Official Brook Lopez Thread

[Prokorov]

brook on the wing and 3 pt line is a waste of his size, i hope kenny atkinson ends this experiment.

a waste of brooks size is taking long two pointers.

Brook took 370 long two pointers last season. he shot them at 44% with a 0.88 PPP.

thats horribly inefficient.

if lopez turns those 370 twos into threes thats a huge boost in efficienct. even if he shot 27% from three it would be 0.90 PPP

[Prokorov]

yeah but why are not utilizing what brook does best which is post up?

thats not what he does best. in fact its one of the lesser parts of his game. the stats show this and hollins said he needs to develop that part of his game last season.

brooks strength is facing up, especially on the baseline, and putting the ball on the floor going towards the rim. also 6-10 foot floaters off the pick and pop/roll. he is all good at catching and finishing at the rim off cuts on cross screens

he has never been a very good post player.

[MrDollarBills]

yeah but why are not utilizing what brook does best which is post up?

thats not what he does best. in fact its one of the lesser parts of his game. the stats show this and hollins said he needs to develop that part of his game last season.

brooks strength is facing up, especially on the baseline, and putting the ball on the floor going towards the rim. also 6-10 foot floaters off the pick and pop/roll. he is all good at catching and finishing at the rim off cuts on cross screens

he has never been a very good post player.

Correct, although I do recall seeing a number that said he was efficient in the post. But he is not at his best having to back down, he's notorious for establishing really poor positioning in the paint. That's why I like how Kenny had him go deep into the post off of a miss to get a quick catch and go up attempt instead of the dump in and back down play. We need Lopez to be given the ball where he can make quick moves.

Allowing Brook to catch and shoot threes, and facing up like a perimeter player to take bigs off of the dribble is the best way to maximize his talents in this offense.

Prok did you ever see the David Blatt videos posted by Paradise that showed how he had his overseas teams playing? Off of a miss where the defense can't get set, the big comes down into the heart of the paint, sealing off his man for a quick catch and move towards the rim. I saw the Nets do that in the first game, if Kenny uses Brook like that and mixes the rest of his touches with face ups and 2-3 attempts from downtown per game I think we'll see some good stuff from Lopez in this offense and he'l even be more efficient with less back to the basket post plays. That's not including the 1-5 pick and pop or pick catch and push shot drive with him and Lin.

[MrDollarBills]

brook on the wing and 3 pt line is a waste of his size, i hope kenny atkinson ends this experiment.

a waste of brooks size is taking long two pointers.

Brook took 370 long two pointers last season. he shot them at 44% with a 0.88 PPP.

thats horribly inefficient.

if lopez turns those 370 twos into threes thats a huge boost in efficienct. even if he shot 27% from three it would be 0.90 PPP

I think he can hit 31-32% easily. It's more of a comfort thing with him.

Having him shoot threes will also be beneficial since on a break he'll be the trail man that can catch a kick out at the top of the arc

[Paradise]

Horford credited Atkinson on his new three point shot. I don't see why anyone wouldn't Brook to have the potential to shoot it like this:

Watch on YouTube

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[ChokeFasncists]

We shall see, very different kind of players. KG leads more by example (going hard at it) and talking whereas Lin by doing near impossible things and passing to teammates to elevate them. KG would be more like: you're the franchise player, come on! Lin would be more like: make some crazy shots, yeah! Crazy passes to every teammate, yeah, yeah, yeah!

garnett is one of the most vocal leaders the game has seen. im not sure what you are talking about.

I know, that's why I said "talking". Well, not every player respond to that well.

[jbeachboy]

brooks strength is close to basket, why experiment with him shooting 3s? do that in offseason.

[Prokorov]

Prok did you ever see the David Blatt videos posted by Paradise that showed how he had his overseas teams playing? Off of a miss where the defense can't get set, the big comes down into the heart of the paint, sealing off his man for a quick catch and move towards the rim. I saw the Nets do that in the first game, if Kenny uses Brook like that and mixes the rest of his touches with face ups and 2-3 attempts from downtown per game I think we'll see some good stuff from Lopez in this offense and he'l even be more efficient with less back to the basket post plays. That's not including the 1-5 pick and pop or pick catch and push shot drive with him and Lin.

i didnt see it but i know what you are describing.

another aspect id like to see come back,... that PJ did a ton was he would have dwill or johnson cross screen the C guarding lopez, lopez would come off and flash in the middle of the paint, catch, and finsih. he was great at that. lopez/JJ would then come off a down screen at the top of the key for a straight away three as the secondary action.

i have alot of confidence in atkinson to play to these guys strengths... and if he can get lopez more aggresive he will at least remove the inefficient parts of his game

[Prokorov]

brook on the wing and 3 pt line is a waste of his size, i hope kenny atkinson ends this experiment.

a waste of brooks size is taking long two pointers.

Brook took 370 long two pointers last season. he shot them at 44% with a 0.88 PPP.

thats horribly inefficient.

if lopez turns those 370 twos into threes thats a huge boost in efficienct. even if he shot 27% from three it would be 0.90 PPP

I think he can hit 31-32% easily. It's more of a comfort thing with him.

Having him shoot threes will also be beneficial since on a break he'll be the trail man that can catch a kick out at the top of the arc

he has a solid stroke. 32-36% woudlnt shock me at all. the 27% was just pointing out he can shoot crappy and STILL be more efficient then the twos he was taking

[Prokorov]

brooks strength is close to basket, why experiment with him shooting 3s? do that in offseason.

because brooks weakness is long two pointers. and turning those into threes could have a massively positive impact.

[jbeachboy]

brooks strength is close to basket, why experiment with him shooting 3s? do that in offseason.

because brooks weakness is long two pointers. and turning those into threes could have a massively positive impact.

do you really want to experiment with brook and 3 pt shooting during regular season?

[Prokorov]

brooks strength is close to basket, why experiment with him shooting 3s? do that in offseason.

because brooks weakness is long two pointers. and turning those into threes could have a massively positive impact.

do you really want to experiment with brook and 3 pt shooting during regular season?

of course. why wouldnt you. did you not see the math i posted above?

brooks long twos even at the 45% he shoots them at are very inefficient (0.88 PPP) and even if he shot poorly from three, say 27%, he would improve that efficiency (0.90PPP).

im not sure why you wouldnt want to experiment with him shooting threes, as the worst case is basically better then him taking long twos.

[kamaze]

Kenny Atkinson's offense is uptempo and shooting from deep. One player's strength is not more important than the team's fluidity.
There's a good write up from Anthony Puccio on Netsdaily about the offense.

Scouting the Brooklyn Nets Uptempo Offense

by Anthony Puccio @APooch Oct 8, 2016, 12:10a

Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
If you’ve watched Brooklyn Nets basketball over the past couple of years, the word you might use to describe the style is boring. Things were very stagnant and ball movement was essentially nonexistent.

When you look at the main pieces of the team in the past two years you think of Joe Johnson. You think of Jarrett Jack. And of course, you think of Brook Lopez. The Nets always went with an iso-savvy offensive system that fit guys like Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack’s game. Oftentimes, the ball would get dumped down to Johnson; he would post-up and kill most of the shot clock, resulting in either: 1) a contested shot or 2) passing it out to the perimeter. When he’d pass it out to the perimeter, guys weren’t moving off the ball to get open. They were stagnant and forcing up bad 3-point attempts with the shot clock winding down.

It was boring ... and it didn’t work. Most certainly not in today’s NBA where teams are creating offense early in the shot clock due to an uptempo flow with movement on and off the ball.

We’re so used to the Nets taking their time in a half court set hoping that Joe Johnson would create something. This isn’t meant to discredit Joe who made the Nets a better team during his time here.

But he, along with others, were “ball stoppers” or “black holes” as some would call it because it stops the flow of the offense.

However, under the new coaching staff, equipped with the right players to fit the style of play; things appear to be much different with the Brooklyn Nets offense. We’re not going to get excited over one preseason win, but there were plenty of encouraging signs for a team that’s been doubted by pundits all offseason.

The ball was moving. Players were moving. When one settled in a spot, another was likely setting a pick for them to get open on the perimeter, whether it be the guy moving off the ball or the big man setting the screen and popping out behind the arc.

This opened up the perimeter and the pick-and-roll game… which eventually leads to a wide-open paint.

We looked at Chris Fleming’s possible offensive approach before the season started and Thursday night against the Pistons reflected exactly what we expected: fun, fast-paced basketball filled with movement. Fleming’s system was summed up nicely in a piece by Denver Stiffs.

Here are a few of the main points of the piece that we saw Thursday:

a) Fill 4 perimeter spots at all times (there will be times where guys are involved in dribble penetration, etc). Once you pass the ball as a perimeter guy and you have to go back outside. Corner, foul-line extended, high elbow gives you six possible places for those four guys to be - and only those spots.

The Nets nailed 14 three-pointers on 34 attempts (41 percent) after doing exactly what the statement above says. When you fill four perimeter spots, at least one of the two bigs must have the ability to knock down the three ball.

Luis Scola impressed by hitting three 3-pointers, while Brook Lopez and Justin Hamilton each nailed one apiece. This forces defenses to bring their big men out to the perimeter.

So with that, Jeremy Lin or Greivis Vasquez can penetrate and force the defense to make a choice: 1) Slide in the paint and leave the perimeter guys wide open. (Wonder why they signed so many shooters?) Or 2) Trust the defender to cover Lin/Vasquez in a one-on-one situation. This sets things up wonderfully for the shooters AND big men down low that can do damage on the interior (i.e. Brook Lopez).

They finished with 21 assists on the night and scored 101 points with Brook Lopez only dropping eight. Not bad.

b) Passing is crucial & Make the ball see you (move and present a target or you won't get the ball).

This is self-explanatory: Shoot, drive or pass the ball. In a coach’s tone: MAKE A DECISION.

This goes back to my point earlier where isolation should be a thing of the past, especially when you lack talent like the Nets. Unless a player is going to take the shot, the ball shouldn't be in one player's hand for more than four or five seconds.

Both the ball and players were constantly moving. If you watch Bojan Bogdanovic in Europe, one of the main reasons for his success was positioning. He knows where to be and when to be there. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Bojan play Thursday, but we saw this with other players such as Joe Harris (12 points, 2-of-4 from 3-point) and Sean Kilpatrick, who struggled with an 0-for-7 shooting night.

One example came in the first half when the second unit checked in. Vasquez brought the ball to the three-point wing on the right side and lobbed it to a posting Justin Hamilton on the right elbow. After the pass, Vasquez ran the baseline with his hands up the entire time. After he ran the baseline, he made a sharp cut to the left the three-point wing where Luis Scola set the pick at the left elbow and then rolled, as Vasquez caught the pass and found the Scola near the rim.

This sounds extremely refreshing especially when you compare it to the slow offense in the past. But there are issues. Guys get gassed, and it’s tough to sustain 48 minutes of this if your guys are tired.

“We’re absolutely looking to take advantage of our youth and their athleticism,” Brook Lopez said of the new up-tempo offense. “It’s absolutely a different look [from year’s past] and I’ve had to adjust to it a little bit, but it’s absolutely in the team’s best interest.”

It’s an adjustment for Lopez because he’s used to playing in an iso-savvy system. It’s all he knows. However, as long as the ball is moving and the post-man always rules (as Fleming would say), then Brook should have no problem fitting in with the new offense.

We’ve said it plenty of times and we’ll say it again: we don’t know how many wins this team will generate, but they’re going to be a lot more fun than they have been in year’s past.

[DeRoma]

brook on the wing and 3 pt line is a waste of his size, i hope kenny atkinson ends this experiment.

a waste of brooks size is taking long two pointers.

Brook took 370 long two pointers last season. he shot them at 44% with a 0.88 PPP.

thats horribly inefficient.

if lopez turns those 370 twos into threes thats a huge boost in efficienct. even if he shot 27% from three it would be 0.90 PPP

I think he can hit 31-32% easily. It's more of a comfort thing with him.

Having him shoot threes will also be beneficial since on a break he'll be the trail man that can catch a kick out at the top of the arc

I say he hits at least 36%+ we should have a poll for this

[jbeachboy]

we dont need lopez shooting threes, they added enough 3 point shooters without having guys who are not experienced in there doing it. keep lopez in post, avery tried to make brook a shooter at times.

[MrDollarBills]

Prok did you ever see the David Blatt videos posted by Paradise that showed how he had his overseas teams playing? Off of a miss where the defense can't get set, the big comes down into the heart of the paint, sealing off his man for a quick catch and move towards the rim. I saw the Nets do that in the first game, if Kenny uses Brook like that and mixes the rest of his touches with face ups and 2-3 attempts from downtown per game I think we'll see some good stuff from Lopez in this offense and he'l even be more efficient with less back to the basket post plays. That's not including the 1-5 pick and pop or pick catch and push shot drive with him and Lin.

i didnt see it but i know what you are describing.

another aspect id like to see come back,... that PJ did a ton was he would have dwill or johnson cross screen the C guarding lopez, lopez would come off and flash in the middle of the paint, catch, and finsih. he was great at that. lopez/JJ would then come off a down screen at the top of the key for a straight away three as the secondary action.

i have alot of confidence in atkinson to play to these guys strengths... and if he can get lopez more aggresive he will at least remove the inefficient parts of his game

that should be in the playbook already. he's damn near unstoppable in motion like that. there are so many ways to use this guy that can fit into modern day basketball and i think Kenny is going to do it.

[MrDollarBills]

we dont need lopez shooting threes, they added enough 3 point shooters without having guys who are not experienced in there doing it. keep lopez in post, avery tried to make brook a shooter at times.

Lopez hitting 3's makes him dangerous, even moreso. Plus, drawing away his defender from the rim allows for Jeremy Lin to attack the basket, which breaks down defense.

Lopez should be shooting no less than 3 attempts per night. The post opportunities for Lopez should come when the defenses aren't set.

[MrDollarBills]

a waste of brooks size is taking long two pointers.

Brook took 370 long two pointers last season. he shot them at 44% with a 0.88 PPP.

thats horribly inefficient.

if lopez turns those 370 twos into threes thats a huge boost in efficienct. even if he shot 27% from three it would be 0.90 PPP

I think he can hit 31-32% easily. It's more of a comfort thing with him.

Having him shoot threes will also be beneficial since on a break he'll be the trail man that can catch a kick out at the top of the arc

I say he hits at least 36%+ we should have a poll for this

If he's knocking down 3's at a 36% clip we'd be a very hard team to play against.

doubt that happens.

[jbeachboy]

anyone seen lopez try to do a crossover in knicks game, lol

[Prokorov]

we dont need lopez shooting threes, they added enough 3 point shooters without having guys who are not experienced in there doing it. keep lopez in post, avery tried to make brook a shooter at times.

lopez wont take 90% of his shots in the post. wont happen. it will be 70-75% that wont change whether he shoots threes or not.

would you rather that other 25% of his shots be long twos or threes?