Adam Mares: Michael Porter Jr

This hiatus is a double-edged sword for MPJ. On the one hand, it is a bit tragic that he waited two years to get back on the basketball court only to have his return to action cut short by the pandemic.  On the other hand, the 10th man in a 9.5 man rotation on a title-contending team is a difficult spot to find yourself when you are as talented as Porter. There's so much to learn in such a short window of time with almost no chance to catch your breath once things get rolling. It's like a new test everyday but with no time in between to study.

Porter is easily one of the seven most talented players on the Denver Nuggets roster but he is far and away the most inexperienced. In his debut season, he often struggled to remember plays, even those that were called for him to be the primary focus. On the defensive end, he was slow to read his assignments, often bungling a switch or rotation.

Porter would be wise to spend his quarantine by memorizing the playbook. It isn't enough to just become familiar with each play from the small forward spot, if Porter wants a spot in the rotation when the season returns he'll have to understand each player's role on the court during each action. Defensively, daily reminders of the team's schemes, rules, and assignments through film study should sharpen his understanding.

Do that, and Porter will find himself in the rotation when the season returns. Fail to do so, and the Nuggets will likely enter an accelerated end of season and playoff without him.

Who advances if the Nuggets and Rockets meet in the first round?

*If the league goes straight into the playoffs once the league returns.

Adam Mares: Rockets in six

It's basically impossible to know half of the variables that would impact this question. Are fans allowed into the arena? Are games played on a neutral site, negating home court advantage?

Setting those questions aside, I think what the Houston Rockets do on the basketball court is much easier to figure out and get settled than what the Denver Nuggets do. Houston's offense is basically an isolation offense with spot up shooters around the three-point line. Role players like PJ Tucker need only figure out the rhythm of their catch and shoot shooting while the lion's share of the responsibility rests on the talent of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. There is very little timing and chemistry to sort out.

The Nuggets, on the other hand, play a much more balanced style of basketball that is more dependent on chemistry and timing. So if the league jumped right into a playoff, do-or-die series, then I think the advantage would go to the Rockets.

Which current Nuggets players will not be on the roster to start next season?

Adam Mares: Paul Millsap

There are plenty of reasons to believe Paul Millsap could stick around beyond this year. Last summer, Millsap talked about wanting to be in Denver for much longer and having a "story" that he wanted to tell his way. Back then, it sure sounded like that story meant finishing his career in Denver.

But do the Denver Nuggets need him? Jerami Grant was beginning to blossom as a front court running mate to Nikola Jokic and is only entering his prime. Millsap, on the other hand, was in and out of the lineup for the 3rd season in a row and starting to show signs of slowing down. 250 lb athletes don't always age slowly and gracefully. Often times, the decline is sudden and steep.

The Nuggets could re-sign Millsap with the assumption that he'd segue into a sort of end-of-bench veteran who is only sparsely called upon to play real minutes but Millsap likely sees himself as something more than that. Then there is the question of continuity vs. bringing in new voices, new talents, and new personalities. The Nuggets are in need of an edge. Millsap is smart, unselfish, and hard working, but he isn't exactly an intimidating force. If the Nuggets believe that they need some new blood in the lockerroom, Millsap might be one of the guys out the door.

Brendan Vogt: Mason Plumlee, Troy Daniels

The Nuggets were nearing a postseason in which Plumlee's ideal role is a limited one. Dever has already overpaid him, and he might desire a more significant role on another team, especially should one feel inclined to pay him like a starter. Three bigs are enough in the postseason, and if you have confidence in both Paul Millsap and Jerami Grant returning, as I do, then it makes a lot of sense for the two parties to move on.

Grant found a groove with the starters and proved so many who thought he'd be a great fit in Denver to be right. The front office has likely identified him as a candidate, if not the preferred power forward to slot alongside their young core. Millsap is entering the final phase of his career, and winning his first championship is, of course, vital to him.

He's on the record as wanting to finish what he's started here and doesn't hold back when speaking on this team's talent and capabilities. My read is he's identified this group as the one to help him get to the promised-land finally.

Troy Daniels shouldn't require much of an explanation. He's unlikely to see much time in a Nuggets uniform, if any at all, and entering unrestricted free agency.

Adam Mares: Michael Porter Jr.

This is our fourth round table and the fourth time my answer has centered around Michael Porter Jr. but think for a second about the string of bad luck this young man has endured. First, after spending most of his teenage years as the top prospect in the country, he suffers a back injury just minutes into his freshmen season in college. He has back surgery and misses almost all of that season, then misses his first season in the NBA as he recovered from a second back surgery. Now, in his first season back after two years off, the NBA cancels the season just as he was getting going.

Players develop the most between the ages of 18 and 25 so for Porter to basically miss a majority of the first 3 years of that range is really disheartening. People often say that what Porter need is time but time alone what allow him to reach his potential. What he really needs are repetitions. Live game, practice, workout, training. All of the things that help a player become the best version of themselves on the basketball court. For the third season in a row, Porter's development appears stunted by something completely out of his control.

Log in or become a member to view Harrison and Brendan's answers.

What was the most memorable moment of the Nuggets' season?

Adam Mares: Michael Porter Jr. against the Indiana Pacers

The most accurate answers to this question are either the night Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash or the night the NBA season was canceled. The Nuggets were at the forefront of both. When the Kobe news broke, word spread throughout Pepsi Center and the Denver Nuggets locker room for us all to see. When the season was canceled, the Nuggets were in the middle of a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Both nights will be nights I'll never forget.

But for a more Nuggets specific moment, it has to be the night Michael Porter Jr. broke out. To me, that night was January 2nd, 2020. Porter was fresh off of his first start four nights earlier but it wasn't until the game at Banker's Life Fieldhouse that I was sold on Porter becoming a star. The 25 points on 11 of 12 shooting tell most of the story but it was the variety of ways that Porter scored that stood out. Offensive rebounds, transition buckets, spot-up three-pointers, dribble drives to beat the shot clock, and what has become his patented step back three.  From that point forward, Denver's long-term trajectory changed. They had a second (maybe third?) superstar in the making.