What was the most encouraging part of the Denver Nuggets' incomplete regular season?

Each weekday, our DNVR Nuggets crew will be tackling one question about the Nuggets season in a round table format. Members, leave the questions that you’d like to see our writers answer in the comments section below and Harrison, Adam and Brendan will address them on an upcoming episode of the DNVR Nuggets Podcast.

What is the most encouraging development from the incomplete regular season?

Brendan: Jokić embracing reality

Before the regular season started, Nikola Jokić told Altitude TV’s Vic Lombardi that he “can be the Tim Duncan of Denver Nuggets,” igniting the embers of nascent fantasies throughout the city. It’s not just the idea of Jokić spending his entire career in a Nuggets jersey that’s so enticing. In essence, it’s the idea that, like Tim Duncan, he might commit to a healthy basketball culture and a willingness to lead by example. Jokić isn’t particularly vocal or overstated, but he still has time to settle into his style of leadership. I believe something sunk in for him this season. If cared to attentively, the seeds planted might bud in the years to come.

The Big Man didn’t have it in November. He came into camp significantly overweight, and he was in a historic shooting slump to start the regular season. He looked distant, irritable, and frankly, unwilling to climb out of whatever hole he fell. But something clicked after the Nuggets dropped their first meeting with the Lakers in Pepsi Center. He admitted to being in a slump for the first time, and acknowledged he wasn’t thrilled with how things looked offensively. He took the blame, and then something clicked.

His mood began to change in the locker room and his media availabilities. His shot started to fall, first from around the rim, then the mid-range, and eventually from deep. He began lifting directly after every game and quickly shed the extra weight. We’ve heard head coach Micahel Malone speak about Jokić’s growth as a leader and how he’s learning how to talk to his teammates; how to share his knowledge of the game.

There’s still plenty to be desired. Jokić is mercurial and slips in and out of levels of high engagement. He doesn’t always seem willing or able to manufacture a sense of urgency across 82 games, and sometimes poor body-language supersedes a more healthy expression of frustration. But we saw and heard from a player that is embracing the myriad responsibilities that come with his talent.

Harrison: Michael Porter Jr.’s potential

What was most fascinating about Michael Porter Jr.’s rookie season is that the hype that built around the rookie all summer — in the days leading up to Summer League and in the months following — was all warranted.

Here’s what we know about the rookie after his first 48 games –

• He’s an elite offensive talent who has the potential to be a 20-plus per game scorer as soon as he plays starter-level minutes.
• He’s an elite 3-point shooter (Porter shot 42% and 43-102 from distance and was the Nuggets’ second-most accurate 3-point shooter behind Paul Millsap.)
• He’s an incredibly gifted rebounder, especially on the offensive glass (Porter was statistically the best rebounding small forward in the league this season and registered a 14.3 Rebound%, per NBA.com.)
• He’s a smart and instinctual offensive player who knows how to move off the ball and can play off of Nikola Jokic and within Denver’s read-and-react offense.

Porter has the makings of a future star as long as he can stay healthy which remains a question mark based on his injury history and after his season was derailed by an ankle sprain that sidelined the 21-year-old for six games prior to the All-Star break. In his 10 games prior to the injury, Porter averaged 15 points (48.2 FG%, 51.2 3P%) and nine rebounds in 25 minutes per game. His defense is still a huge question mark and he’ll have to get better on that end going forward, but Porter did show improvement in January and February. He has all the tools to be an impact defender.

Porter is the Nuggets’ best pathway to a third and maybe a second star next to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray if you put Denver’s point guard in that category. If the Nuggets want that process to move along quickly, he’ll be starting next season.

Adam Mares: Michael Porter Jr.’s potential

Like Harrison, I was pretty skeptical of the hype that the Nuggets were building around Michael Porter Jr. over the summer. It wasn’t just the public remarks from summer league teammates or the hints from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that were fueling the hype. I had private conversations with people around the team who were promoting him as a player with true all-star potential who might be one of the team’s 4 or 5 best players by April.

Even in the preseason I thought that the things Porter could do on the court jumped off of the screen. His jumper was smooth, his nose for the ball was unique, his athleticism was special for a player his height and with his injury history. When he finally started to get consistent minutes in late December, that talent became undeniable. Porter has the talent to become a superstar. He even has the talent to raise Denver’s championship odds pretty significantly if he can find a way to earn minutes in Michael Malone’s rotation.

There are a lot of tests for Porter ahead, but it’s nice to know the Nuggets have a second player with top 10 potential.