Michael Porter Jr. is turning the page to a new chapter in his NBA journey. After six seasons in a complementary role with the Denver Nuggets, the 27-year-old has an opportunity to be the Brooklyn Nets' leading man.
Porter Jr.'s offseason trade reunited him with Jordi Fernandez, who served as a Nuggets assistant from 2016 to 2022. Two days away from Brooklyn's first preseason game, the Nets head coach outlined expectations for Porter Jr.'s expanded role.
“It's not going to be better or worse, it's just going to be different. He's going to be asked to do different things,” Fernandez said. “I'm going to want him to be aggressive. I'm going to ask him to shoot the ball, to be the best cutter on the floor, because he's a big target and a very good rebounder. So, if he's a star in his role and plays through his strengths, I'm not going to be asking him to dribble too much because that's not what I envision him to be very efficient at… But he can shoot, he can rebound, all those things that I just mentioned. I'm excited to watch him play in a different role.”
Porter Jr. has said he felt his ceiling “plateaued” in Denver with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray dominating the offense.
How Michael Porter Jr. is acclimating to new offensive role at Nets training camp
The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 17.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists on 49/40/78 shooting splits over his last three seasons. However, he's never attempted more than 13.6 shots per game in his career. That number should rise on a Nets team with a severe shot-creation deficit.
Outside of Cam Thomas, whose Nets future looks increasingly uncertain after a failed contract negotiation, Porter Jr. is Brooklyn's only high-level shotmaker.
“It’s just different spots on the floor that I'm trying to get comfortable in, specifically the mid-post area. I feel like I can score six to eight points easily, just getting comfortable in there, facing up, and shooting over the top, or bumping somebody and getting downhill,” Porter Jr. said of his new role. “So in camp, that's been a place for me that I feel really comfortable in that mid-range area. Obviously on our Denver team, that was a kind of a spot that obviously Joker was in a lot, sometimes we post Aaron [Gordon] up in the mid post; but it’s somewhere that I feel very comfortable getting to my shot from, and I think that'll be a place that down the stretch of games when things slow down, I can I can utilize that.
“But yeah, the role is different. We're still exploring different things. But the coaches are doing a great job early on at training camp, having me run through different actions and do different things in the scrimmages, and I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it.”
While Porter Jr. will enjoy an expanded role, Fernandez must craft it within the constraints of the forward's skill set. As the coach admitted, ball-handling is not one of Porter Jr.'s strengths. Those responsibilities will primarily lie with Brooklyn's trio of rookie point guards: Egor Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf.
The Nets' rookies will shoulder a heavy burden on a team without a veteran floor general. Brooklyn envisions Porter Jr.'s floor spacing, cutting, and secondary shot creation acting as a security blanket for its young ball handlers.
“He's going to be great. He's a player who opens up the court and is a target. And, again, he can shoot over people with playmaking inside,” Fernandez said.
“He's a very good fit, or at least I envision him to be a very good fit. He still has to earn it, and I just want him to shoot it… I believe the more he shoots the ball, the more it's going to go in. He's going to work out well [here]. If not, I'll figure that out.”
