Nickel: Bobby Portis welcomed criticism from Bucks teammate Khris Middleton: 'I love when people yell. Because I know that you care.'

Lori Nickel
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Bobby Portis (9) has some fun with Bucks teammate Khris Middleton after Milwaukee beat the Atlanta Hawks in an Eastern Conference playoff game last June.

“When you're on bad teams or stinker teams, you just create a lot of bad habits that, essentially, don't make you a good basketball or overall two-way type of guy.” — Bobby Portis 

The People’s Champion of Wisconsin is promoting tire-sized rolls of Charmin, would still be interested in being the face of BP petroleum and is even in the beginning stages of creating his own podcast. 

This newly realized multi-level fame is all because he became one of the unsung heroes of the 2021 NBA Finals champion Milwaukee Bucks. 

But before all of this, it’s good to remember Bobby Portis was more like a diamond in the rough on other teams, a man with untapped potential. And one guy saw it: Khris Middleton. And Middleton, feverishly fighting for his own first championship, got on Portis, relentlessly. That continued right to the end of the 2021 season, when he might have helped save Portis’ entire reputation in a huge play you might have forgotten about in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns. 

“Khris confronted me. Like, ‘why did you do this and that,’” said Portis. 

In a 10-minute one-on-one interview, arranged by his promoters from Charmin and the Forever Roll, Portis talked about new endorsement opportunities, his plans for the distant future and how he broke out of his bad habits. 

Of course, Portis played for New York before signing with the Bucks, and New York’s record was so poor the Knicks weren’t invited to the 2020 Bubble in Orlando. They didn’t re-opt him, and at age 24, Portis was looking for a job with a fourth team – after being with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards as well.  

Milwaukee picked him up in the offseason of 2020. And it was eye opening for Portis. 

“You know, being on bad teams – I don't want to say bad teams – being on teams that have no aspiration of making the playoffs or winning the championship, you kind of build bad habits over the years,” said Portis. “I built a lot of bad habits over five years in the league and I was getting away with not being a low man, no defense and taking plays off on defense. Sometimes I got labeled as a guy that couldn't play defense. 

“I was using all my all my energy just to try to score the basketball on offense.” 

In Milwaukee, that just isn’t the culture.  

“Being on this team, there's no plays off, there's no possessions off. Every possession matters,” said Portis. “Every game matters, because we're trying to stack as many games as we can to have home-court advantage. We try to get as many wins as we can during the regular season.” 

Coach Mike Budenholzer preached the Bucks defensive-first mentality and so did the staff. But the players added their own kind of peer pressure and that was probably more impactful. 

“I really needed that,” said Portis. “Taking that criticism from Khris.” 

Go back to Game 6 vs the Suns at Fiserv. Portis is whistled for a technical against Jae Crowder and he couldn’t believe it. No one could. Portis – who has an old reputation for a hot head, much to his chagrin, that he’s trying to put to rest – ran away, dramatically. He didn’t throw down, which was good – but those eyes were wide enough to be seen from the International Space Station. He was simmering. 

And Middleton got right in his face, several times, telling him to calm down. Middleton could do what no coach could do – because Middleton was on the floor, and he has the presence of mind to intervene right away. Middleton took the lid off Portis and he regained composure. 

“Sometimes the best teaching and the best time is for players to be coaches,” said Portis. “Players coaching a team or policing the team, we have a lot of guys.” 

Playing a Game 6 in the NBA Finals with emotional intelligence is one thing. 

But Portis had to tend to his “bad habits” or default habits that were a product of too many poor teams. The truth was, they were habits of survival in a way. Portis wanted to put his time and energy into getting the numbers that would get him on another team. 

“Me and my friends talk about it all the time,” said Portis. “I used to say that, like shoot, I don't want to be putting all my – it sounds bad but I try to keep it as real as possible – I don't want to put too much effort when I know I'm on a bad team anyways.  

“I know my stats have to be at least somewhere worthy enough for another team to pick me up. It's one of those worlds like you're kind of like stuck in the middle. If your name isn't big enough, and you don't have like the notoriety, sometimes you can get lost and get forgotten about. 

“Putting up numbers on bad teams, it's not respected and it's not respected from players. But in the basketball world and the business of basketball at the end at the end of the day, that's like your resume, man.” 

Middleton and Portis had a mutual understanding. While Middleton toiled forever in Milwaukee trying to build to a championship, Portis turned down bigger money to come to Milwaukee to contend for one.  

It meant that Portis took the coaching from Middleton quite well. And he became an efficient shooter, three-point threat and yes, a good defender in the post. 

“Khris knew how much I cared,” said Portis. “He knew that I wouldn't take it the wrong way. He knew I was a competitor, he knew I wanted to just as much as he wanted it.  

“He knew when he says something to me that I wouldn't look at him thinking he's just yelling to yell.” 

Some players don’t respond as well to that kind of confrontation or heat but Portis had so much respect for the Bucks, watching them from afar before he even got here, that he was all in. 

“That kind of fires me up – I love when people yell,” said Portis. “Because I know that you care.” 

Portis has a talent for storytelling. He never resorts to the shortest answer. He loves the conversation. So numerous opportunities are coming his way, including, he said, a new podcast, which he said he’s already conducted 9-10 interviews with “heavy-hitting names.” He hopes it will come out in a month or so. 

“That'll be another side of me that fans and people that like me can see,” said Portis. 

He’s ready to shoot commercials for Charmin if they ask and he’s open to other endorsement stuff as well. He looks at all of this as training for a post-playing career in which he’d be interested in public speaking or motivation. 

“I have a huge personality. I wear my heart on my sleeve on the court,” said Portis. “Off the court I'm a chill guy. So all these things just kind of mesh with me. And I think it's kind of perfect timing right now, me being able to put myself on a different platform for different audiences. It's perfect timing for me.”