The 14th pick was selected by the Nuggets
On the night of the 2018 draft, Michael Potter Jr. was selected with the 14th pick in the first round, when it was thought that the Nuggets took a risk in choosing him because no one knew what he would recover from in that serious injury.
High school years
If you dial back 8 months, Michael Porter Jr.'s draft pick will not be lower than the top three, and if you dial back to 12 months ago, he is the nation's first high school student, the McDonald's High School All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player, with a halo into the NCAA.
In 1998, when Porter was born, the family thought that the boy was born to play basketball, his father had played in the NCAA for four years but eventually did not enter the NBA to become a coach, his mother Lisa had averaged 58.7 points per game on the basketball court in high school, and went to play in Europe after college.
Progress was rapid under Roy
His aunt played in the WNBA, the Porter family has 7 people engaged in basketball, in high school he attended Nathan Hale and the head coach of the basketball team was the former Yellow Mamba Brandon Roy, Roy, the number one star of the Blazers, three-time All-Star and best rookie winner had to say goodbye to the court at the age of 29 because of a knee injury, he had too many regrets and unwillingness, at this time he pinned his hopes on Little Potter.
The young man has a full range of offensive skills, a tall defender on the inside, and a big heart, he is easy to think of Durant, and unlike Adu, Porter is stronger than he was in his rookie years, which means that he will not blindly play, whether it is positional warfare or fast attack, or singles, Porter Jr. can be the first choice.
Best High School Student in america
The number one high school student ranking in the 2017 national high school student rankings is neither Ayton nor Bagley, michael Porter Jr. was labeled "the best in the united country" that year, because his father was a teaching assistant at the University of Missouri at this time, he also joined the University of Missouri, and here there are his brothers, sisters and aunts, they are all on the university's basketball team, and the Potter family has become a landscape of the University of Missouri.
The upper limit template is Durant
The height of 208cm can be seamlessly connected to the small ball play, he can run endlessly without the ball, he can also push with the ball, and the beautiful jump shot and impactful play style of play are very attractive. You can make a three-step layup from outside the three-point line or start a breakout from outside the three-point line, which is easy to think of Durant and Alphabet Brother, and the young Porter is stronger than both of them when they first entered the league. He was called the "White Death", and the last Death god was called Durant.
The only thing Roy didn't expect was that his apprentice, like him, suffered a career-threatening injury that hadn't even begun yet. He played only three games for the University of Missouri before having to announce his freshman season due to a back injury, averaging 17.7 minutes per game, with 10 points, 6.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists, shooting less than 35 percent from the field.
Such data does not support his picks, whether he is the next Oden or the next Embiid, the choice of Porter on the night of the 2018 draft is undoubtedly opening the blind box.
Heavy pace, rusty dribbling, out-of-touch shooting, inefficient scoring, he didn't perform well in those three games, people wonder how this guy overpowered Ayton to be selected as the best in the country, the draft is a place of talent, injury resistance is also part of talent, people still generally think that he will be selected in the 5-10 picks, even if he is basically reimbursed for his freshman year.
Potter had a hard night in New York, where Alan, Bagley, and the not-so-acquainted Slovenian were all chosen ahead of him, and it was considered the bull with the seventh pick who was considered the most likely to choose him, because he had only been tried by the bulls, but they chose the safer Wendel Carter, and as time went on, Xiao Hua pronounced out one name after another, but never him.
Selected by the Nuggets
The Bulls chose to hold on to the other managers and misestimated Porter's injury, "This kid may really be ruined" With the first round of signing a player who can't play, it will obviously be reduced to a joke, and for the sake of stability, they have not taken a fancy to The seriously injured Porter, and in the blink of an eye, they are the last place in the lottery, and finally Porter stands in front of the stage with the Denver Nuggets hat.
A tall athlete who has been seriously injured, a big man who plays by explosive power, he may be the next Blake Griffin, people know that Griffin can't get back to the top, the White Griffin can't do it, the White Death can't do it?
Not favored by many people
The moment Porter with the 14th pick put on the Nugget hat, he dropped the title of "America's first high school student", and even some people waited to see his jokes, at this time the Nuggets have become the top three level of the West, Porter is a lottery, Jokic, Murray and Harris are the present and the future.
Potter was injured again before the summer league began, that back surgery made him miss the entire season of 2018-2019, during the recovery period he was as addicted to social networking sites as Embiid of the year, unlike the emperor used to "woo the sister", Porter was very concerned about his own position, he gave a Tweet that Doncic was overrated, and in a post-game interview he said that he was just "slipping his hand".
But such an act made Doncic Real Madrid teammate Radoncic very unhappy: "The MVP of the Europa League cannot be overestimated, and a player who has played less than 5 university games due to injury should be overrated." The only way competitive sports can justify their names is to speak in terms of performance on the field, but Porter hasn't had a chance to prove it to people who look down on him throughout the season.
And Trae Young are teammates
He watched as Ayton played the stats of a star center, Bagley became the King's starter, Doncic was even more incredible to win the best rookie, and his high school brother Trey Young... All this he could only watch, he watched his opponents get cheers and applause, all this should have been prepared for him.
Without his Nuggets making the playoffs second in the West and reaching the Western Conference Finals, on the wing of the front they lack a player who can hold the ball and run, a player who can compete with James in height and strength, and Porter should have belonged there.
Denver fans of the 2019-2020 season have been waiting for a long time, and Michael Porter Jr. is here. The last time the Nuggets small forward made fans look forward to it so much was Cameron Anthony, who came off the bench for the first game with 21 minutes, 15 points and 11 assists, and the first start of 26 minutes, 19 points set a new scoring high.
Behind his own jersey is a line besides his own name – stand up. This is Porter Jr.'s encouragement to himself, and he stands on the court again to prove to everyone that the "best high school student in america" is here.
The epidemic disrupted the rhythm of many teams, when the rematch began, Porter was in hot shape, playing against the Thunder in the Disney Park arena, 37 points and 12 boards; against the Spurs, 30 points and 15 boards; against the Blazers 27 points and 12 boards, the most surprising name in the rematch was Michael Porter Jr.
The semi-finals were outstanding
Seeing such data, you should understand that this kid has made history, he is the first nuggets to cut 30+10 in a row, the first rookie with 30+15+5 three-pointers... In the 2019-20 season, Michael Porter Jr. played in 55 games for the Nuggets, averaging 16.4 minutes per game, with 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds, and was named the best rookie second team.
He's on a championship-oriented team, and his injury makes Malone wary of his use of him, and he cashed in on some of his talent, but many people know that this is not the best Porter, and a steady contribution of 10+5 is actually not a loss for the Nuggets. But he was Michael Potter Jr., a genius who had once had high hopes, a national best eager to get back on his feet.
Nuggets' young Big Three
The 2020-2021 season Porter has become the only answer to the Nuggets' forward future, if the rookie season is when he begins to cash in on talent, then the second-year Porter has to learn how to use talent, Jokic's needle lead and Murray's running will bring him a lot of opportunities for empty shots, while his strong attack and jump shot are difficult to defend because of the height advantage.
Averaging 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, Porter plays the role of offensive finisher and secondary sprinter in Malone's system, the organizational end can be handed over to Jokic, Murray and Barton, and many people in the small-ball system think that it is the most beneficial for defenders, they can hold the ball, they can get the right to fire, but in fact, the most profitable in this era is the front.
The most beneficial thing about the small-ball era is the front
Look at the progress of Alphabet Brother and Doncic and you will know how a tall and technical player like this will be in this era, Riley once said: "The future basketball will belong to 5 swing people about 2 meters tall", Porter obviously belongs to such players, all-round and longboard, he can attack and defend, Malone sometimes tops him to the position of the big forward, which makes his running position more erratic, from the outside to the box almost everywhere.
Sign a super contract
Thanks to this era, in September 2021, Porter and the Nuggets reached a five-year, $207 million maximum salary extension contract, and he went from being an unpopular 14-pick rookie to one of the few players in the NBA to get a super annual salary, all because he played 116 regular season games for the Nuggets, no All-Star experience, no best team support, and even no weekly best.
He became the sixth player after Gobert, Doncic, Curry, Alphabet Brother, and Westbrook to be expected to get a 200 million contract, in fact, his guarantee contract is 5 years 172 million, if he can win the MVP or be selected for the best team or elected the best defensive player, he can activate the final contract of 207 million.
His contract and the same rookie Alexander, Trae Young similar to the completion of additional clauses can activate more than 200 million super contract, even according to the salary of 5 years 172 million Porter is not a lot, the last year his annual salary will be as high as 39.3 million US dollars, the salary cap and broadcast fees soared from another level to stimulate the NBA's business potential, according to the media previously predicted that his annual salary will not exceed 30 million US dollars.
Only played 116 regular season games
116 regular season games, 64 starts of the 200 million maximum salary contract, belongs to Porter's own road to fame is incomparably magnificent, he used his performance to win himself a big contract, in the NBA world he shines brilliantly, he is questioned and despised, he uses his performance to win back respect, his next goal is to the best lineup drawn up in the contract, MVP impact.
Keep your mouth shut
But before he had to keep his mouth shut, he had caused a lot of shock on social media about the voice of the policeman who beat black people to death. Regarding the epidemic, he said that the new crown is obviously used for a larger purpose, it is used to control the number of people, such anti-intellectual remarks have attracted a lot of resistance, he is a genius, once is also, no one wants him to become the next "guilty" of speech Arenas, he should not get up to conquer the wider distance, for the young porter everything has just embarked on the journey.