Will Lopez have the best season of his career?

[N Ireland Nets]

I think Lopez will have a good year which potentially could be fantastic depending on what he picks up from KG.

The guy who is going to run the show this year will be D Will, mark it down, take a picture because it's going to happen. He's in the best shape of his life and while his physical condition will help him immensely, the players he is going to play with will be knocking down shots and giving D Will easy options left right and center.

Deron Williams will be an All Star this year imo and I'm going to stick my neck out there is a HUGE homer way and say he's going to be in the MVP conversation.....I is excited!!!

Lets see what happens

[Paradise]

If I remember correctly, Kevin said Blatche had "no heart" when they got into it a few years ago in Washington. There is no way he will allow Brook to get outhustled on offensive rebounds. Especially in the playoffs.

Brook should have alot more room in the post to operate and I hope he starts working on his interior passing because there is alot of potential for some High-Low action between him and Kevin.

There is really no reason for Brook not to have a career high in field goal percentage, rebounding and assists. Kevin will allow him to get more post ups without a double, he has more options to pass out to with Deron, Joe, Paul, Kevin being very good shooters. Evans is not around in the starting lineup and there is no guarantee he will be the first big off the bench which means Brook has no excuse to grab rebounds now.

It's up to Deron and Brook to lead this team by playing MVP caliber basketball from start to finish.

[bobbyc]

Not of his career, but to date.

Offensively he should have career highs in points, fg%, and assists. He will get the easiest looks of his career this year. Also, because of the spacing that our team should have his assists should be high.

[PetroNet]

Brook needs to be dominant. He should be playing 36 MPG plus and averaging 20/8 like I know he can.

He's coming off yet another foot surgery on a team which is very deep at the 5 and just the front court in general. I do not expect more then 32mpg on the season and probably a touch lower, like 30. I do expect big numbers in that short amount of time though. 17/7/2/2 at worst, 20/9/3/3 at best, probably somewhere in between like 19/8/2/2.

I think his foot is fine.

He will never be an elite player if he doesnt start playing a lot of minutes. Blatche is good, but hes not the most offensively talented center in the NBA.

We need Lopez to DOMINATE in order to get the respect he deserves. A 20/8 season is what he needs. And its not gonna happen in 30 MPG.

i dont see how playing 35 minutes while not being an elite dominant player makes him any more dominant then doing the same in 30 minutes. it has nothing to do with minutes and everything to do with his play.

He needs to become super aggressive. its really what hold him back the most. and im not sure if its in his personality to change or not. hopefully it is. i also dont see how going for 20/8 makes him dominant. thats not really anything special or even anything diferent then what he is basically already doing. aldridge puts up 20/8 and i would hardly call him dominant

[Boarder Patrol]

How do you guys think the scoring is going to break down between our top 6 players?

D-Will: 15-17 ppg
JJ: 13-15 ppg
Pierce: 14-16 ppg
KG: 10-12 ppg
Lopez: 15-17 ppg
Kirilenko: 9-11 ppg

So that's like 76-88 ppg from our top 6.

I also expect D-Will to rack up 10+ apg EASY.

i think d-will has a legit shot at MVP this season

[De8]

How do you guys think the scoring is going to break down between our top 6 players?

D-Will: 15-17 ppg
JJ: 13-15 ppg
Pierce: 14-16 ppg
KG: 10-12 ppg
Lopez: 15-17 ppg
Kirilenko: 9-11 ppg

So that's like 76-88 ppg from our top 6.

I also expect D-Will to rack up 10+ apg EASY.

i think d-will has a legit shot at MVP this season

funny? if nets take 1st or 2nd seed, and Dwill putting up good stats, why wouldn't he have a chance? It's not the best player award, it's usually given to the most important player on the top seeded teams. and grow the eff up and stop posting the same smiley 20 times

[therealbig3]

Since when did D-Will get so many haters? That's like the 4th troll that's come in here and hated on D-Will.

It's not even legit criticism, it's just illogical and irrational hate...just dumb as hell.

Guaranteed that dude's a Knicks fan too.

[Paradise]

Deron post all-star break averaged 22ppg. If he could average 19ppg, 12assists on 48% FG, 39% 3pt, 58% TS that IS MVP worthy on a Top 3 team possibly.

He would be atleast in the Top 5 for consideration. There is really no reason why Deron shouldn't put up Rondo-ish stats with this team especially since he's going to be the main star getting 36 minutes or so a night.

Guaranteed that dude's a Knicks fan too.

You would be correct.

[Basileus777]

Deron has no chance at 12 apg with this team. There are too many other players who need the ball, and he won't be playing a ton of minutes. Those type of assist totals would require him to be running PNRs all game long, that's not going to happen. Adding more talent usually dilutes assist totals. If Deron is an MVP candidate, it's because the Nets are one of the best team in the league record wise, not because he's going to put up a points or assists in large numbers.

[therealbig3]

Deron has no chance at 12 apg with this team. There are too many other players who need the ball, and he won't be playing a ton of minutes. Those type of assists total would require him to be running PNRs all game long, that's not going to happen. Adding more talent usually dilutes assist totals.

It dilutes assists totals when the added talent needs the basketball to be effective. Pierce and Garnett aren't expected to have to create for themselves this season, and I think after last season, we've also realized that Johnson shouldn't dominate the basketball that much either. Also, an offense that's incredibly ISO-heavy dilutes assists totals as well.

If anything, I see Deron having the offense run through him MORE than last year, and I see a much heavier emphasis on ball movement, leading to more assists on a team level, with the main beneficiary of those assists being Deron.

I don't think he'll get all that close to 12 apg though, because there just won't be enough possessions for that...we'll be one of the slowest teams in the league again this year, and there just aren't enough possessions for Deron to get 12 apg and for everyone else to function optimally. But I see him averaging more than the 7.7 apg he averaged last year. He'll probably average around 9 apg this year...his scoring is probably what gets diluted this year...I see him around 15 ppg instead of the 18.9 ppg from last year.

[Basileus777]

Deron has no chance at 12 apg with this team. There are too many other players who need the ball, and he won't be playing a ton of minutes. Those type of assists total would require him to be running PNRs all game long, that's not going to happen. Adding more talent usually dilutes assist totals.

It dilutes assists totals when the added talent needs the basketball to be effective. Pierce and Garnett aren't expected to have to create for themselves this season, and I think after last season, we've also realized that Johnson shouldn't dominate the basketball that much either. Also, an offense that's incredibly ISO-heavy dilutes assists totals as well.

If anything, I see Deron having the offense run through him MORE than last year, and I see a much heavier emphasis on ball movement, leading to more assists on a team level, with the main beneficiary of those assists being Deron.

I don't think he'll get all that close to 12 apg though, because there just won't be enough possessions for that...we'll be one of the slowest teams in the league again this year, and there just aren't enough possessions for Deron to get 12 apg and for everyone else to function optimally. But I see him averaging more than the 7.7 apg he averaged last year. He'll probably average around 9 apg this year...his scoring is probably what gets diluted this year...I see him around 15 ppg instead of the 18.9 ppg from last year.

I agree with you here. He'll likely average more assists than last year, but I think he'll still be under ten. Even with less ISOs, Pierce and JJ aren't going to be just spot up guys, they are going to get sets run for them that don't net an assist for Deron. Same with Lopez in the post. But I don't think raw assist numbers mean all that much, it's probably optimal for our team offense if he's getting 8-9 a game.

[Boarder Patrol]

Since when did D-Will get so many haters? That's like the 4th troll that's come in here and hated on D-Will.

It's not even legit criticism, it's just illogical and irrational hate...just dumb as hell.

Guaranteed that dude's a Knicks fan too.

Okay, off the bat I will apologize for the condescending smilies. I hate those, can't explain why I used them.

I don't think Deron will be the best on his team, nonetheless the most important in the league. He rarely plays with the hustle and heart of elite players. He isn't a two way player, he's just not that good. Is he lite? Yes. Is he going to help any team he's on? Yes. But he's not an MVP. Also, I think the Nets will get off to a slow start and take it easy a little, so I don't think they'll be very near a top seed.

If you think Deron is capable of leading a team to the finals, and if you are counting on him to, you're in for a bad season. He's not a leader.

[PetroNet]

If you think Deron is capable of leading a team to the finals, and if you are counting on him to, you're in for a bad season. He's not a leader.

the nets dont need him to be a leader. And he took the jazz pretty deep in the WCF. he is certainly the best player on this team.

[Paradise]

If you think Deron is capable of leading a team to the finals, and if you are counting on him to, you're in for a bad season. He's not a leader.

He was capable of leading a lesser talented team to the WCF before. His Jazz teams ran into the eventual champion Spurs or eventual champion Lakers So, him being successful at going beyond the 1st round is not the question. He has proven he can lead his team in the playoffs.

All he has to do is be the floor general and lead on the court. Nobody expects anything more or less. This team has enough emotional leaders now than before.