The Michaels - Malone and Porter, Jr.: A Delicate Touch

One of my kids is a really talented figurine and miniature painter. The level of detail and creativity he is able to put into making something look realistic or unrealistic as the client requests is pretty astounding. I tried my hand at it once, just for a way for us to bond. My hands are not nearly so steady as his, and my work looked a little more like…

But my wish-mash was only three inches high. The detail my son can get into those miniatures is amazing. And still nothing so impressive as a guy who can get over 1,700 characters onto a single grain of rice:

When you’re working on something that meticulously, you need patience and extraordinary attention to detail. On occasion, something happens at just the wrong time during the process, and you scrap that work and start over again. The best don’t have to scrap too many pieces.

Very much like the time and attention to detail Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has put into the care, molding, and polishing of the young figures that have come to Denver during his coaching tenure. Malone has had a couple of pieces along the way that didn’t quite turn out the way he had hoped, but for the most part, he’s been exceptionally successful. He’ll need every bit of that skill and talent to shape the latest figure for him to mold in Michael Porter, Jr. MPJ finally saw his first regular season action in Game Five in New Orleans last night, with 15 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of play in a blowout loss to the Pelicans. As he starts shaping MPJ, here’s a look back at the players Malone has made his mark on, and some lessons he may have learned along the way.

Gary Harris

Harris is one of the few players on this list who actually preceded Malone in Denver, though for all his previous coach played him his rookie season, he may as well have been new to Malone. Coach saw a tenacious and dedicated performer in Gary, and gave him some room to make mistakes. After a rookie season of quick hooks at the first sign of trouble, Harris started the year with his head on a swivel every time he made an error. When Malone showed Gary that he had a little latitude, Harris shined. By the end of his second season, Gary had proven himself as a solid rotation player. Because of the time, teaching, and faith Malone put in him, Harris has slowly honed his game via dedication and repetition, becoming one of the league’s better two-way shooting guards, and rewarding Malone’s investment.

Malone will do well to remember the way he invested his patience and energy into Harris as a template for the time he starts pouring into Porter, Jr. Michael is a solid talent that will need that sort of maintenance and belief to keep him on target to reach his estimable potential.

Jusuf Nurkic

Nurk came onto the scene at the same time as Harris, and hadn’t seen much more floor time as he went, though he’d shown a few flashes of his abilities during his rookie season, with a lot of excitement for what his sophomore season might bring. Nurkic maintained his solid play on the floor alongside others from the youth movement, but many pieces seemed to be disjointed or mismatched, especially his time alongside then-power-forward Nikola Jokic. The two struggled to mesh to the point that Jokic volunteered himself to the bench. Between Jokic’s center play with the bench unit and a brief stint with injury, Nurkic found himself on the outside looking in, and was none too pleased. It wasn’t long before Jusuf was traded away, and didn’t have many fond words for Malone.

For his part, Malone muddled his way through a sticky situation, but definitely had room for improvement on how everything went down. Even he recognized that there were moments he would have wished to improve on his communication, and there were several spots along the way that Nurkic was left to stew over how things were unfolding. Nurkic certainly didn’t make things any easier for Malone, and things eventually devolved enough that the team had to make a trade to smooth the waters. Even though Nurkic may not be one of his favorite outcomes, hopefully Malone learned and adjusted from a tough situtation. Should he find himself dealing with an equally disgruntled Michael Porter, Jr., he’ll need to pull every trick he learned from the Nurkic situation out of his bag.

Emmanuel Mudiay

The other player Malone inherited on his arrival was meant to be one of the faces of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Mudiay already had a couple of seasons under his belt in Denver by the time coach came along, and had been playing starter’s minutes throughout. Malone’s shifts to the teams’ identity on both ends of the court proved a challenge for Mudiay, and he seemed to struggle from the moment Malone walked through the door. Mudiay’s non-confrontational personality also seemed to make communication between the pair less solid than Malone seemed to be establishing with many others, with Mudiay questioning his role amidst his struggles with the team. Though he stuck into the following year, Denver’s drafting of Jamal Murray early into Malone’s tenure showed that Denver had decided they might move on from Manny Moo.

Even as a highly-regarded communicator, Malone owns some fault for the disconnect with Mudiay, who was a notoriously quiet guy. In that case, Malone needed to be willing to walk further across that bridge to Mudiay. It may not have changed or salvaged the outcome, but it might have left the long slide a little less painful. Malone doesn’t look to have much to worry about in that regard with MPJ, who seems a solid communicator in his own right. But being as young as Porter is, he’ll run a gamut of emotions as he slowly breaks into the rotation. If/when he withdraws, here’s hoping those early Mudiay lessons will stick with Malone, to get MPJ up out of that funk as quickly as possible.

Jamal Murray

The aforementioned Murray brought a quiver of shots to Denver as one of the most tantalizing prospects of his draft. Converse to Mudiay, Murray was a bundle of energy and emotion on every play, a quality Malone often calls out as one of Murray’s great gifts on the floor. Malone has developed a deep and sympathetic relationship with Murray, with the two often mirroring gestures and announcements after Malone’s tutelage. Murray is deeply loyal to his coach, and credits him for a lot of the professional player he’s become. Though Murray’s tempestuous temperament could be a real boondoggle for many coaches, Malone has made it a boon by harnessing Murray’s nuclear core as a weapon. Should they continue on this path together and Murray realize his full talents, their combination may be one of the great success stories in Denver Nuggets history.

Malone’s gift for recognizing the differences in his squad, like the quiet Mudiay vs the energetic Murray, has proven to be a strength for Denver over the long haul, as Malone seems deeply aware that one size decidedly doesn’t fit all.

Malik Beasley

Malik Beasley showed up in Denver with a ton of potential, hops that could seemingly spring him out of the Pepsi Center, and a few questions attached to his injury history. Similar to Harris, Malone brought Beasley along slowly, allocating more minutes as Malik showed he could take his shooting from streaky to stellar, and contain his opponent on the defensive end of the floor. With both of their dedication, Beasley is one of the shining stories of Malone’s youth movement, having played so well as to put Denver in a challenging spot with his Restricted Free Agency at season’s end. Malone showed consistency and focus to Malik, and when Malik returned the same, he gradually saw his minutes build. Malone is developing a pattern…

Juancho Hernangomez

A decisive pattern. Juancho came to Denver as a gifted-but-streaky shooter who has slowly bought into Malone’s concepts on both ends of the floor, slowly rounding himself into a solid defender, rebounder, and passer to go with the skillset he brought. As he’s played into the system, Malone has rewarded Hernangomez with a lot more trust and floor time. Before his tough injury last season, Juancho was proving himself to be worthy of all of the investment. With him feeling healthy again, he should find himself back on that upward tack.

Monte Morris

Morris is yet another example of Malone’s investments and patience paying huge dividends with a two-way player that could have just as easily never seen the floor. But Malone gave Morris traction when he could find him a spot in games when he first spent time with the team, an investment that paid handsomely when Morris was then pressed into heavier duty and came prepared due to a little foresight from his coach. When Morris would still make rookie errors or be pressured by opponents, Malone would give him positive reinforcement to get back into the fray. With that, Morris was one of the surprise stories of last season, a question mark that turned himself into an exclamation point very quickly.

Torrey Craig

See Morris’ paragraph above, and replace the name. Craig was a bright light in the G-League from his start, but had a number of fits and starts when he would find himself up with the big team. Malone recognized Craig’s strengths, and played to them in a lot of situational setups. As Torrey’s game expanded, so did Malone’s trust in him. Coach’s consistency has also paid off big dividends with Torrey too. It’s not so hard to see why Malone has developed a pattern he’s following to a “T” with Porter. And last, but not least…

Nikola Jokic

Perhaps no young player on this Nuggets squad has had more positive forward momentum during Malone’s tenure than his All-Star Center, Nikola Jokic. Make no mistake, Jokic’s talents would probably have shone through with nearly any coach eventually, but Malone’s consistent and straightforward approach appeals deeply to Jokic’s sensibilities around everyone getting fair treatment, their turn in the spotlight, and to simply “play the right way”.

But Jokic’s early days weren’t simply a matter of seeing his talent and getting out of the way. Nikola wasn’t immediately built for a leadership role, a mantle he has taken on gingerly and unconventionally as he’s accepted it. Malone has repeatedly encouraged and shaped his young superstar, shielding him from the worst of the media glare, but also making sure to hold his young center accountable when he doesn’t follow his own “play the right way” concept. In return, Jokic has shown a lot of admiration and respect for Malone, as he knows that even sitting atop the pecking order doesn’t keep him from the rules that govern players 1-15 on the squad, and that has guided him to set the example and step into a leadership role that many questioned whether he’d ever be able to fulfill. Malone’s role in that was formative, and should also prove a powerful example of how he can mold and polish another talent that has the potential Porter shows.

There’s a lengthy list of projects Michael Malone has shaped in his short stay here, with several major successes, but a few failures Malone definitely had his part in. That’s a wonderful-and-scary thing for Nuggets fans, as coach may have one of his most unique and challenging projects yet in working Michael Porter, Jr. into the mix.

It might be one of the most crucial player projects Malone will ever undertake. Why? Should they stand pat with their current roster, and Porter end up an average or below-average player for these Nuggets, odds are good they’ll remain a mid-to-high tier playoff team with a decided ceiling. A middling MPJ doesn’t get you over that hump in a crucial position in a difficult division and conference.

But… should Malone be able to coax Porter into his apex, and be able to work him into this unique and compelling Nuggets system, this team is as stacked as anyone in the NBA for years to come, and could be talking about rings. Multiple rings. So… no pressure.

This is a crucial year in a next step that will take some precision and dexterity, Nuggets Nation. Given his history with a ton of Denver Nuggets youth, how do you think Michael Malone will handle Michael Porter, Jr. and his growth?