Michael Porter Jr. Thinks Nets In Good Shape, Admits He ‘took Foot Off Gas’ Post All-star Snub

The Brooklyn Nets plan last season was not some mystery. From Media Day back in September, it’s been about “playing the probabilities” and “flexibility.” Could you call it tanking? In response, Nets officialdom did everything but paraphrase the fictional prime minister in the British House of Cards TV series: “You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.”

That’s in the past now. With the Draft Lottery Sunday, we are about to get real. Speculation will soon be replaced by a much clearer path to the team’s summer moves which just about everyone believes will be aggressive. Count Michael Porter Jr. among those who thinks he can see the future.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Kendrick Perkins on the Road Trippin’ podcast, he talked about how he sees the summer working out, which he believes will include him.

“I’ve talked to the front office,” he told Perkins. “I think we’re going to get a good draft pick and then we got the most money in the NBA to get a really good playmaking 2-guard or point guard.”

A “good draft pick” will be subjective of course. The Nets can’t fall below the seventh pick and have twice as good a chance at No. 1 — 14 percent — as they do at No. 7 — seven percent. But as we keep saying, it’s all about the aerodynamics of small plastic balls.

His other comment about having “the most money” — presumably cap space — is not quite so. Brooklyn will be top two or three with as much as $50 million but at the very least Chicago will have more. It should also be noted that at one point early in the season, Porter suggested the Nets then-rookie guards weren’t cutting it … which got in a bit of hot water.

He didn’t offer any names the Nets might have in mind. He did say that he sees the Nets following the OKC Thunder path, building organically, developing both lottery picks and others into championship pieces. He admits the losing last season was tough on him.

“I never lost consistently my whole career until I got to Brooklyn. We were losing a lot. We were young. We were building something, but we’re not there yet. So it was definitely hard, bro. It definitely was hard,” he told Perk. “But I see the future with the team. I see what we’ve got in the young dudes. I see we have the most money to spend. I think we’ve got the most. We’re the youngest team. Kind of like Oklahoma City — it took them a while to get good. I think that’ll be how it is here. But I’m with it. I want to stay in Brooklyn.”

He even admitted that between the time he was snubbed for the All-Star Game in early February and the time he was finally shut down with a hamstring issue on April 3, he was not the same player. He said he regrets taking his “foot off the gas.“

“I regret that once I didn’t make that All-Star game, I let my foot off the gas because there really wasn’t anything we were playing for anymore. We couldn’t make the playoffs, I couldn’t be an All-Star… I wasn’t in the weight room as much, I wasn’t preparing as much, and my 3-point percentage dropped.”

As Erik Slater noted Thursday, MPJ averaged 20.5 points on 40.9% shooting from the field and 25.6% from three over his final 14 games after the All-Star reserves were announced. For the season, he put up 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds while shooting 46/36/86.

Porter of course is eligible for an extension up to $234 million over four years. He can starting talking to Sean Marks & co. starting on June 30 and although the top of the range seems quite pricey, both sides have offered positive takes about a future together. The 6’10” 27-year-old will make $40.8 million this season, the last on the five-year, $172 million deal he signed with the Nuggets. The Nets certainly had offers to move him at the trade decline, but reportedly told suitors, thanks but no thanks.

Asked if he thinks he could be the No. 1 option on a championship team, he admitted he’d need a co-star and that he’s talked to the front office about possibilities. Peyton Watson anyone?

Although he didn’t talk much about his current teammates, he offered a take on Cam Thomas’ exit from the Nets and later the Bucks, suggesting Thomas’ personality played a big part of his failure to harness all his powers. While conceding Thomas was one of the best shotmakers in the league, he said that’s not enough.

“There’s a lot more to sticking around in the NBA than just [scoring]. For Cam, I think it was a mixture of him being frustrated with a lot of things and also his personality… He doesn’t really socialize… He’ll say like two words all day, all practice. He doesn’t really talk to anybody. I don’t think he does it in a way where he’s trying to be a bad teammate. I just think that’s him.

“But when it comes to a team being willing to pay you and make you a No. 1 option, it comes with so much more [responsibility]. I don’t know if he was willing to break out of his personality and be talkative and try to be a leader and try to bring guys together. I think that’s kind of what happened here in Brooklyn.”

Porter, as he has in the past, did not step back from his controversial takes on culture beyond sports, saying he thinks it’s even helped his career …. financially.

“I think the reason that I make a lot of money in the NBA, but I still want to do other things, is because most NBA players, and most athletes — or people who have a lot to lose — are like robots. They want to maintain a certain image. They want to not disturb the peace. They want to shut up and dribble. They just want to play their sport, stay out of the way, and whatever. I always wanted to actually have a platform. I wanted to use my platform to actually have an impact and be able to talk about what I want to talk about.”

• Michael Porter Jr. hits Cam Thomas with harsh reality after messy Nets, Bucks exits – Erik Slater – Clutch Points