Was the Brooklyn Nets’ Cam Johnson trade a HOME RUN or a MISSED OPPORTUNITY? | NBA trade analysis

Was the Brooklyn Nets’ Cam Johnson trade a HOME RUN or a MISSED OPPORTUNITY? | NBA trade analysis

Coming up, was the Netscam Johnson’s trade a home run or a missed opportunity? I’ll answer that after this. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. The show is 100% free on all those great platforms. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. And on today’s episode, I’m going to be joined by Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily to react to the Cam Johnson trade, further breaking down what we saw in that deal that brought the Nets Michael Porter Jr. and unprotected 2032 first round pick. We’ll dive into what led up to it, how we think Brooklyn fared, and what it could mean moving forward. Joining the show now, we got Lucas Kaplan from Nets Daily. Frequent visitor to this pod since I took over. and Lucas were here to talk about the Cam Johnson trade. I recorded a emergency pod last night just reacting to the deal, but I think it’s all started to settle in more and you know while this definitely not the biggest trade obviously we’ve seen since we’ve been covering the Nets. They’ve had some massive ones. This significant deal like this was their best player from last season. It was seen as their top you know trade asset of the player. They finally move off of them and it’s somewhat signifies I think a turning of a page to a new era a little bit officially. So, the deal I I outlined it before, but what was your initial reaction when you saw that broke last night?
Yeah, I saw people use the word blockbuster a few times and I raised my eyebrows.
I I was I was guilty of that.
Did you really? You called it a blockbuster?
Honestly, I I called it a blockbuster in the sense that there was what there was 6070 million in salary being traded. Big names. Like obviously blockbuster is a term that can be loosely defined but
this is a net this is a nets blockbuster that because yeah it does kind of signify the turning of a page a little. I mean Cam Johnson was sort of the last vestige of hope that the immediate post Kevin Durant Nets like would compete and Ian McLe Bridges would form you know kind of the wing duo of the future in Brooklyn. That’s obviously no longer a possibility. You know, I know Nick Claxton, Cam Tom is still here, but it is a trade that it feels like the Nets had to make a version of this. Uh, you were surprised when they held on to Cam Johnson into the season last year. You were surprised or at least, you know, raised your eyebrows a little at them holding CJ through the deadline last February. And it was reported that they were trying to get multiple picks for him, a pick and a swap. Did they like exactly what the Sacramento Kings had to offer? This is the end point of all that. And my reaction was pretty good job by Shawn Marks and the Nets. I mean, you want to talk about pick quality, it’s kind of easy to look at this and say, oh, you know, they only got one first. Um, and you know, Michael Porter Jr. who’s at this point, you know, a negative asset making $40 million a year. But my initial reaction is that the 2032 unprotected Denver first is a damn good first to have and I’m sure you touched on why um you know recently. Yeah. And I was interested to see the reaction amongst the fan base after the deal was made and I guess it’s not completely surprising but you know I posted the emergency pod. There was a lot of people in the comments section. I wrote articles. There were people replying on Twitter and you know hitting me up with their reactions. And I think there were a lot of people who thought it was a good deal for the Nets, but there were a lot of people also who thought it was just like an awful deal for the Nets. And I was kind of surprised by that because when you look at this pick that they got, it’s a 2032 unprotected first, a year that Nicole Yokic is going to be 37 years old. The Nuggets are pouring a lot of assets into the team right now. I mean, this was their last draft pick that was able to be traded. And you know, at that point, you have no idea. Like, this is a pick that there’s a realistic world where this could be a this could be a top five pick in the draft. Like, you have no idea. Like, that would not be far-fetched whatsoever. Now, is it likely? Like, we have no idea. But I think the odds that they were going to get another asset of that quality for Cam Johnson, I think, was really low because we heard they were looking for, you know, multiple first round picks at the deadline. And all first round picks, I think a lot of times when fans look at this, they think like all first round picks are created equal. Like if you’re getting multiple first for CJ, I think there’s a chance it was they’re probably coming from a good team maybe where they’re going to be low or they were coming from another team where they’re going to be protected. And I think they caught Denver in a position where they were, you know, they were so kind of desperate to get off this MPJ contract and open some financial flexibility for themselves that they were willing to pay that. And they also have, you know, the three-time MVP in his prime right now, which I don’t think, you know, hurts. It’s they say, and I agree. I thought it was a good deal for Denver, but I think from their perspective, they’re saying we got Joic right now. like we can’t be worried about a 2032 pick, which I agree with, but that’s a pretty premium asset. And I think a lot of the, you know, the the gripes amongst the Nets fans come down to taking on Michael Porter Jr. And I think a lot of them view this as we took on a salary dump and we gave up CJ and we only got that one pick back. Yeah, I think perhaps our views have been skewed by pulling off the male Bridges trade. Um but again, you know, one of those picks was the 2025 Milwaukee first. Um consider that a year ago. One of them was the Knicks 25 first. Consider that a year ago. Both those picks end up in the 20s. Um or sorry, the Milwaukee one ends up 19. Knicks in the 20s. Um the other another pick Brooklyn got there in the in the late 20s at 27. just to say it doesn’t really matter so much that the pick Brooklyn got, you know, the age of that class right now is in sixth grade. I think it can be understandably tough for fans to look at that and go, “Oh boy.” Like, can’t wait to see what current 12-year-old we draft in seven years. However, if you believe in this timeline, as the Nets front office certainly does, and you believe that the team is certainly going to be good, or at least try to be good well before 2032, that is so I would hope so. Listen, nothing’s ever guaranteed with the Brooklyn Nets. But
that is one hell of an asset to have in the War Chest just in terms of trade value. Um, you know, they’re building through the draft right now. That’s going to end eventually. and this is a pick they can kind of make their own Cam Johnson trade, you know, if they’re they were in, you know, they’re in Denver’s position in three, four years. Uh what you said about this pick perhaps being top five, whatever. Who knows if that’s true, but I if that will be true, but it’s certainly the thinking around the league. Boy, I would like to have Denver’s post Jokic future. That would be nice.
Um and you know, Michael Porter Jr. probably has some rehabilitation potential as an asset and he is kind of a not perfect but pretty solid encore fit with this version of the rebuilding Nets which I’m sure we’ll get into.
Yeah. And I think what you said about this pick potentially being a trade ship is massive. Like a lot of fans were commenting and talking about it and saying like oh like 2032 that’s so far away. But we know that the Nets are going to have some desire to go big game hunting you know in the foreseeable future. It might be, you know, they’re going to play out this season, then they’ll see what happens in the draft, but beyond that, they might, you know, be wanting to go look for a start. It’s a very realistic possibility. I’d say it’s a strong possibility. And when you’re looking at the picks that they got in the Knicks deal, some of the other picks that they have, they have, you know, they lead the league in NBA, the NBA in first round picks, tradeable first round picks, but this pick, you know, in terms of quality when they’re negotiating with other teams, like it’s going to be up there near the top. Like they have some other picks that could be good. like they still have one of the Phoenix picks left over um that they didn’t give up in the Houston deal, but this pick’s going to be right up there. It’s going to be a really good chip for them to use. And from that standpoint, I think it’s something where you’re looking down the line and you’re saying, “What are we going to be able to parlay this into?” And that doesn’t just involve the pick. It also involves Michael Porter Jr. potentially and his contract. And I said, you know, I think a lot of fans looked at this as a salary dump and giving up CJ and only giving and only getting one first round pick in return. And that’s why they might have been disappointed. But all that depends on how you view Michael Porter Jr. as a player and also how you view his contract and how it could potentially be used. So we’ll touch on all that and what MP MPJ could mean for the Nets after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Game Time. There’s nothing like the NBA playoffs. The intensity, the buzzer beaters, the fans losing their minds. It’s the kind of atmosphere you must experience live. And this year’s matchups already delivered. If you want to get in next time, game time makes it fast and easy to get seats even for the biggest playoff games. Prices on the app actually drop closer to tip off. And with killer lastminute deals, panoramic seat views, and no surprise fees, game time is a total gamecher. Look guys, I had plenty of friends in New York City looking to get in on this Knicks playoff run. Tickets were so expensive, but they just went on the app and zone deals were offering 10% off exclusive zone deals for the NBA playoffs. They love that they could see their exact seat view before they bought. No surprises. And the app makes it ridiculously simple. Two taps and you’re done. Also, the NFL schedule release just dropped. And you better believe I’m already looking at my fall calendar and picking which games to hit. Game time makes scoring NFL tickets just as easy. You’ll find great seats for as low as $100 thanks to exclusive discounts. And with a game time guarantee, your tickets are 100% authentic, will arrive on time, and you’ll always get the best price with fees included. So what you see is what you pay. If you’ve never used Game Time to grab NFL seats, now’s the time. It’s seriously a game day upgrade. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K D O N MBA for $20 off. Download the game timeout today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Coming back from the break on today’s Locked on Nets episode, talking with Lucas Kaplan about the Cam Johnson trade, a Nets blockbuster as we uh decided it would be called. And you know, Lucas, want to get into Michael Porter Jr. We talked about the pick value of that unprotected 2032 first, but Michael Porter Jr. the Nets take on his contract as a salary dump. He makes I think about 17 more uh $17 million more than Cam Johnson this year and around the same more uh next season. And you know, the contract obviously is a distressed asset, but he’s an interesting player in terms of is there some rehabilitation value there and what could his contract even if he doesn’t perform well, what could the possibilities with his contract be? So, let’s start from him, the player, and what we think the value could potentially be just from him getting, you know, to play in this Net’s system. How do you view him as a potential guy who could get in this Net’s rotation and potentially work his way back to not having such negative value? Do you think that’s on the table
when the shot clock is in the single digits and one of the Nets many pass first, let’s say, scoring challenged prospects is handling the ball, Michael Porter Jr. will be like an oasis for them and he will, you know, probably to his um enjoyment get to shoot a lot of shots. Uh he is going to jack up the three-point attempt rate, probably even more than Cam Johnson uh for this team. He’s going to be a skip pass target every time Jaor comes off a screen, every time Nolan Trayori dribbles into the paint, Ben Saf go on down the line. uh he’s going to help them get up threes and, you know, play the way that Jordy likes on offense. Um in terms of ancillary stuff outside of Cam Johnson, probably dayto-day a worse defender, um better off, a better rebounder, um and uh probably a significantly lesser offensive creator coming off handoffs, making decisions, ball handling, all that stuff based on the version of CJ we saw last year. um if he’s not, you know, making $40 million, this is a type of player that the Nets really, you know, Jord’s going to want on the floor and that the Nets may want on the floor just to bring some like offensive cohesion, throw some sense onto the court without probably being so good that the value of their own draft pick in 2026 is seriously endangered. However, I will be online the first night that Cam Thomas and MPJ combined for 13 threes in a 119 116 victory over like the Lakers. It will be very fun.
You know, Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. are going to be interesting guys to see share the floor together to say the least. I mean, the Nets still have to work out the Cam Thomas contract where
um you know, nearly two days into free agency and that hasn’t broke, but I suspect that he’s going to be back. So, those will be interesting guys. But yeah, talking about, you know, Michael Porter Jr. and what he could be for this Nets team, you know, the player and the contract, you know, looking at that as a potential asset or a negative asset. I don’t think, first, I don’t think we can discount the fact like I think people see this as a salary dump. He’s coming in like, you know, when are they going to be able to get off of it? You know, could they flip him? All that stuff. I think I understand why people think that, but I don’t think we can discount the fact that this could be a guy that they play out the contract with and he’s young enough, he’s 27, where if they like what they see, you know, Jordy Fernandez has some past experience with him,
they could look to bring him back, you know, extend him on a better value contract and he could be a guy who has value long term to a team like this. So, I don’t think you can necessarily discount that. You know, your impressions of what you saw. I think a lot of people said, you just outlined some of the comparisons to Cam Johnson. I think a lot of people say that he’s a onetoone, you know, like this was just a swap. They’re the same player. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think they’re very similar,
but with what you saw from him in Denver last year, how do you feel about him as a guy who could potentially long term
be a guy who could, you know, he was hurt in the playoffs, so it’s tough to say championship basketball, be a guy who could get back to, you know, being a highlevel rotation guy who could be an impact guy, you know, a 16 game guy.
I mean, the one thing, you know, I said game to game, he’s probably a lesser defender than Cam Johnson. He’s reached defensive highs. CJ just can’t, you know, in the 2023 playoff run, used his length to like throw some legit second side rim protection out there. Legit defensive rebounder at the three gets exposed a little on the floor if you, you know, if he’s the second biggest guy on the court, but like if you’re getting that type of rebounding from your small forward ostensibly in this league, that’s a big boon. Um, I have seen him be locked in and make a lot of great decisions and be a catch and chew three-point threat for a good championship team. So, I don’t really doubt that. You know, will the timelines match up for Brooklyn? I don’t know. But, you know, in an alternate universe where the timing is just a little bit off, let’s say, you know, Damen Lillard had torn his Achilles a year from now and he’s a big expiring contract and Porter Junior’s a huge expiring contract, but at least he can play and get out on the court and maybe the Bucks hadn’t traded for Koozma and they want Porter Jr. instead. You know, that’s a bunch of hypotheticals, but there is a world where a good team would want to take on his expiring contract and the Nets, you know, would be a willing suitor um or a willing trade partner. So, I’m not fully counting out the possibility that like this is the lowest MPJ stock will ever be again and that a contender, whether it’s the future Nets or whether it’s another team in a trade, will want him on their team. Um because for all the knocks on him, we’ve seen this dude play through injuries and be a tough reliable shot maker at a championship level. And you know, banners hang forever, man.
And I think that the first thing you said about, you know, what I brought up about the timeline and your response, I just want to say it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibilities that he could be a long-term piece for the Nets. Like that’s been it’s a realistic like outcome. Is it the most likely? I don’t think so, but it could be, you know, and looking, you know, what you said about the contract and him being in it spine and the reason that I think I think this played a big calculus, a big uh a big role in the Nets calculus of this decision, you know, he’s on the same contract length as Cam Johnson. And looking at this as a salary dump, like the Nets don’t really have to worry about this coming season, you know, in terms of taking on the salary dump and whatever because we all know they’re going to be in a rebuild this season. They’re going to be tanking this season. They can just let him play, try to rehab his value, whatever. And then once you’re beyond that and you get into the next season, he’s a $41 million expiring contract. So like you said, there could be teams who, you know, want to get on that for, you know, whatever reasons, if they have a guy who’s hurt along those lines. It also could be in that 2026 27 season if they’re looking to trade for a star, you know, he could be the salary filler. Like we’ve seen teams do this. We just saw, you know, the Rockets with Jaylen Green, for example, like the Nets didn’t sign MPJ to this contract. when you have that salary on the books, it gives you the ability obviously to match much easier. And the team that would be getting him in such a scenario, you know, you get it firing, you could reset your books that way, you could look to extend him on a better value deal. And you, you know, you’re not so worse off for wear from that perspective. So, I think that the length of the contract, even though it was a salary dump and he’s making a lot of money, the timeline that the Nets are on this coming season with it being a tanking rebuilding year and then looking beyond that with it being expiring,
it’s not really like something that they have to worry about so much. So, negative and then you have the rehabilitation potential with him playing this year, you know, with a team that he’s going to get a lot of opportunity.
Yeah, it certainly I don’t think should be viewed as a contract that’s going to impede Brooklyn’s plans, you know, in any way, shape, or form. Um, and as you said, that’s a good point about him being a potential trade piece down the line for a star. Like, it’s February 2027. He’s about to expire. He’s making 40 million. You know, a star asks out of some other destination. Okay, here’s MPJ. Guess what? That’s 40 million off your books in three months. Very appealing to another team. Um, and the encore fit makes sense for Brooklyn. And you know, they pretty much swapped high three-point volume wings. You know, obviously I think Cam Johnson is better. And to do so, they paid an extra 17 million at pretty much no real impediment to them other than, you know, Joe’s wallet and they got a 2032 Denver first round pick. That’s really good business to me.
I think it was good business for both sides. And to close out the show after a quick break, want to talk, you know, dig in a little deeper to what MPJ’s role could look like on this team this coming season because this guy is going to get a lot of minutes. He might be able to do some stuff obviously that he wasn’t able to do with the Nuggets and Nicole Joic there. So, we’ll get into all that after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Ollipop. Ollipop is a new kind of soda made for people who love the classic taste of soda, but want something that supports their health. With just two to five grams of sugar and nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can, Alip is reimagining soda in a way that’s better for your gut. Guys, we’ve all drank regular soda and we all know that they’re loaded with sugar, like 39 grams in a regular Coke or 44 grams in an orange Fanta. 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And Lucas, want to dig a little bit into what Michael Porter Jr. could look on this team this coming season. So, you know, it’s a team that we got a lot of rookies coming in. We have some guys we’re still evaluating obviously like Cam Thomas if he resigns. And then you get Michael Porter Jr. who, you know, for better or worse, like it’s going to there’s going to be some exciting moments to have him on the team and watch him play. So, something that I know is a concern I want to start with. Um, there is a a segment of Nets fans, I think, who saw him coming in in this trade and are a little concerned, maybe have some PTSD with what Cam Johnson did last year of how he could negatively impact a tanking agenda. So, when you compare him to Cam Johnson and what we saw from CJ last year and what you’re expecting from MPJ, is that something that you would be worried about if you were a Nets fan? Perhaps. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that he won’t win them some games with shotmaking like I’m team full of passers at 610 and who is a, you know, loves to shoot, catch and shoot from three. he’s gonna end up, you know, there could be nights where he takes 12 good shots from three and nine of them go in and then all of a sudden the Nets are looking real good. Um, he probably has less like possession to possession juice than Cam Johnson. I think of the game in Washington in like February or March where Brooklyn was down 15. Ends up coming back and beating the Wizards and every possession it was literally Cam Johnson dribble handoff, Cam Johnson attack in transition, Cam Johnson lob, kick out, pull up. like he doesn’t quite have that. And I don’t know if the and I’m not trying to, you know, discredit him here or insult him, but I don’t know if the gametoame engagement level like will be as high as CJ, who was one hell of a competitor for a 26- win team in Brooklyn, like just to an uncommon level that I don’t expect every player to replicate. So, he makes basketball sense for the Nets like for a young team that needs a three-point safe haven to swing, you know, passes to. Um, that inevitably, like his hot games will really help them, but I don’t think it’ll be to the level of a Cam Johnson who like was genuinely awesome last year and did way more than we ever thought he could and had to handle a lot of offensive possessions. I don’t foresee that for MPJ, though there will be obviously a slight uptick in his usage. I agree. And I think that the biggest thing for me offensively is I think Cam Johnson has significantly more like off the dribble juice, you know, self-creation, playmaking stuff in that. I think he’s just a better ball handler. Also, just a better decision maker. Like maybe that goes into, you know, what you said about engagement. I just think that there were some intangibles there that CJ brought, which is probably why the Denver Nuggets obviously decided to trade for him and replace Michael Porter Jr. with him. Um, but I do think it’s interesting what role MPJ or what role he thinks that he’s going to play for this team because you look at the Nets also, you know, one last thing about why I don’t I’m not too worried about how he’s going to impact the tank. You look at the beginning of the season that really put the Nets behind the eight-ball. They had Dor Dennis Shruder and Dorian Finny Smith playing at a really high level alongside Cam Johnson. Now, who’s the vet alongside Michael Porter Jr.? It’s Terrence Man. We don’t know what’s going to happen with Nick Claxton. I just think the roster have a lot of rookies playing. I just think the roster is going to be at a you know, much bigger, you know, deficiency from day one than it was last season. Talking about MPJ’s role though, you know, he’s coming in, he’s been a guy who’s played a complimentary role obviously alongside Joic. He’s been a spot up guy, done some like self-creation stuff in spurts, but he there’s potential here that maybe he steps in and says like, “This is my time.” Like, you know, I I’m going to take over. This is going to be the show that Michael Porter Jr. showed to do some of the things that maybe I couldn’t do with the Nuggets. Maybe like a little Jeremy Grantes when he got his run with the Pistons and was able to cook there. What do you think about that? And like obviously you can’t go into MPJ’s head, but if he comes in with that mindset, like I wonder how that’s going to sit with the Nets and how they kind of resolve that because they do have a lot of pass first, you know, rookies coming, but those guys are going to have the ball still handle some. They’re going to have Cam Thomas, a guy who has the ball a lot obviously.
Yeah.
Where does MPJ fit into that offensively?
Yeah, I would imagine there’s already been some discussions between he and the team of a little give and take. Like, dude, you have to get these catch and shoot three-pointers up. you have to help out the guys we have coming in and in return you will obviously be able to handle the ball a little bit more than you did in Denver in terms of initiating some possessions. Uh he’s averaged about 15 shot attempts and like two or three free throws per 36 minutes around that his whole career. I would expect that to go up I think. What about you? 15 like six essentially 16 17 shot attempts per 36 minutes.
No, I think it’ll go up for sure. I mean, I just think that there’s going to be so many more opportunities from the way that the Nets want to play. They’re going to have some rookies who are going to struggle, but for better or worse, like we heard Jordy Fernandez talk about it today at the rookie press conference. Like he said, he thinks they have guys who can pass. He thinks they have the fastest player in the draft. I assume he was talking about Nolan Shore. And then you also have like Jaor Deen. There’s going to be a lot of catch and shoot opportunities for MPJ. And then like you said, I do think he’s he’s definitely going to come in and want to have the ball. Like he was okay being in this complimentary role alongside Nicole Joic and Jamal Murray. If he’s coming in and it’s Jaor Demon and Nolan Troy and Cam Thomas, he might be like, “All right, like give me the ball and get out of the way a little bit more.” I will say like Cam Johnson if he has a lot of advantages created for him like if he’s attacking a close out if he comes off a screen with some space he is really moving what he showed last year moving the offense along either getting to the rim shooting or like making a nice kickout pass. MPJ if he puts the ball on the floor, he doesn’t turn it over a lot, but it’s still probably going up. And I think in a regular season playing for the Brooklyn Nets, there will be a lot of times where he dribbles inside the ark and takes an 18footer or a 20-footer instead of kicking it out to the corner. Not because he’s like a selfish player or whatever, because like that’s just who he is. and even playing in Denver his whole career verse Cam Johnson with the Nets, he takes more mid-range shots. Oh my god, we’ve seen I’ve got a lot of Nuggets fans in my life. I follow the Nuggets Twitter community. I’ve seen a lot of clips of Michael Porter Jr. taking some contested long twos off the bounce when there might have been somebody there might have been a Jokic and a duck a duck in open. There might have been some guys on the wing open and he likes to put it up. So looking forward to those clips.
If he’s maybe not looking off, but maybe not seeing Jokic ducking in or Jamal, you know, spotting up from three, something tells me he may not be even more willing to see Noah Clowney in the corner and uh Danny Wolf ducking in on the block. So he’s going to get him up. He can shoot though.
You know, he’s gonna shoot.
He’s going to have some 30 burgers here for sure.
I mean, the Nets want to shoot. Like we heard Jordy Fernandez, this is a line that he’s used a lot, but he talked about it um about his conversations with the rookies of like if somebody creates a a catch and shoot three and you don’t take it, like you’re going to be sitting next to me on the bench. Like that’s selfish. That’s what he loves to say. Like there’s going to be a lot of catch and shoot three opportunities for Michael Porter Jr. If anything else, like even if he doesn’t play great or he doesn’t rehab his value, like if they were going to trade Cam Johnson, they did need to get a respectable to highlevel shooter in there just to offer some semblance of like, you know, structure around these guys like Jaggore Demon or Nolan Troy or whoever. Like you don’t just want like non-spacers out there alongside them where the offense is just going to be complete chaos. So, from that perspective, you know, I I think that it’s encouraging. And um you know, I’m going to put you on the spot. We’re going to do this and then we’ll round it out with one more question, but if you had to guess, give me an MPJ offensive statline this season with the Nets. What would you say?
Okay. I would, if I’m put on the spot, I would probably say, give me 21 points a night.
Okay.
Give me 21. Give me n Yeah, give me 21 points a night. on uh like 46 39 splits. So 46 from the floor, 39 from three. Throw in, you know, six boards and maybe two and a half assists. That that would set a careerh high for him. Two and a half assists.
Be a pretty good stat line, right? be cam cam Johnsonesque, you know, maybe not quite up to the level, but if he did that, I mean, you know, there there would be, I think, some people who would look around the league and maybe have some interest of what he could be in some situations. I mean, there’s no like teams that are obviously there’s no shortage of teams looking for guys who are 6’10, can shoot off the catch, and have some ancillary skills. And I think the ancillary skills decision-making part has been lacking for MPJ at times. And um but in this situation, maybe the Nets can unlock some of that. Maybe he just has a different opportunity
and a change of scenery leads to that. But to close it out, just want to talk some broad thoughts on Shawn Marks, the Nets front office, how they’ve approached this off season. I think we’ve talked about the draft at length. So, we’ll leave that there. But in terms of the trades, you know, they if you look at the two different salary dumps, they basically sent out Cam Johnson. They got Michael Porter Jr., um Terrence man the number 22 pick which turned into Drake Pal and an unprotected 2032 first round pick from the Nuggets and then they also signed I haven’t talked about this yet probably do a whole episode but they got Don Sharp on a two-year $12 million contract team option the second year and Zier Williams on the exact same contract so if you were like just broad thoughts and you know grades of how the Shawn Marks has conducted this off seasonason so far how do you feel about it? Yeah, I mean it’s tough not to give it a passing grade. I mean with flying colors like you get Don Sharp and Zire Williams back well below their cap holds like pretty cheap deals. Um and you use the cap space for I think what most Nets fans and would want and what I think the kind of the obvious path would be which is to take on distressed contracts and accumulate first rounders. He’s already added two, you know, first round picks. I mean, number 22 in this draft, not a bad not a bad spot to be in. And the 2032 Denver first, I think we’ve talked about it enough, but that is seemed like a more feasible route with all the cap space rather than trying to throw a bag at Santi Alama and convincing him to come to a 26- win team about to be bad again next year or Nquille Alexander Walker, you know, in his mid20s already. I I think this route is the way to go. And I think if you’re going this route, taking on Terrence Man for a first. Yeah, I’ll do that. Getting a 2032, you know, Denver first for Cam Johnson after maybe perhaps holding on to him a little bit too long. I mean, a lot of those, you know, if you want to call that a mistake, a lot of it’s been absolved. So, I would be very encouraged by the Nets off season. Obviously, the offseason as a whole really comes down to how well the draft picks perform, you know, when we look back on this in a few years, but we can’t know that yet. So, for now, I would be very, very pleased with this off season and expect them to get Cam Thomas done. I mean, it makes sense that that’s the last thing they’re going to do. And if we were look Yeah. I mean to close it out my thoughts if we were looking at how we expected this off seasonason to go or how fans could have been hoping. I think there’s a lot of fans who wanted them to come away with more assets. They wanted them to maybe more properly tank and more prioritize the draft position, you know, this coming season than they did last year. And if you’re looking at it so far, they executed two salary dumps. They got two picks that are good. You know, I think highv value picks, number 22 in this draft and that unprotected 2032 from Denver. And then they got all these rookies coming in. The jury’s obviously going to be out for a while, but you you have shots there for those guys to potentially hit. It’ll be fun to watch them. You have a vet and Michael Porter Jr. who will bring some excitement on some nights and has some, you know, rehabilitation potential. And beyond that, you have the draft position, you know, that is going to be a main focus of this coming season. So, I think they’ve really checked all the boxes. They got Dron Sharp and Zire Williams back on very team friendly deals. Like, all of these I just feel like are good developments. They’re things that the Nets can be excited about. Nets fans can be excited about from a process standpoint and also from the onc court product. And then you know Cam Thomas, we’ll see what happens with that. And then also they still have $17 million in cap space left. So there could be more signings, there could be more salary dumps, you know, but overall thus far I think the process has been what Nets fan should have been hoping for. And I think that it’ll lend itself to some more exciting oncourt developments than what we saw last season. So um you know I think it’s been good so far. But that does it for uh this interview with you, Lucas. I really appreciate you taking the time as always and excited to maybe in the future dig into some more of these signings and in the season have some uh more talk about maybe some big MPJ nights. So I I fun. That does it for today’s episode of Locked on Nets. Hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Lucas further breaking down this trade with Cam Johnson and Michael Porter Jr. talking about MPJ, what he could be for the Nets, also what that draft pick could be for the Nets moving forward as an asset. If you don’t already, make sure to subscribe to Locked on Nets on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple podcast or Spotify. Be sure to like, comment, let me know what you thought about the trade. Let me know what you thought about my takes or Lucas’s. Whether good or bad, we can handle it. Anything you guys can do to engage is much appreciated. But I’ll be back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater and Lucas Kaplan discuss the Brooklyn Nets and Denver Nuggets’ trade swapping Cam Johnson for Michael Porter Jr. and a future first-round pick. They analyze the return for the Nets, breaking down the value of the draft pick and MPJ’s future with the team.

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