but also gave them the financial freedom to trade for Jonas Valanciunas and sign Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. The newfound depth has unquestionably helped the Nuggets immensely.
But on the other hand, Johnson is struggling in the starting lineup, and the Nuggets had to give up an unprotected first-round pick to land him. If Porter Jr. was playing this well in Denver, they likely never would have considered trading him in the first place.
He would have been the perfect missing piece in the lineup, but he also would never have had the freedom and confidence to play this way. We’ll never know what would have happened if he stayed in Denver, but it’s clear that Porter Jr. is thriving in his new role as a Brooklyn Net.