Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. agree to 5-year, $172M extension

Sure but that's 3 max contracts+Aaron Gordon. Its crazy to.pay that much money and you aint even the favorite to come outta the West.

On their end, its dumb that Jokic, Murray and Porter all make the same amount of money. One is a perennial MVP candidate, the other made an allstar once and the 3rd hasnt done **** yet they are all max players.

 

Weren't they at least the 2nd favorite to come out of the West behind the Lakers at the beginning of last season? As for (over)paying for talent, it's Denver. That team/city aren't going to attract free agents so why not pay for the players they actually drafted and/or developed? Aaron Gordon was just frivolous spending though he would be an awesome 4th banana if Porter and Murray stays healthy and improve on their game.

I think they have a very solid team..if they had a veteran acquisition like Conley-to-Utah or Paul-to-Phoenix I would consider them heavy favorites out West. Hell who knows maybe Lillard finally gives up on Portland and Denver can trade Murray, Gordon and picks for Lillard this season. A three headed beast of Jokic, Lillard and Porter would be ridiculous.

 

the only concern i have with them is injuries history, also its interesting none of the 3 is a great defender

 

Once the new TV deal kicks in, this will look better, but right now this is crazy!

 

Denver had to do it. You have to remember that not all cap space is created equal. 40M for Denver is different from 40M for New York or LA. I'd rather have a young scorer with tons of potential than throwing 15M each at the likes of George Hill and Marcus Morris. Jokic is in his prime, you've gotta put a team around him. If Murray can come back with a month left in the season, they're the favorites for the west.

 

Thats preseason right? Reality they werent even close.

Problem is they lack that workhorse in their 5 man team, that dude who will scrap on defense and pick up rebs. That aint Jokic, AG, Porter and Murray lol.

 

But question is who was offering Porter the max? I can understand if somebody offered Porter the max and they matched but thats not what happened.

 

It doesn't really matter because they'd be capped out with Jokic, Murray, and Gordon anyway. Let's say they gave Porter 5M less than the max. Would they be able to sign an impact player? Nah. It's just for real life savings for their Billionaire owner at which point the peace of mind of getting the extension done early and having a content and motivated player are well worth it.

 

But again who would offer Porter 5M.less than the max? This deal got inked super late in FA who has money now to offer Porter 5M less than the max?

What if the most people can offer is 20M? Theres a huge diff between 20M and 30M you can afford a couple more M for other signings.

Yeah Porter is content, but Nuggets may not be when Porter injures his back or w/e. It's not like he was iron man out there.

 

Even at 10M under the max they're still over the cap next year. Just Jokic, Murray, Gordon and Barton put them at the cap. So, no, you're not signing an impact player with that extra money. Also, cap space isn't the only requirement for signing a player. He has to want to come which was the point of my first post. No one ever wants to come to Denver. Also, they'll never have any cap space once Jokic signs his supermax half the cap extension next year. You dont save cap space by cheaping out on MPJ, just money for your owner.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/DEN.html

 

There's diff levels of being over the cap right? Having 3 max contracts+AG, thats gotta to put them near hard cap territory already esp when Jokic signs the super max.

Saving capspace is still important for flexibility of future trades even if you are over the cap. The lower Porter's salary is, the more attractive he is in a trade if he isnt what they wanted. As it is I dont think he is an appetizing asset anymore.

 

i am still taking him over Benn Simmons and morey would be jumping up and down if theyd offered him straight up simmons for porter trade

 

That's fair and that's where I stated earlier that AG needs to be that defensive 4 because they have more than enough firepower with Jokic, Murray and Porter. Whether or not he's THAT guy well that's TBD. Millsap was the perfect complement to Jokic on the front court; unfortunately he arrived in Denver a couple of years too early and is no longer the same player.

 

What are the odds Porter's play matches his contract? 1 in 3?

 

I was thinking the same but I think if they would've stayed healthy last year, they could've made it out of the West. I think they have a complete roster. To me the Lakers have NAMES but they're old and they have a lot of IFs; if AD goes down, if LeBron is over the hill, if Russ stay healthy ir if he mix in with the others.

 

Morey would be crazy to trade Simmons for Porter Jr. straight up, even with Simmons’s issues. Put 3 or 4 1sts with it and MAYBE you have a deal.

 

That flexibility is nominal at this point especially for a team that's not particularly a destination. When's the last time a player went from his 1st to 2nd choice because they could only offer him the TPMLE and not the NTMLE? Usually if a vet wants to go to a contender anyway that small difference doesn't matter. Obviously, the Nuggets decided that the peace of mind and motivation were worth that nominal flexibility and many experts seem to agree. As for the tradabiltiy of the contract, I see it going 2 ways. Yes, theoretically, MPJ at a higher contract is less appealing but for salary matching purposes, it let's him be traded for an available star without the other team having to take back garbage in return just to match. If someone like Beal becomes available for example, they can just do MPJ and picks without having to take back salary that the Wizards wouldn't want. Also, his max is just 30M since it's coming off the rookie scale so it's not like we're talking about an insane 50M supermax.

At the end of the day, we'll be looking at the results to see if this was a good deal or not. Like Windhorst says, if you win a title, you don't have to justify anything. As it stands, if Westbrook can stay healthy for the playoffs, the Nuggets will be the favorites for the west.

 

The flexibility is for making trades, not just for signing guys to exceptions. If you reach the hard cap like what is gonna happen to Nuggs then they cant make any additions or changes to the roster anymore this is it.

Porter is a 19 ppg scorer with only 2 seasons under his belt. He had elite offensive nos, eyepopping even at 66% TS, but he had somewhat low attempts as a 3rd option and wasnt great defensively as well. I just dont think that dude deserves the max off the bat. You are right we'll see how this pan out.

 

lollololol these are not issues... hes just not that great at playing basketball