Keeler: Michael Porter Jr. extension shows Nuggets serious about contending. Will MPJ get serious about defense?

Tim Connelly isn’t tossing chips to center of the poker table anymore. He’s pushing gold bricks.

Connelly, the Nuggets’ president of basketball operations, has committed to roughly $115 million over the winter of 2022-’23 to Denver’s Core Four of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr.

That little flyover team on Chopper Circle, the one which has the reigning NBA MVP, is slated in 2023 to become just the fourth league franchise to boast three players on max contracts. The other three: the Lakers, Nets and Warriors. High rollers, all.

“(Ownership’s) commitment to winning has never wavered,” Connelly told reporters Monday morning, a few hours before the Nuggets agreed to five-year, max extension with Porter, Denver’s gifted small forward. “All along, since I got this job in 2013, Josh (Kroenke) has (said), ‘We will spend to bring a championship to Denver.’”

And they have. The MPJ extension, in light of the one the Nuggets gave Gordon recently, isn’t just a statement of intent. It’s a statement of attack.

Nobody in that front office is messing around. They’re all-in. Right here, right now. When the dealer called, the Nuggets put their money where their mouths were.

Now it’s time for MPJ, all of 23 years old, to return that investment in kind.

“For us to be the best team that we can be, Michael Porter needs to be an efficient and engaged two-way player,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday. “And he’s aware of that. And he’s making the necessary strides to become that. And I’m proud of him for that.”

For a guy who turned up with a parade’s worth of red flags over health, that hasn’t been the primary issue over the last 18 months. The primary issue is that MPJ is a 6-foot-10 wing who sometimes plays like he’s 6-3.

If the Nuggets’ newest max contract recipient — $172 million, with the potential to make up to $207 million, Trae Young scratch — turns another corner when it comes to finishing in the paint and using length as a defensive weapon, Jamal Murray and his rehabbing knee can take their sweet time.

In 10 playoff games last year, Denver opponents shot 54.1% on 2-pointers when guarded by MPJ, which isn’t bad. They also made 56.4% of their treys, which … isn’t good. At all.

Now some of those numbers are skewed by drawing Portland and Phoenix, two excellent backcourts, and having to tackle more perimeter time in Murray’s absence.

But teams kept trying to find him, and usually made the Nuggets pay once they did. Damian Lillard, based on NBA.com’s tracking, went 13-for-21 with MPJ in his face, draining six of nine from beyond the arc. The Suns’ Mikal Bridges went 10 for 16 overall and hit on 3 of 7 from long range. Teammate Jae Crowder went 3 for 3 on triples with MPJ in his face. Old man ‘Melo Anthony went 4 for 5.

“Defensively, that’s something I know from my conversations with Michael, he wants to continue to grow in,” Malone stressed. “He does not want to be a guy when you get to the playoffs, that every team is trying to go at him and put him in the action every possession.

“He doesn’t want to be a liability. He wants to be a player that I can trust at the end of games to close out games when we need a big stop. And I love the fact that he’s aware of that, and he knows that it’s not about being a great scorer.”

It’s about defense. Floor burns. 50-50 balls. Helping to lighten the load for Jokic, who’s more than capable of dragging this roster up a mountain again, if he has to. He shouldn’t.

As constructed, the Nuggets have enough juice to make the playoffs without The Blue Arrow. It’s postseason worthy. But until Murray returns, it’s not postseason scary.

Not unless Porter is revving, every week, in that gear we’ve all talked about him shifting to. Because if that engine ever starts purring the way Connelly is betting it can, MPJ will be worth the price of admission. Every last, precious cent.