Nets forward new player: I understand Simmons situation very well, injuries have had a great impact on him

The Brooklyn Nets held a media conference for the new season. Former Denver Nuggets forward star Michael Porter Jr., who just joined the team this summer, was interviewed by reporters. In the interview, he also talked about his injuries and the situation of former No. 1 pick Ben Simmons, who is still in full free agent after leaving the Los Angeles Clippers.

Potter Jr. said: Because of injuries or something, I really don't know how long I can play. Yes, of course I want to continue in this league as long as possible, but you may not understand how much effort I need to put in to play and compete with the world's top athletes every day. After all, I have had three back surgeries and I have experienced countless pain moments. You know, people have said similar things to Ben Simmons, such as: Oh, he just doesn't want to play anymore, and his psychology has gone wrong. In fact, he has only experienced one or two injuries I have experienced, while I have experienced three similar moments. Porter Jr. continued: So I know his situation very well. It’s not that he doesn’t want to continue playing, but that the injuries are really serious and have really had a big impact on him. So I made up my mind: All I had to do was to fight here every year. At least for the next year, I will devote all my energy to basketball and put all my energy into it. I will reexamine my performance later.

In the NBA regular season last season, Porter Jr. made a total of 77 appearances for his old club, the Denver Nuggets in 82 games, averaging 33.7 minutes per game, averaging 18.2 points, 7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks, and 1.4 turnovers and 2 fouls. His shooting percentage was 50.4%, a three-point shooting percentage of 39.5%, and a free throw shooting percentage of 76.8%. In the playoffs, Porter Jr. made a total of 14 appearances, averaging 31.1 minutes per game, with averaging 9.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks, and 0.9 turnovers and 1.9 fouls. His shooting percentage was 39.2%, a three-point shooting percentage of 34.3%, and a free throw shooting percentage of 71.4%.

In the second half of last season, Simmons completed a buyout with his former club Brooklyn Nets and joined the Los Angeles Clippers. After joining the Clippers, Simmons made a total of 18 appearances in the NBA regular season, averaging 16.4 minutes per game, averaging 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks, and 0.8 turnovers and 1.4 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 43.4% and a free throw percentage of 85.7%. In the playoffs, Simmons played 5 games in a total of 8.4 minutes per game, with averaging 0.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.2 steals and 0.8 blocks, 0.4 turnovers and 2.2 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 33.3%.

In fact, judging from Porter's performance in the playoffs last season, we can also intuitively feel that back injury has had a huge impact on his performance, resulting in him not showing his characteristics and value at all in the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, Simmons' situation is still very different from Porter Jr. Despite the serious back injury, Porter Jr. maintained as high attendance as possible. In the seven seasons after entering the NBA, except for the rookie season and the 2021-22 season, Porter Jr.'s attendance rate in the other five seasons was not low, at least more than 70%. In the past two seasons, he has only missed 4 playoff games. As for Simmons, in his nine seasons since entering the NBA, he has only two seasons of attendance rate of more than 60 games, which is completely a matter of professionalism.