Ever since the NBA Draft, Michael Porter Jr has been a subject of controversies. It was pretty clear that he was an elite kind of talent but there were huge concerns about his health.
And now that he’s getting more involved in the Denver Nuggets’ offense and has proved that he’s worthy of more minutes, his comments are raising more questions about some alleged attitude issues.
He recently suggested that the Nuggets should get more players involved to beat the Clippers, which is true. However, he said it on a way that made people think that he wanted more shots to beat the Clippers:
“That is up to the playcalling, the coaches and whose hands they want to put the ball in. We kept going to [Nikola Jokic] and [Jamal Murray] and they are two amazing players, but I just think to beat them we need to get more players involved. We have to move the ball a little bit better. We can’t be predictable against that team,” Porter said.
Obviously, those kinds of comments rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Damian Lillard called him out on Twitter and now Paul Pierce also addressed the situation on ESPN’s The Jump:
“You understand. He’s a rookie, he’s got his frustration. Yes, he’s talented. But there’s a time and a place for that, young fella. It’s levels to this, young fella, and understand that. You not there yet. Listen, you wanna have this conversation? You take that back to the locker room you don’t bring this to the media. You just now trying to prove yourself and make a name for yourself and so (…) but look, if you wanna get the ball young fella? Go get it. When I didn’t get the ball in my rookie year you know how I got it? I went to the offensive glass.. stay in your lane young fella,” Pierce said.
It’s true that Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic alone aren’t going to get it done vs. an elite defender team like the Los Angeles Clippers. It’s also true that – despite his terrible defense – Michael Porter Jr can bring a lot to the table in the offensive end. Nevertheless, that’s not the kind of thing you say out in the open during your rookie season. Hopefully, he’ll learn from his mistakes and will let his game do the talking.
