DILEMMA: Is Michael Porter Jr. TOO GOOD For The Brooklyn Nets To Successfully TANK This Season?

DILEMMA: Is Michael Porter Jr. TOO GOOD For The Brooklyn Nets To Successfully TANK This Season?

On today’s show, the Nets take down the Bulls in Chicago for their second straight win. And once again, it’s Michael Porter Jr. leading the way. Is MPJ too good for Brooklyn’s tank? I’ll dive into that and more right now. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome in to Locked on Nets right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. This 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 locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. And on today’s episode, I’m going to be recapping the Nets 113 103 win in Chicago. I’ll dive into Michael Porter Jr.’s continued breakout, whether fans should be worried about the tank, and how I think Brooklyn should operate moving forward. And joining the show now, we got Lucas Kaplan from Nets Daily. And Lucas, are the Nets a good basketball team? A question that we might have to contemplate because they’ve won back-to-back games. For the first time this season, they take down the Bulls 113 103 in Chicago. And in this segment, we’re going to answer a question. Is Michael Porter Jr. too good for the Nets to tank? Like that is going to be the overall theme of this segment. But before that, just want to give a little bit of background on the game. MPJ led the way. He was lights out once again. 33 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, 10 of 20 from the field, five of 10 from three, eight of 10 from the free throw line. So, he’s just continues to play at an all-star level. Noah Clowny started off really rough, 05 in the first half, comes back, drains six of six of seven from three in the second half. The Nets get hot overall and they really just put the clamps on a Bulls team that was put the clamps on defensively on a Bulls team that was short-handed and they looked like the better team for pretty much this entire game. So Lucas, just what are your brief thoughts on this game and takeaways before we get into the MPJ stuff? Yeah, I mean I saw a lot of posts and and commentary today from Bulls fans just apoplelectic over the state of this team and how they keep losing to bad teams and if Billy Donovan should be on the hot seat. But you watch the game and it’s like are we sure the Bulls had more talent on the floor today than the Nets? I they were very hurt, you know, no Kobe White, no Kevin Herder, they were missing another a few more starters uh rotation players, but the Nets just looked like the better team. I mean, you’re gonna look at the box score and you see the Bulls did score 60 points in the paint and shot seven of 30 from three. I don’t know. It really did not feel like illtimed shooting variance, you know, for the Nets going their way. It felt like, especially in the second half, they just had much cleaner offensive possessions. Um, other than Josh Giddy just kind of bullying his way to the free throw line and to the paint, the Nets just seemed like the more cohesive team with a better game plan, like better intentions, better execution. And I know again Chicago is really injured, but I don’t know, the Nets just look professional. They just looked like a good team. And I guess that’s why we’re in shock or at least contemplating this reality that we did not think we’d be living in a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Honestly, like we went into the season and some people I think you CJ Holmes colleague on the beat had said that like maybe the Nets might exceed expectations. I was like no I think they’re going to be terrible. I took the under on the, you know, 19.5 wins and I was semi victory lapping it after that 0 and7 start and now it’s like h I don’t I don’t know because they they’re looking like, you know, there’s a lot of these games that we came in and we were like the conversation entering the season was how many of these games are the Nets going to be favored or look like the better team. They haven’t been favored by any because Vegas seems to be like lagging behind their improvement as they were last year. But there are a lot of games, I mean, like against these teams where the Nets look like the better team on the floor, like against these kind of struggling or bottom of the NBA teams. And that was the case again tonight. And it’s going to bring in a lot of conversations about the tank. You know, is it in trouble? And we’re going to get into that. But I think the biggest question for me right now in that is Michael Porter Jr. just playing at too high a level for this Nets team to tank because we saw it. MPJ was out for those two games recently and the Nets offense completely fell off a cliff. And after that, I was telling fans like you shouldn’t be too worried about the tank. That might have been me just like, you know, not factoring in how much MPJ coming back was gonna affect that. But overall, like I don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button yet. But it’s definitely a legitimate question of is MPJ too good for this Nets team to tank? Because you look over the last 12 games, over MPJ’s last 12 games, he’s had 27.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 5041, 83 shooting splits. And the Nets are five and seven over MPJ’s last 12 games. So they’re playing really well. I mean, not really well, but relative to expectations. They’re playing well when he’s on the court. And it’s, you know, it’s going to bring up a conversation because if he keeps playing at this level, I mean, he’s not going to be scoring 35 and 33 points every night, but when he’s playing, like the Nets usually are in games against teams that are, you know, at their level, sometimes even slightly above or worse than them. So, what are your feelings on this conversation? because MPJ is he’s kind of becoming like the tank villain of this season. I mean, he’s he’s he’s on a little bit of a heater right now and like his shot diet, as as talented as he is, won’t produce over 30 points every night, but this offense, and I wrote about it a lot yesterday, is really welldesigned and he’s going to be able to get 20 shot attempts a night if he wants. Now, the thing that’s really jumping out to me in terms of like if we’re going to talk about the tank, the league is like really bad this year, like among among the bottom 12 teams. Like you’re sure you can look at like the Sacramento, New Orleans, Indiana, Brooklyn tier, like as the you know, real tank masters, but like the Nets just play two, I would say below average teams in the standings, right? Like 10 11 in the East, Chicago and Charlotte. And I know Chicago had a lot of injuries, but like those teams stunk and they’re going to deal with injuries over the course of the season. So, you know, like you said, they’re playing well, but like not really well. You know, since they’re 0 and seven start to the season, I think they’re five and nine. They’re about a minus five net rating, which again, bad, but like that’s that’s night and day compared to what it was before. Like that’s an improvement that I just did not see coming. But a a normal level of bad is going to win you games this year in the in the NBA. And I think MPJ has a has a ton to do with that. And if simply removing him is a I don’t know I don’t know about a surefire way to accomplish the tank, but just so much of their offense is built around him. So it feels like that’s the key to this whole thing. I talked about this after our last pod after their last win and I said like MPJ like the the tanking ace up the net sleeve is MPJ and does it have or like removing MPJ and does does that have to be a trade like it could be a trade it could be maybe you just go the Jazz like Lorie Markin route and you just sit him all the time. I mean like I honestly think like it depends the question you know MPJ I think is going to be generating at least some trade interest at the deadline because with the way that he’s playing right now there has to be some teams around the league who are looking at this guy and saying this guy can really help us if we’re trying to make a playoff push especially with how wide open the Eastern Conference looks right now. Like if you’re a team, we talked about it briefly before, but if you’re a team like the Detroit Pistons who really needs some more floor spacing and like movement shooting outside of just Duncan Robinson alongside Kade and Duran and some of those guys, MPJ, you know, depending on how the Nets view him, like he should be pretty getable for the Pistons. They could put put together a pretty easily compelling offer and like he’s a guy that I think could help them significantly. Now, the question is going to be for the Nets, you know, how do they envision MPJ being a long-term piece for this team? And if they envision him being a long-term fit, then maybe you go the route of just like holding him out on a lot of nights and kind of, you know, increasing the rest nights that he gets as the season progresses. If they don’t envision him as a long-term fit, then you might consider like trading him at the deadline because if they trade him, or maybe not not even at the deadline, it could be, you know, December 15th at that date or any point after because if they trade him, like you just said, this offense is going to fall off a cliff. Like if the Nets were to trade Michael Porter Jr., it is like a pretty easy way to guarantee that they finish near the top of the draft lottery standings. Whereas if you keep him, you might, but you also might not. Like because the the bottom of the league is just so bad this year. The MPJ anal like analysis for the Nets long-term and prospective trade partners is just really weird because it’s not like they just air dropped him onto this team and he’s playing well. I mean, this is a situation that he has never been remotely close to in his career in terms of the usage and the way this offense revolves around him and his movement and the dribble handoffs that he’s in and the back cuts he’s, you know, free to make right when he’s coming up to get the ball. And so, I don’t know how a team is going to truly evaluate him based on this season if you were to just be like Detroit and plug and play him next to Kate. I mean, we only have like 15 games of him playing in an offense like this. And they stunk the first five games cuz nobody was trying and they didn’t really know what they were doing. I think there’s a I think there’s another reason that contributed to them stinking during that first five games that we’ll get into in a little bit, but keep going. And then for the Nets long term, you just have no idea where they’re going to be in a year and a half. Like, sure, they’re going to make this draft pick. They always swap next year, so they’re probably gonna try not to suck, but who knows what the roster is going to look like, you know, what how they’ll be in a year and a half, and that’s when MPJ’s contract expires. And so assuming you can’t offload him in his $40 million contract for plus value, it’s hard to see that far ahead, and it’s hard to see, you know, a future two years from now and project what his role in the offense will be, which is the source of so much of his impact. So, for right now, I’m still kind of where we were at the start of the season. Like MPJ, like fun tank commander. Don’t really feel like a lot of long-term burden, right? Or a long-term analysis with this guy. But you watch these games and they’re they’re fun and they’re scoring and your heart is kind of overtaking your brain in terms of looking and watching this team. Like the last two nights have been fun as hell. Yeah. I mean, and it sucks. And I like kind of have to throw in this disclaimer of it sucks. He says, “Well, we don’t we don’t it no, not it sucks in terms of them playing well. I’m saying it sucks in terms of them playing well and it it being exciting and us having to come on here and talk about tanking.” Like, we don’t want to come on here after two really exciting wins and be like, “How does this affect the tank? Should people be worried?” Like, that’s not fun. But it’s the reality of the Net situation right now is like this is a tanking season and getting a top pick in this draft or giving yourself the best chance is a huge part of this season. and MPJ is proving to be a significant hindrance to to that. So, you know, closing out this first segment, kind of where I’m at with MPJ is that, you know, I you know, I don’t want to let like a really like like a heater, like you said, like a hot shooting streak just completely blind me, but the way that Jordi Fernandez is able to maximize his skill set in this offense, it’s at least intriguing into whether or not he can be a long-term piece moving forward. Now, you could make the argument that maybe you could plug some guys in with similar skill sets to MPJ and Jordy will be able to get like a lot out of a lot of these guys because he did the same thing with Cam Johnson last season, maybe to a little bit of a lesser extent. But it’s going to come down to the Nets’s evaluation of MPJ. Like, do they view him as a long-term piece? And, you know, ultimately it’s also going to come down to like, do they think that maybe they can, you know, replace his production with somebody who’s a lot cheaper? Like, do they want him at the amount of money that he’s going to be at moving forward? And that ultimately is going to factor into do they trade him. Do they cash in on it? And also if they don’t, I think that there’s going to have to be a lot of nights where MPJ has, you know, maybe some back soreness and he’s going to need some nights off and nice to rest and that ultimately is going to be a huge part of whether or it seems like the Nets are going to be able to successfully tank. But is the tank in trouble? How worried should fans be? Is a soft upcoming schedule going to completely derail this thing? We’ll get into all that when we continue locked on Nets after a quick break. Guys, what if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It’s not you against the house. It’s you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. 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Cam Thomas has gone out of the lineup. They’ve looked way better since in most regards. Like, is Cam Thomas a tank commander for this team? Like, that’s becoming a conversation, at least on social media. And I think that, you know, it’s it’s I think at least worth talking about because he’s a guy who may come back into the lineup soon because we’re going to have some clarity on his timeline. But just looking at this, like the offense is at least at the same level. It might even be better after this game. I’m not sure with it flowing through MPJ in terms of uh statistically. And the Nets are legitimately 12 points better in defensive rating before and after Cam Thomas’s injury. So they just look much better like without him in the lineup. And I know like he has a you know passionate following of fans that that might anger them but I’m not saying it to like be a hater. That’s just that’s just been the reality early this season. You only do you only do this when I am a guest? Like do you ever talk about it on fan? I mean dude like I got to talk about it. He’s he’s like one of the most notable players on the Nets and he might come back and like they’ve looked much better without him. Like that’s just that’s just how it’s gone early this season. Yeah. As someone who’s written a lot about CT, it’s, you know, tough to draw any conclusions from this small sample size. And, you know, these guys were not trying at all on defense to start the year. Like offensive levels of effort. And Cam was one of those guys, but he wasn’t the only guy. And if you know, those guys felt so uninspired to play defense simply because they were sharing the floor with Cam Thomas, I would say that’s more of an indictment on them. And I’m not going to sit here and blame CT for that. However, he is a bad defender who makes their lineups a lot smaller. One of the reasons they’ve been winning as of late is they’ve been playing these huge lineups and he has super long touches, doesn’t really move off the ball quickly or or get off the ball quickly, make quick decisions. And that is antithetical to the way they want to play in the future. It’s antithetical to the way they’re playing right now. And it’s therefore antithetical to why they’re winning games right now. Like there are nights like that home loss to the Celtics where you just wish there was a guy like Cam who could dribble and shoot and create his own shots, but ultimately I don’t think you can say that they miss him. They certainly don’t miss him. And this there’s not a lot of evidence to the contrary over the first five years of his career. Now, is he going to single-handedly come back and they’re going to be one and 15 over their next 16 and completely suck? I’d be surprised if it was that bad, but I don’t think adding him back to this lineup is going to make them any better. And frankly, it’s going to take away minutes from guys I would rather see play at this point in their careers. Yeah, I mean, I’ve been pretty clear and firm that I don’t really think it makes too much sense to bring CT back, but maybe from the tanking perspective, it does make sense. Like, I don’t know. Everything’s kind of getting like flipped up flipped upside down at this point. But you said like everybody wasn’t trying on defense and you know, it wasn’t just CT and I completely agree with that. I’d also say though that like you you also talked about the offense and I feel like the way that the Nets are playing like just you I mean you’ve gone through like the assist numbers on off with MPJ and with CT and with how many more assists they average as a team with MPJ on the court versus CT and I just feel like they’re playing such a more team oriented you know evenly distributed brand of basketball offensively and I think that that just keeps everybody more engaged on the other end like we’ve all played basketball before at some level like you and I men’s league and, you know, high school and stuff, but it’s like, how much more fun is the game when you’re touching the ball, when the ball’s moving, when everybody is getting involved? Like, that stuff bleeds into the defensive end and it’s contagious from offense to defense. And I mean, I just think that we’re seeing that like in the games where everybody’s standing around watching Cam Thomas, I think the offense was the same, if not maybe a little worse. And then how like everybody else wasn’t trying on the defensive end of the floor. I just think that like just from a fans perspective, how much more fun have these past few games been to watch in this overall sample size? Like I think that it’s more fun to watch because more guys are playing hard and more guys are invested and more guys are doing more things. And I, you know, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that. I feel like that that has been a direct result of the Nets not having Cam Thomas being, you know, a 35% usage guy on their offense. I will say the starting back court on night one and for the first five games was Ben Saraf and Terrence man and Saraf is playing way less now. He hadn’t played in most of these games right he was in the G-League other than the last two or three and Terrence man who is not a great offensive player but is taking up a lot of usage has missed these last two wins. I don’t think that’s a total coincidence. So, there is some non-cam rejiggering they can do to the lineup and the roster to get different results. And that’s a nice way of saying lose, but he it’s tough to just sit sit here and watch him call up Nick for a high pick and roll. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that like Jagor, even Tyrese, Drake Powell, like these guys usage looks way different when he plays versus when he doesn’t play. And I’m enjoying the version of them much more as I’m sure most fans are when camp doesn’t play. Yeah. And it just it just bodess like that goes into just it boating a little bit better for development for this to be a more evenly distributed offense and you know we’re getting the MRI results on CT at the end of this week and the Nets are going to provide a timeline after that. So you know we’ll get into that and we’ll you know see how the Nets handle that. That’s going to be a big story line moving forward. Cam. Well, Cam, the last thing, Cam also can’t just sit out this contract year unless he wants to play for a minimum next year. Like, yeah, he’s, you know, and then and they don’t the organization and the player, I don’t think they have a terrible relationship. At least the coaching staff and, you know, his teammates like his his will to get back on the floor is going to come into play, too. If that Yeah. And it it Yeah, there’s a huge incentive on his part to come back on the floor. So, we’ll see how the Nets and him handle that. It’s going to be interesting. But moving past the CT conversation and just into the Nets tank situation and should fans be worried about this? I mean, after this game, the Nets have fallen to fifth in the draft lottery standings. They are two and a half games back of the Pelicans. And the Pelicans, like my goodness, just epic historic disaster. Like I would I’d resend my fandom if I were a fan of that team. That’s how bad that trade was. And then it’s 1.5 games back of the Wizards and Pacers. And you look at the upcoming schedule. I mean, they have the Jazz tomorrow on a backtoback. So, it is a backto-back, but like that’s not a world beater by any stretch of the imagination. Then they have the Pelicans, the Mavs, and the Bucks probably without Giannis who just went down with what hopefully is a calf injury and not a an Achilles injury in their game tonight. So, where I’m at with this is, you know, is this great, you know, in terms of the early returns of the tank? No. Is that the Net’s fault? No. I just think the league is so historically bad at the bottom. Would I be really worried about it if I were a Nets fan? I’d be slightly worried, but I think that they still have enough moves that they can make and they can still, you know, go into, you know, they have enough ways that they can kind of shamelessly tank or reconfigure the rotation on a lot of nights throughout the season where I wouldn’t be too worried about it now because you look at a lot of the teams like there are still teams like the Pelicans, like the Mavs, like the Kings who at this point still have huge incentive to try to win. So, I’m not that worried about it right now, but it’s not great to see them winning games and MPJ playing this great from the perspective of the tank. I’m a little worried. I mean, someone Yeah, I mean, I’m a little worried. I’m not like sounding the panic alarm yet, though. They haven’t lost to a bad team since opening night. How funny is that? They lost to Charlotte on opening night and then their worst loss since is what? Philly, Milwaukee on the second night of a backtoback. like they’ve been in all these games, a lot of games, especially after that first Pacers win. And I mean, maybe their worst loss was the Hawks at home, but the Hawks haven’t been that bad. Um, and you know, the thing that might save them is a lot of the bottom of the league has incentive to try to win because they don’t own their picks. But listen, it’s going to be for them to get like top three odds. They’re going to have to show a level of shamelessness that we have not yet seen from this organization. It’s going to have to be taking the first reasonable offer for MPJ instead of trying to get the best one, which we’ve never really seen from Shawn Marks. It’s going to have to be, you know, getting shameless in in December with injuries and rest design designations. And the last time they did that, they got fined $100,000 by the NBA and it was a very bad public look for the team that ownership and management did not really enjoy. So, I don’t know, man. Listen, you might just have to make peace with them getting the six best lottery odds and praying and enjoying these wins while they come. They might just have to do it. No, if I’m a Nets fan, I’m not doing that, dude. Not after last season. I mean, I know it’s not like their fault. Like I I said it earlier in the year like this is the most Nets thing ever that they finally do like the right things for the tank. They bring all rookie point guards in. This roster looks terrible and you know still like the bottom of the league is just historically bad and it just puts them behind the eightball. And also like haven’t said it yet, but I mean Jordan Fernandez, like if you’re a Nets fan looking for a positive out of all this, and I know it’s frustrating that they’re winning, you know, it seems like too many games, which is kind of ridiculous to say cuz they’re five and 16 or whatever they are, but if there’s a positive out of it, it’s Jordan Fernandez looks like a legitimately, I mean, great, might be strong, but a very good coach at this point. and the way that he’s able to get the most out of these Nets rosters that are so depleted of talent, you have to think that, you know, when they do get some talent and obviously like you want the top pick, but once they get just some talent on this team, you would think that Jordy Fernandez is going to be able to coach them to a respectable level, which like that is huge for a Nets team that’s obviously been lacking in the head coaching department in recent years and during this Brooklyn era. But, you know, how do we think that the Nets are going to handle this with their, you know, tanks seemingly being on thin ice at this point? And what should they do moving forward? We’ll get into all that when we close out Locked on Nets after a quick break. Guys, the World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally, giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. Guys, you pull up the app and the layout makes it so simple to scroll through matchups and compare seat views, pick a game, tap a section, and you have your tickets locked in within minutes. No confusion, no hunting for the fine print. And prices include fees upfront, which I love. No last second surprises at checkout. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert, or event 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, download the app, make an account, and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. All right, coming back from the break, closing out today’s Lockdown Nets episode with Lucas Kaplan. And Lucas, I think you made a great point. Um, you know, shortly before we close that segment of, you know, for the Nets to get where they, you know, should be and want to be in the draft lottery standings, they’re going to need to show a level of shamelessness in the tank that they just have been unwilling to do thus far. And, you know, do we think they’re going to do it or do I think they are going to do it? I think we’ve seen some early signs that like they’re going to be willing. I think that the way they operated this off seasonason, it was very clear that they were trying to maximize the tank this season. We’ve seen them hold out. You know, a guy like MPJ, like I’m not saying MPJ wasn’t hurt, but they had like three days off and then he missed two games due to lower back soreness. And I’m not a doctor, but like, you know, that’s that seems like somewhat of a tanking move. And, you know, they’ve held held De Gilman out for a recent backto-back. So, I think we’ve shown some early signs, but last season they were not a team who was willing to tank at the level of these other teams like the Jazz or the Wizards or the Hornets. And I’m just not sure like how much that that’s in their DNA. Like I know they don’t want to do that. Nobody wants to do that. But some some teams we know just have like these principles where where they’ll take it to a point and they won’t go past that. And the Nets are going to have to blow past that point and kind of get out of their comfort zone to optimize their tank. I’m not sure whether they’re going to do it. The one thing that I think is working in the favor is we do have that quote from Joe Sai where he pretty much admitted that like this was a tanking season. So, it seems like he’s on board obviously, but you know, how shameless are they willing to get with it? That’s going to be a major question moving forward. Uh, last year was really the year because there was a bunch of guys on the roster that like we just weren’t attached to in the long term. And Nick Laxton, you know, was like already miserable anyway, so you might as well have have just gone all the way. But like, you know, you got the rookies this year. Even your vets that are playing well like Tyrese and MPJ are way less obvious trade bait than like Dennis Shruder and Cam Johnson were last year. And so now that that year is, you know, gone and and over, I I I don’t know. I don’t know how shameless they’re going to be. But at the same time, they haven’t really let the rookies go full throttle yet. And like Danny Wolf made a couple deep threes today, but if you play him a lot, like he had six turnovers tonight against the Bulls and he’s not good on defense yet. And he might be a good NBA player, but like you just play the rookies more and more. And if you throw out a lineup with Jaor and Ben or Joerger and Drake in the back court instead of like an adult in the room, so to speak, in Tyrese Martin or Terrence man or something like that, you will see the results. So, there are a lot of little steps that I would like to see first before we just start doing full process stuff. And, you know, that might be enough. And I don’t know, man. Maybe the Nets will die with some honor this season and get rewarded with the number one pick. You know, would that be nice? They won’t. They won’t. We that the the ethical tank, the basketball, God’s karma, that all went out the window last season when the Mavericks, you know, get the number one pick, the Spurs go to number two, and the Sixers go to number three. Like I’ve that part of me has completely died. I don’t believe in that whatsoever. And like the Thunder will end up with three top 10 picks this year. And at least for them, they you know, they don’t deserve it because like they’re so good, but like it’s better process from them. They didn’t do like stupid like the Mavs and the uh and the 76ers and all these other teams. But yeah, just with like I think if you’re looking at the Nets like tanking kind of weapons or moves that they have, it’s obviously like holding guys out with injuries and just taking complete cautious approach to anything or even when they don’t have injuries, just holding them out. They have that as one. Playing the rookies a lot is another. I mean, I texted you guys entering the fourth quarter of this game. The other beat reporters that said like play Ben Saraf like the whole fourth quarter and just let him cook. And I mean, I know they’re not going to do that right now and they’re probably not going to do that ever, but like you get where I’m going with that. And then the last one is trades. And you know, I I on the trade front, I just think it’s kind of tough because they’re going to want to be getting better next season because they don’t have their pick. At the end of the day, that’s a sunk cost, but like they’re going to want to, you know, take steps forward in this rebuild. So, if they like guys on this roster as long-term building blocks, are they willing to part with them, you know, just to improve the tank chances this year? That’s going to be a huge question. But, it’s just like you have MPJ and Nick Claxton, these two guys who are probably going to be trade candidates. And just keeping both of those guys on the roster for the whole season during a tanking season with how well they’re playing, it’s it’s gonna make things tough. I think Nick Claxton was doing dirty things to Nicolovic tonight. V is I mean I and I’m not like no disrespect like really really good NBA career. I’m saying at this point like dude I floated that because people keep asking me about like Nick Claxton trade possibilities. I’m like, dude, the Bulls should be trying to swap Vouch for Nick Claxton and just give the Nets like a draft pick. Vu isn’t inspiring. I actually think that that’s something like talking about a Claxton trade possibility. Oh my god. Like I’ve been floating that out and I feel completely vindicated during this game. Just watching Nick like walk past um V to layups. Like Vu was like literally standing in quicksand in the paint the entire game. And also Vu couldn’t hit a shot offensively. But like yeah, I mean I just think like you look at the Nets front court right now. They have MPJ, CL, Clowney, and Claxton. I talked about that three-man pairing after the uh last win before this. And they’re like playing pretty good basketball with those three on the court. So MBJ and Claxton, I don’t know like if you can hold on to both of those guys for this whole season. Every Net had a positive plus minus tonight. It’s like I know that’s such a small sample thing, but it felt like that when you watch the game. I mean, they got rounded contributions. Zire had his best game in a while. like before taking the sledgehammer to it, you can at least explore taking the hammer to it and yeah, you know, going about it that way. Uh that being said, I find it hard to like I’m I’m liking this team. You know, I activated the loser part of my brain in full last year rooting against wins. Like I this this is at least enjoyable to watch. And hey, isn’t that isn’t that why we do it? It is why we do it. And it sucks. Like I said before, like I don’t want to The Nets are playing well. They’re having these fun games and like we got to come on here and be like, what does this mean for the tank and them trying to lose games? It sucks. It’s ultimately an NBA problem. I don’t know how they’re going to fix it. I’m going to have uh I got some, you know, people from around the league coming on the pod soon to talk about the tanking issue, but ultimately, you know, how they handle this, it’s going to be a huge um a huge question moving forward. And look, maybe MPJ completely comes back to earth shooting the ball. Maybe the rookies get more minutes and it all starts to just come back into form. But as I said, they’re down to fifth in the draft lottery standings and we got a upcoming schedule of the Jazz, Pelicans, Mavs, and probably Bucks without Giannis. So, you know, that four games, I haven’t hit the panic button yet. I don’t think most Nets fans have hit the panic button yet, but it might be like the finger might be hovering over that button during these next four games. So, we’ll see how they handle it and I’m sure we’ll have more conversation about it. the Lucas. Appreciate you taking the time as always. If you guys don’t already, go follow all of Lucas’ stuff on Nets Daily. You’ll see his Twitter handle right there. But yeah, we got a backtoback tomorrow and then uh yeah, some more potential tank landmines. So, uh we’ll have you back on to talk about that stuff. But appreciate you taking the time. That does it for today’s Locked on Nets episode. Hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Lucas. If you do not already, make sure to subscribe to Locked on Nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you enjoy the content, take one second right now, smash that like button, leave a comment, leave a fivestar review. Anything you could do to engage is much appreciated. It goes a long way. We got a backto-back tomorrow against Utah on the Net Space, the Pelicans on Saturday. So, I’ll have coverage of all that and more when I’m back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn basketball.

Erik Slater and Lucas Kaplan react to the Brooklyn Nets’ win over the Chicago Bulls, analyzing whether Michael Porter Jr. is playing too well for the team to successfully tank and how they feel the front office should operate moving forward.

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