I want to talk a little bit about your guys' thought process with me coming into the league. Obviously you were both from Columbia so you had known about me and things like that, but I had been through a lot. The Clippers doctor spread the report throughout the league that they didn't know, they weren't sure if I'd be able to play basketball considering my injuries, and a lot of teams were scared away by that.

I remember the first time I got on the phone with the Nuggets was with Tim Conley on the day of the draft because my agent wanted to kind of create a floor, like okay, if he drops it here, this team will take him. So I had no idea going into the draft what was going to happen.

What were those conversations like behind doors about me? My Michael Porter Jr. story first starts, I think you were in 7th or 8th grade, a friend of mine sent me this link of some unknown skinny kid going up for a dunk. And I was like wow, this kid's supposedly the best 8th grader in the country.

And I was like wow, I've never seen an 8th grader look at the rim almost like you were. And then I was like, wait a minute, that's Jeff City's gym, that's Jefferson City. I know that gym, we're my high school rivals. And so I did a quick search to try to find out more of what I was watching and I was quickly told that Central Missouri had one of the best players in the country.

Because I was like, that section of the country doesn't produce talent like you. And so I was very aware of who you were from an early age and I followed your career because I was kind of proud that we had someone of your caliber coming out of that section of the state.

So I followed your career and then I was going to watch your first game at Mizzou and then I heard about what had happened. And I think you were going through warm-ups, right? There was a couple days leading up to it where you had some tightness, right? Yeah, the injury.

Yeah, it happened a few days prior but that was my first time experiencing anything strange so I thought it would just dissipate and it got worse and the first game comes around. Yeah, and you were going through warm-ups and then I think you had to play, what, the first ten seconds before they, it was so close to game time, they had already turned in the lineup, right?

It was so close to game time, they had already put the lineup up. So I go to my dad and I'm like, "Dad, I don't think I can play, like I don't know what's going on but I can't jump right, like I can't produce force like I want to." And then we went to the coaches and they were like, "Okay, you just have to start the game because big national TV game, you know, number one player in the country going to the University of Missouri, you know, which never happens." And then so, yeah, I had to play the first ten seconds and came out.

And then I followed, you know, I followed what was going on and I knew you came, you were really rushing to get back because you wanted to help your team and, you know, that told me a lot about your character. You know, if you were already thinking about the pros, which is a natural thing, you know, I think that there's probably part of you that wants to think ultra long-term in that scenario.

I'm sure there was people around you but it also told me that there was a person inside of you, inside of that player that was really competitive and wanted to get out there and you wanted to help your teammates. And so, you know, as I watched that spring kind of evolve and I heard about your draft workouts leading into that week, I thought your floor in the draft, I think Chicago had seven, seven or eight, but I also knew that when you were healthy, you were probably the best if not one of the top two or three players in that draft.

And we had just missed the playoffs by one game that year and we were thinking that we were, once we made it back to the playoffs, we knew we weren't going backwards. We had a good young team and we just had a few things that we needed to, we thought to really put us in a new level and so the day of the draft, I remember coming over and Tim had called me the night before the draft and he goes, "Hey, I'm just going to put something on your radar." I was like, "What's up?" Because by missing the playoffs by one game, we picked 14 in the lottery.

And so Tim called me, he's like, "Hey, I want to put something on your radar." And I'm like, "What's up?" And he goes, "I heard something from a buddy of mine that Chicago might pass." And I'm like, "But I thought you told me earlier today that that was Michael's floor." And he goes, "I don't know.

I don't know what happened. I'm still trying to gather the information. I'll talk to you about it in the morning." And I said, "Okay." And so I came in the day of the draft and Tim Arturas and I sit down and they said that you may have had a spasm or something, like I had a workout and it might have scared a few teams.

And I was like, "Really?" I was like, "This is just, can we get more data on it? Is there any kind of..." And they're like, "We're still trying to piece it together, but he could fall." And I was like, "What do you mean he could fall?" And I was like, "Guys, that skill set does not grow on trees." I was like, "What do you mean he could fall?" And they're like, "Well, the teams could get scared of the back." And I said, "Okay." And so then I rang my dad and he came down that afternoon.

And then the four of us, Arturas, Tim, myself, my dad, and we pulled Coach Malone in as well. We said, "Look, if he's there, we're going to take him." And we got all our doctors in. And it was a really great group experience because we all had to put our heads together from our own perspective.

Tim and Arturas knew that they believed in your skill set and your talent. And then you had Coach Malone who was understanding that this is something that was going to play out over multiple years, whereas a lot of coaches, and this is their job, coaches have one responsibility, that's to win the next game.

And so you have to put, and then our perspective is even further, it's how can we create the best talent over time? And so when your name was still there, it was a no-brainer for us. It might sound funny to some people, but I was really worried that, you referenced a team that had two picks ahead of us, and I thought somebody might take a chance.

Somebody's got to take a chance. And I think they may have if it wasn't for their doctor that was doing the main analysis on me that day. And so our decision in the room that day, when we all kind of walked out after discussing the different concerns and thoughts from all of our own perspectives, was we'll never have a chance to draft another player like you, especially at that point in time with the group of players that we had, the skill set that you brought, and you could raise our ceiling immensely.

But we knew it wasn't going to be right away. And so we had to, once we drafted you, we got you in, we let our doctors take a look at you, we made sure that you felt like one of the family, and we knew that there was going to be a long journey ahead.

And I think you may have known, but looking back, you maybe didn't even realize what you were going to have to go through. And so you had another surgery, we sat you out that whole first year, we tried to make you feel like you were part of the group, hopefully you did, even though you weren't getting to play.

But I remember coming over to training camp that first year when, I don't even think you could play, all you could do is just do standstill shooting. And our shooting coach at the time was, was it Mark Price? Mark Price. Yeah, Mark Price. See, I remember. And Mark and I were standing there, and I was like, "Mark, what do you think of our group?" And he goes, "Wow, there's some really good young players." And that was when he started to ask about Nicola, and Nicola was just starting to really show the level that he could dominate.

And I was like, "What do you think?" And he goes, "I think you've got a really great, great group here." He goes, "But I'll tell you what." He goes, "Best shooter in this gym can't play right now." And I was like, "You're talking about Michael, right?" And he goes, "Yep." He goes, "I'm talking about Michael." He goes, "Take your time with him.

Be patient." But he goes, "That guy's the best shooter in this gym." And I said, "Well, that's our plan." And so, over the course of that year, and then I think your first full season was the COVID year, right? Yeah. Is that right? My first full season was the first half of the season, and then we go to the bubble.

And so, I saw an important step out of you, which was over the first, I don't know, six months of the season, I think you were up and down as any rookie is going to be. You're learning how to play. You're learning where you fit in the different roles, and you're learning how to play with some of these guys around you.

And then the season stops, like right around this time four years ago. COVID hits. We go into our cocoons, and then we emerge in the bubble a few months later. And you went from a rookie to a second year player in that little two month span. In that gap.

Yeah. And so, when you came into that bubble, I saw a different Michael. I saw a more confident Michael. I saw one that knew how to fit within our team, but also went to really use your own skill set to drive us forward. And I remember you hitting some big shots in the bubble, and seeing our team really start to believe in each other.

And I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it. But then you come out of that, and it's kind of a very short off-season. We lose Jeremy. We replace him with Aaron, and then Jamal gets hurt. And so I knew there was a special group in there, and then you have to wait almost two years.

And that required a lot of patience on our end. And we never even remotely thought about veering off the path of the roster that we had. And now that we got everybody healthy, I could see that you guys last fall, there was a little bit of a period where you kind of had to play your way into it again.

Jamal had to play his way into it again, gain that confidence in your body. And then by March, I could tell we were locked in, and then we were just ready for the playoffs. And then it was like, okay, let's be healthy come April and see where the chips fall.

And I was really proud of the way that you guys just immediately locked in to go 16-4 against the NBA's best shot. That's not something that a lot of people can say. Well, man. I mean, man to man, I appreciate you guys so much taking the chance on me.

I appreciate you, man. I remember I said at draft night I was going to do whatever I could to be one of the best draft picks that you guys could ever draft. And still, I've been through a lot, but like you saw at Mizzou, giving up and giving in to whatever injuries, that's not part of my DNA.

But I'm so happy to be a Nugget, you know what I mean? People ask me all the time about that whole draft situation, and I'm like, God does work in mysterious ways, because it's a blessing that somehow I fell to 14, to a team that was already winning, so I got to take my time and not rush back after the injury.

And now we've just built this program, this championship level program, from really the ground up, with adding small pieces, and we got it continued rolling with the young guys we got now. Peyton, CB, I know Julian's not playing right now, but Julian, some of the guards we got.