The Brooklyn Nets finally looked like a team with some rhythm in their blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans, and Michael Porter Jr. thinks the answer starts with cleaner communication and faster decisions.
Porter said he and Julius Randle are still working through how to fit together, but the Nets’ mix of size and playmaking around them gave the offense a different shape. With Randle, Day’Ron Sharpe, Danny Wolf and Egor Demin in the mix, Porter has been placed in a spot that can make life easier for him, especially since his game is built more around moving without the ball than handling it.
“I just told Ju, me and him [are] going to have to take it on ourselves to get us organized and be in the right place, be involved in the offense,” Porter said. “So we were just trying to communicate more, make quicker decisions and get into things quicker.
We’ve got a lot of capable guys. I don’t know how many people are in double figures.
It seemed like a lot, though. So we got capable dudes.
And when we share the ball like that, everyone gets to have fun, feel like they’re in a rhythm. We can be pretty good offensively.”
That balance showed up in the scoring distribution, with the Nets spreading the ball around and getting plenty of production from multiple spots. Even so, they still do not have a clear end-of-game centerpiece, and rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. is still learning how to handle those moments at this level.
The Pelicans also offered a favorable test. They have wing depth, but they are not an established team, so the Nets will need to prove this kind of performance can carry over against stronger opponents.
Jordi Fernandez has made paint touches and pressure at the rim a major part of his offensive approach, and that hasn’t changed. Nolan Traore, Randle and Wolf can all run the sets he wants, but the whole thing works best when the Nets have enough 3-point shooting around them to force closeouts and create cleaner driving and cutting lanes for the team’s rim attackers.
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