Official Brook Lopez Thread

[NyCeEvO]

I went back 10+ pages and didn't find anything that really talked about Lopez in general.

Even though he's the most docile player on the team, he's the most polarizing Nets player in the eyes of fans because of things he can and cannot do.

This is the first year where we get to see what he's like on a good team. We can use this thread to talk about his nightly performances as well as other Bropez news and info.

[NyCeEvO]

Here's an article on ND about Lopez being pushed to get better by Blatche and Evans in practice:

The Nets did two things for Brook Lopez this off-season: they signed him to a four-year, $60.8 million contract and signed two bigs to challenge him in practice: Andray Blatche and Reggie Evans. Lopez has admitted the two have been "beating him up" regularly.

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today profiles Lopez on Thursday and writes that the addition of two talented (in different ways) bigs has pushed the Nets' seven-footer in ways he wasn't pushed in his first four seasons, all of them losing. "He's had to raise the level of his practice habits because of the competition," Avery Johnson said, hinting Lopez hasn't always had the best practice habits.

Said Evans: "I've been telling Lopez I can't settle for nothing less but the All-Star game for him this season. I make practice tougher on him so the game is easier. I don't cut no slack with him. I'm holding him. I'm banging with him."

That last quote is why you gotta love Evans. He not only brings it defensively and helps us with his rebounding, he's helping to push Brook to get better.

I never really thought about the fact that Lopez never had a big guy that could really challenge him to be better and to be tougher.

Looks like the benefit of having these bigs is actually paying off in ways we don't really see during the game.

[deepblueday]

gonna be real and say he's having maybe his worst defensive year... and i've watched him game in and game out since his rook campaign. he's slower this year. hard to believe but true. put him in a pick and roll and literally every single option is wide open. he is making a concerted effort to challenge more shots at the rim and compete on the boards, which is nice and an improvement, but we can't overcome this type of defense against good teams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvhLtd-J ... tube_gdata

offensively, he's doing his thing. we all know he's the best offensive center in the league not named dwight. still would like to see him establish better position and show more variety with his moves in his post touches, but overall he's been very good. i still feel like deron and JJ aren't creating enough open attempts for him as well. every time deron drives at the opposing center and drops off to brook, great things happen.

[N Ireland Nets]

Brook Lopez is the most underrated player in the NBA, yeh I said it.

I believe our main problem right now is Hump is a shocking defender and offers absolutely zero apart from rebounding, which he only does some games.

If we plugged a high level PF who is solid to very good defensively eg Josh Smith into our PF position, all of a suddenly Lopez wouldn't be getting exposed.

Hell I'd start Evans next to Lopez and watch the difference in the entire team defensively.

Lopez has definitely improved also passing out of the post and double teams. He's just on an island right now because he's getting no support on the offensive side or defence from the PF position.

[624]

His offense has been sick, and will get even better once his free throw % goes to his average around 80.

[therealbig3]

I actually don't know if his defense has been worse...it's been bad, don't get me wrong, but it's his usual bad, maybe not even, because he's better on the boards and better at protecting the rim. He's slow, but that's nothing new, and when someone is slow, the other players need to cover for him, and Humphries is not doing that at all.

[Shark]

Yeah, i think that the overall defense, especially with our starting lineup, just isn't quite there yet and it makes Brook look worse. I think there's certainly problems with Brooks D, mainly with his quickness, but when he's in position he generally does really well. If anything I think it might help him a bit if Gerald played a bit of the 4 on D rather than Hump who just hasn't quite been up to snuff on D so far.

[DarkXaero]

gonna be real and say he's having maybe his worst defensive year... and i've watched him game in and game out since his rook campaign. he's slower this year. hard to believe but true. put him in a pick and roll and literally every single option is wide open. he is making a concerted effort to challenge more shots at the rim and compete on the boards, which is nice and an improvement, but we can't overcome this type of defense against good teams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvhLtd-J ... tube_gdata

offensively, he's doing his thing. we all know he's the best offensive center in the league not named dwight. still would like to see him establish better position and show more variety with his moves in his post touches, but overall he's been very good. i still feel like deron and JJ aren't creating enough open attempts for him as well. every time deron drives at the opposing center and drops off to brook, great things happen.

Disagree completely.

[VCRJKidd15]

LOL at "I'm banging with him"

[JMaine518]

I'm starting not to care about Brooks rebounding numbers. Like as long as he's trying to be aggressive and can get better on d, I'm happy.

[JoseRizal]

LOL at "I'm banging with him"

Haha! Key take-away...

[AntwanBoldin]

Those 2 plays in the 4th where he couldn't handle it and it went out of bounds then on another one he didn't rip it down and Lee poked it away are good examples of bad rebounding.

The 4 plays a night where he lets Hump get it or boxes out the jump shooter from 18 feet are the exact same thing !!1!

What do I care if Lopez has 6 boards to Humps 13 or if Lopez had 10 and hump had 9? Wgaf? Fantasy nerds



2 years ago I was bumming on netsdaily because he would never put anyone on the deck. It was way too comfortable driving down our paint. They've worked on that and I'm happy

[624]

Lopez is 39/61 his last 6 games. 64% shooting.



...finally playing with actual NBA players around him.

[AntwanBoldin]

I'm gonna go ahead and declare flawless victory here for Nets fans vs the world

[PetroNet]

Those 2 plays in the 4th where he couldn't handle it and it went out of bounds then on another one he didn't rip it down and Lee poked it away are good examples of bad rebounding.

The 4 plays a night where he lets Hump get it or boxes out the jump shooter from 18 feet are the exact same thing !!1!

What do I care if Lopez has 6 boards to Humps 13 or if Lopez had 10 and hump had 9? Wgaf? Fantasy nerds

I was going to post this exact same thing. Lopez rebounding totals may be frustratingly low at times, but it is very rare that he is missing rebounds, getting outrebounded or is in poor rebounding position. as you mentioned last night, there were those 2 instances, other then that, he was pretty good on the glass.

Im sure brook could find for the cheap rebounds where the celtics had 0 guys inside the 3 point line after the shot, but letting humphries or johnson get those really doesnt change anything as far as the game is concerned. And the difference between brook being a 6-7 rpg guy and a 8-9 rpg guy are basically the cheap ones that humphries vultures up. i dont think its a coincidence lopez rebounding numbers took a dive once hump became a full time starter.

[PetroNet]

As far as lopez on defense, you can see improvement every game. and the thing now is, he is making the right decisions and being aggressive. he knows how and when to attack the pick and roll, and knows where to rotate after.

as a team, our rotations after trapping the pick and roll have been much better every game as well

[jerseyjac]

And you are seeing less huffing...a less winded Lopez is going to make his overall game specifically his attention to defense improve...

[Paradise]

Lopez is proving he is a main piece. His rebounding is very much improved, He still needs to grab more for us to win games and maintain leads though.

But Lopez needs to seriously start realizing his game and develop a bit of a ego/confidence himself. Because I'm really getting sick of seeing the offense look like trash when they stop going to him early in the game, he needs to tell D-Will and Joe, "Give me the damn ball" and let him go to work. What made us very good prior to tonight was Lopez getting buckets early, getting team's bigs into foul trouble.

All I see from the 2nd quarter to 3rd is jumpers, jumpers, jumpers. They start going to Lopez in the 4th and then you see a big difference.

[HelloBrooklyn]

And you are seeing less huffing...a less winded Lopez is going to make his overall game specifically his attention to defense improve...

I actually think 1 more off-season of weight training and conditioning and well finally see his true NBA body. I also he think he needs to start watching more videos... So he can focus on the details of the game.

[bobbyc]

And you are seeing less huffing...a less winded Lopez is going to make his overall game specifically his attention to defense improve...

I actually think 1 more off-season of weight training and conditioning and well finally see his true NBA body. I also he think he needs to start watching more videos... So he can focus on the details of the game.

Yea, you have to understand that he hasn't been able to do endurance training for a long time Also, he wasn't able to strengthen his core and legs which is an area he needs to focus on. You can tell.