Welcome Brook Lopez

[TrueLAfan]

I had him behind Green, Rollins, KPJ and Portis per 100 possessions, and a tragic 36%/26% and minus-16 in the playoffs.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?PerMode=Per100Possessions&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612749&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

Still, I think we're both hoping that shifting to ~20 mpg will make a new man of him. As Barkley said, you can still do it when you get older, it just takes longer to recover. He had 22 points vs Joker in a win last March and 26 in a loss without Giannis in April. He's not cooked yet.

Yeah, I’m looking at the On-Off +/-, which shows Lopez doing well (relatively speaking).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u6dHMVNYexsn-8AgmhRM290yaUJvrF9P/view?usp=drive_link

Yeah, he had a miserable playoffs. He was supposedly healthy And he actually had pretty good lines in the first two games—but he went like a lead balloon after that. But the Bucks rode him hard in the last few months—after the (disastrous) Kuzma pickup, and Lopez deliver. They sat him for the final game, but he’d played 33 mpg for the 33 games before that, and put up 14.3-5.4-1.8 with close to 2 blocks on 56/38 shooting splits. So, tired had something to do with it. There’s also the fact that Milwaukee was kind of uniquely not built for Indiana. You have MVP level Giannis, who’s sort of a Swiss army knife of a player. Then you have Portis—who had a great series. Those guys are young and quick enough to stay with Indiana’s run and gun game. But Lopez wasn’t. The issue for Milwaukee is that the cupboard was bare in the frontcourt after those three. Doc clearly knew it—I mean, Jericho Sims played almost as much as Lopez in that series. But if they had a solid 4, or even a good 3-4 hybrid guy, they could have done something and Lopez wouldn’t have had the same role or looked as bad. They had Kuzma.

The other to consider is that, before last year, Lopez delivered in the postseason. I actually think that was part of the reason he was considered a good pickup—he has been very good in the playoffs. He wasn’t last year. The question is—was that a sign of dropoff? Fatigue? Bad matchups and a poor frontcourt bench? I think it was a little of all of them, but mostly the last two.

I don’t know who we’d be looking at now. Best play would be a younger combo SF/PF—we could run big lineups with Zu-Lopez-Kawhi or whoever we pickup, or small fast ball lineups of Zu-Pickup-Kawhi. WE may not go after anyone else—and may resign Coffey. Or me wew may make a trade now. Or we may make a trade at the ASB. Totally up in the air.

[TrueLAfan]

Btw, the Knicks signed Yabusele. It's an interesting comparison. Yabusele is more often playable; Lopez is better when he's on the court. Yabusele is younger, but also has had only one pretty good year on a pretty bad team. Lopez has a lousy end to last season and is old, but was still really good for the 20 months leading up to the playoffs (and a dozen years before that). I'd probably rather have Yabusele, but it's pretty subjective.

[Captain Ballmer]

Btw, the Knicks signed Yabusele. It's an interesting comparison. Yabusele is more often playable; Lopez is better when he's on the court. Yabusele is younger, but also has had only one pretty good year on a pretty bad team. Lopez has a lousy end to last season and is old, but was still really good for the 20 months leading up to the playoffs (and a dozen years before that). I'd probably rather have Yabusele, but it's pretty subjective.

We showcased a very good defensive scheme that past the eye test for slow footed big like Lopez. I think he can capable of like 80% of what ZU provides in a more compact 15-18 minutes per game role. And he can shoot 3's as bonus.

Now Achiuwa and his athleticism around the rim would be really interesting on the bench to pair with Lopez. I think Batum is like 40-50 games a year player so having another PF would be an option.

[og15]

Btw, the Knicks signed Yabusele. It's an interesting comparison. Yabusele is more often playable; Lopez is better when he's on the court. Yabusele is younger, but also has had only one pretty good year on a pretty bad team. Lopez has a lousy end to last season and is old, but was still really good for the 20 months leading up to the playoffs (and a dozen years before that). I'd probably rather have Yabusele, but it's pretty subjective.

We showcased a very good defensive scheme that past the eye test for slow footed big like Lopez. I think he can capable of like 80% of what ZU provides in a more compact 15-18 minutes per game role. And he can shoot 3's as bonus.

Now Achiuwa and his athleticism around the rim would be really interesting on the bench to pair with Lopez. I think Batum is like 40-50 games a year player so having another PF would be an option.

I think it's nice to have different looks. Lopez brings one different look in terms of being a shooting big, but it's also nice to have a more athletic and switchable big man to throw out there too as needed.