Nets' Michael Porter Jr. Garners Significant Praise For Off-ball Scoring

Michael Porter Jr. has been scoring the basketball at an insane level since coming over to the Brooklyn Nets, with head coach Jordi Fernandez optimizing the 6-foot-10 forward for success.

Porter had the luxury of playing with who many consider the best playmaking big man of all time, Nikola Jokic, while he was with the Denver Nuggets. Because of that, some assumed MPJ was a Jokic merchant, and though Porter has had the luxury of suiting up alongside two other playmaking bigs in Nic Claxton and Danny Wolf in Brooklyn, there's been a lot more to his success.

“Gravity is the buzzword for him because he does attract so much attention," Nets assistant Steve Hetzel said. "What he gives us is a stabilizer on the offensive end. Somebody to play through, someone to calm everybody down when the other team is going on a run. He is one of the best, if not the best, off-ball players in this league. The way he’s able to read how he’s being guarded, seal switches, slip to the rim, slip out, and curl off of Nic from the top of the key. The degree of difficulty of shotmaking is elite. He gives us somebody to play through, and he’s played on a winning team for a long time, so he knows what it looks like.”

Porter is shooting 81.6% in the restricted area, placing him second among players who have attempted at least 80 field goals in that area. His ability to navigate off the ball, as Hetzel eloquently put it, has helped him find considerable success in the painted area and on the perimeter.

Porter doesn't have the length and physical gifts someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo has, but he has other tools in his bag that help him put up points in bunches.

Porter recently discussed how he wasn't given the opportunity to take the more difficult shots he knows he's capable of making during his time in Denver, because he knew the Nuggets' rolodex of shot makers consistently provided the team with better scoring looks. However, Porter was able to fit seamlessly next to ball-dominant players in Jokic and Jamal Murray for many years, which helped bring championship glory to the Mile High City.

Who knows what Porter's future in Brooklyn is, but right now, he's been seizing the opportunity to grow his game and be a mentor to some of his younger teammates.