Brook Lopez' Workout

[Calinks]

I always thought Lopez was a guy we should look into. I think that by seeing these video clips we are getting our first real look at the person and what they could mean to us here and immediately we start to get a bit emotionally attached to him.

It's easy to trash the player you have seen on tv a few times and heard some things about, it's harder to trash the person that showing a positive attitude and a willingness to contribute to your cause. When we see some of the other players we will feel more open to them as well.

I'm still on the Mayo bandwagon and hope we can bring him here to work out as opposed to seeing him elsewhere. I want him to get a look at the TC.

[younggunsmn]

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Blount and Rasho were always a step late because of awareness, not necessarily because of athleticism. Lopez supposedly is much better at understanding the situation and being where he needs be.

I guess we have to agree to disagree here. These guys (especially Rasho) know where they are supposed to be most of the time, their bodies just can't cooperate quickly enough. It's like they're playing in slo-mo. 9'5" reach does you no good if you can't react quickly enough to a shot to get in position and get your arms up for the rebound.

When you see someone like Al Jefferson, who looks like he's playing on Fast Forward and can do 3 fakes, take a shot, and try 2 put-back attempts in like 3 seconds, it makes it clear how important quickness is at the NBA level. It's something all the elite rebounders and shotblockers in the league have in common. It's why a slow 35 year old Shaq can no longer rebound like a quick 25 year old Shaq.

I just don't think Brook Lopez has enough quickness, and the metrics from the pre draft camp bear that out, however much weight you want to put on them.
DEAD LAST in agility and sprint drills among 80 players.

If we draft Lopez, he is our future center, now, and 2-5years from now when we should be building a perennial playoff team. If we use our first top 5 pick in 11 years on him, it's safe to say we're not drafting another C high for a long time. Is this guy really good enough to be the above-average defender Al desperately needs next to him to make a long playoff run? The metrics say no.

And just how far do we go with our undersized and mediocre backcourt when we passed on the opportunity to add a potentially elite guard, probably the best opportunity we'll have for a long time (barring a ricky rubio 2009 lottery miracle). It could be another 11 years.

It would be great if we could get back into the first and take Lopez or a guy like McGee. I just think taking a Center the 3rd pick or trading down to take one is a horrible, horrible waste of our assets unless he's a bona fide stud.

Go to NBA Draft.net and look at their '09 mock when we have potentially 3 picks in the 1st. There are some Centers there who are much better fits for us. I fully expect Miami to draft in the 11-15 range, so we should have their pick. And I don't see us winning the 35-36 games it would take to finish past 1oth worst and lose our pick. With two top 15 picks we could essentially trade up for the C of our choice.

[Frozen316]

Another article about the workouts
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_9470630?source=rss

[Worm Guts]

When you see someone like Al Jefferson, who looks like he's playing on Fast Forward and can do 3 fakes, take a shot, and try 2 put-back attempts in like 3 seconds, it makes it clear how important quickness is at the NBA level. It's something all the elite rebounders and shotblockers in the league have in common. It's why a slow 35 year old Shaq can no longer rebound like a quick 25 year old Shaq.

Except Al Jefferson isn't any quicker than Blount or Rasho, he gets it done with footwork, technique and awareness. Awareness on defense can make a huge difference.
Which centers do you think are better fits from next years draft?

[Jonathan Watters]

[quote="younggunsmn"][/quote]

"the metrics"?

Come on.

The lane agility test means absolutely nothing, and has been giving extreme results every year for as long as I can remember.

Just who had the worst "lane agility" results out of the top prospects from last year's draft? You might think Spencer Hawes, or Greg Oden - also lumbering big men - right?

The two worst were Al Horford and Kevin Durant.

Do you think Al Horford doesn't have the agility to guard centers?

The only defensive "metrics" we have say Lopez is more than capable of guarding NBA bigs. He locked up pretty much every decent big guy he faced in college, and was probably a better shot blocker than his brother last year, considering how many more opportunities Robin had coming in from the weak side and against weaker competition.

I don't know what you consider a "metric", but the lane agility test isn't a "metric". It is a single number that has proven to not mean anything. A "metric" is a number that has been proven to help in drawing a reliable conclusion. Any sort of "metric" you were to try and come up with for Brook Lopez would indicate he is capable of defending NBA bigs at a high level.

[Jonathan Watters]

And that article in the pioneer press certainly doesn't jive with what everybody seems to think around here.

McHale mentioned his shooting ability in the context of complementing Jefferson, and Peterson mentioned that he's pretty athletic.

Makes you wonder where people come up with the ridiculous ideas that he's a terrible fit next to Jefferson and the next Rasho athletically (watching one Stanford game would tell you that absolutely isn't the case).

[Devilzsidewalk]

how could anybody compare Lopez to Rasho? Hawes maybe, not Brooksy

[revprodeji]

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Except Al Jefferson isn't any quicker than Blunt or Rash, he gets it done with footwork, technique and awareness. Awareness on defense can make a huge difference.
Which centers do you think are better fits from next years draft?

--a lot of people talk about Al's quickness. It is a common fact that Al is very quick with his moves. It is proper footwork, but also the quickness he uses them.

Al is much quicker than Rash and Blunt.

And that article in the pioneer press certainly doesn't jive with what everybody seems to think around here.

McHale mentioned his shooting ability in the context of complementing Jefferson, and Peterson mentioned that he's pretty athletic.

Makes you wonder where people come up with the ridiculous ideas that he's a terrible fit next to Jefferson and the next Rash athletically (watching one Stanford game would tell you that absolutely isn't the case).

-elephant in the room, would we say the same thing if Brook was not white?

I like Mayo...But for people to insult Brook and talk up Jordan or McGee is pathetic. Lopez is the better prospect, heck Love is a better prospect than those guys. But if the wolves are talking about drafting a white center people come back with "soft" "stiff" "cant bang" stop with the penis references and enjoy the fact that we could be drafting the best center this team has ever had. A young center who compliments our best player.

[Devilzsidewalk]

brook is white?

[revprodeji]

I believe he is half cuban. So he is "white-ish"---but my point is still valid.

btw..His birthday is April fools day

[mandurugo]

And that article in the pioneer press certainly doesn't jive with what everybody seems to think around here.

McHale mentioned his shooting ability in the context of complementing Jefferson, and Peterson mentioned that he's pretty athletic.

Makes you wonder where people come up with the ridiculous ideas that he's a terrible fit next to Jefferson and the next Rasho athletically (watching one Stanford game would tell you that absolutely isn't the case).

Didn't the Pioneer Press article also mention that he got stuffed several times by (46 year old) Jim Peterson. That's got to be a little embarassing.

As far as quickness goes, he seems ok - but the wolves need help on big man speed. Al might be quick, but he is slow. Can Lopez get back fast enough on defense?

[funkatron101]

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Didn't the Pioneer Press article also mention that he got stuffed several times by (46 year old) Jim Peterson. That's got to be a little embarassing.

Little known fact: Jim Peterson is actually 12 feet tall.

[Jonathan Watters]

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Didn't the Pioneer Press article also mention that he got stuffed several times by (46 year old) Jim Peterson. That's got to be a little embarassing.

As far as quickness goes, he seems ok - but the wolves need help on big man speed. Al might be quick, but he is slow. Can Lopez get back fast enough on defense?

If Minnesota is getting killed on speed, I don't know if the answer is to put a 7-foot shot blocker out there with Al Jefferson. Teams killing Minnesota with speed are likely to be going small, at which point 7-footers capable of thriving in an up-tempo game next to Al Jefferson against a smaller lineup are harder to come by than one might think.

Most coaches would probably slide Jefferson over to C and put in a PF if they felt they were getting killed by smallball.

Of course, the reality is that building around Jefferson means a half court team is the likely future. So get guards that can control the tempo and keep the pace slower (not necessarily easy, but not impossible either) and Lopez fits like a glove.

[prefuse73]

actually we had our best success last year againt phx and GS. I think we just need flexibility. Love provides that better than Lopez IMO.

[Devilzsidewalk]

if we're playing a small ball team, we go Gomes/Jefferson and Lopez takes a seat. We own small ball teams.