Behold the next phase in Michael Porter Jr.’s game: BALL DISTRIBUTION.
MPJ only had fourteen total assists in 29 games prior to this one. You could tell that he held the so-called “scoring ability” of his teammates in utter disdain. Why would a scoring stud such as him willingly give the ball up to scrubs who can’t score? Why wouldn’t a scoring stud such as him just do all the scoring himself? But MPJ has seen the direction the league’s pendulum is swinging, and it’s swinging very far away from ISO-ball me-first shot-takers. Hence the five assists.
These were good assists, too. It seemed like MPJ was making a conscious effort to find his teammates in good spots, rather than just making the “easy” pass and waiting for the ball to come back to him. In learned NBA circles, this process of improvement is called “development”, and it is the hope of coaching staffs across the league that their players engage in this “development” process. Some players, such as Thon Maker, never “develop”, but we have proof right now in front of our eyes that MPJ can “develop” and indeed has “developed”.
Maybe sharing a locker room with Nikola Jokic and being forced to unwillingly come into contact with his sweat on a regular basis has had a beneficial effect on MPG. Is there any way I can get into the locker room and rub against sweaty surfaces that were touched by Jokic? I wanna dominate my pickup games with triple-doubles.