Michael Porter Jr. adjusting to move and big role with Nets

NEW YORK — Michael Porter Jr. has a familiar face helping ease his transition from Denver to Brooklyn.

The 6-foot-10 forward felt overwhelmed by the demands that come with playing in New York during the Nuggets’ yearly visits to face the city’s two NBA clubs.

But his reunion with Nets coach Jordi Fernandez — a former Nuggets assistant coach — has eased the 27-year-old Midwestern sharpshooter’s acclimation to the Big Apple.

“I think that has been big for me,” Porter said Tuesday. “Just coming to a new city and feeling a little bit of being overwhelmed, just to have a guy as a head coach that I am working with every day, somebody like Jordi.”

The Nets acquired Porter and a 2032 first-round pick for forward Cam Johnson in July and already are planning on making him a focal point of a team that will feature five rookies taken in the first round of the NBA draft.

Porter was third behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in scoring in Denver last season, averaging 18.2 points on 50.4 per cent shooting from the field and 39.5 per cent from 3-point range.

“He’s an elite shooter … great rebounder and great cutter,” said Fernandez, who was a member of the Denver coaching staff in Porter’s first four seasons in the league. “The good thing is I have a previous relationship with him and that makes it a little easier for me. But I am going to ask him to do things he’s never done before and for those reasons, I think he’s up for the challenge.”

The Brooklyn newcomer recalled stepping up his offensive game while playing pickup in the summer whenever Jokic and Murray were not on the floor and saw how he could flourish in a primary role with the Nets.

And he is willing to share the spotlight with Cam Thomas, who led Brooklyn with 24 points per game while being limited to only 25 games last season due to a left hamstring injury.

As a restricted free agent, the 6-4 guard and his agent were unable to land the long-term deal they were seeking and settled for a one-year qualifying offer for $6 million.

“I think he is one guy that has been severely underappreciated in his ability to put a team on his back and score the ball,” Porter said. “I experienced it in Denver when we played the Nets. Cam, he’s a tough cover.”

Nets general manager Sean Marks was impressed with Thomas’ offseason work ethic as the team looks to rebound after finishing 26-56 and missing the postseason for the second consecutive year.

“He’s approached this in a very mature manner,” Marks said of the negotiations with Thomas. “That’s part of the business; maybe the ugly part of the business when you can’t find a common ground. But at the same time he’s developed and the hours he’s put in the gym, not in here but on his own speak volumes. So, he’s a Net. He knows that.”