Grading The Week: Chauncey Billups’ arrest? FBI charges? Michael Porter Jr. warned us what was coming

MPJ was right Full disclosure There are a lot of things the Grading The Week staff will miss about life in the Mile High City without Michael Porter Jr The hot streaks The rebounding The big heart off the court But when it comes to the Nuggets former foundational wing forward we might miss his candor the the bulk For better or worse MPJ called it and calls it like he sees it Chosen of his truths are a little less shall we say politically correct than others granted But Mike is Mike Take him or leave him In August MPJ left us with something to ponder Something deep Only at the time we didn t know just how deep it was Think about it Porter reported in an appearance on the One Night With Steiny podcast about six weeks ago If you could get all your homies rich by telling them Yo bet on my under this one tournament I m going to act like I ve got an injury and I m going to sit out I m going to come out after three minutes And they all get a little bag because you did it one competition That is so not OK But selected people possibly think like that They come from nothing and all their homies have nothing It s not OK At all But it makes for a positively chilling and prescient read after the FBI indictments levied against Denver icon Chauncey Billups Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA guard Damon Jones earlier this week MPJ s betting warning B MPJ warned the podcast audience and us that more gambling-related stories were coming out of the NBA s inner circle The former Nugget has already lived through one of the bigger league scandals at a personal level His younger brother Johntay was banned from the league for life in for admitting that he removed himself from two games in order to help those who had taken the under on his statistics The enjoyment of the competition isn t for the challenge anymore MPJ mentioned It s so that people can make money In reality way more people are losing money than making money To wit MPJ s brother reportedly was taking himself out in order to make particular cash back to cover prior gambling debts It s a tale a sad one as old as Eddie Cicotte Art Schlichter and Pete Rose Only the landscape has changed Leagues that eschewed sports betting companies are now business partners with them DraftKings has a deal with the NBA Late last month FanDuel became the unique odds provider of the NBA and WNBA games on Amazon Prime Once the Supreme Court opened the door for legalized sports betting in the United States in so a multitude of horses flew out of so various barns it might be too late to build fences metaphorical or otherwise Thursday s news might only be the tip of the iceberg Porter inferred And even more chillingly not just in the NBA It s bad MPJ noted And it s only going to get worse He s seemingly right about that too More s the pity Avs Quebec throwbacks A On a sunnier note Band GTW s checking account is perhaps about to get a bit lighter Our resident puck-heads have consistently had a sweet spot for the old World Hockey Association and its myriad of ghosts RIP Denver Spurs You too Michigan Stags And Indianapolis Racers And Cincinnati Stingers So yeah Nordiques throwbacks Sign us up Fleur-de-lis forever baby