Prokorov wrote:tonman wrote:TheSparkleKing wrote:
See we will never agree on his defensive ability. I believe he was a fine interior defender without Lin, but yes he has played with more energy since he came back. His pick and roll defense will never be good, so that kind of remains unchanged. Which I am okay with because he makes up for it in other areas.
Energy is a huge key for Lopez, and I think when Lin was out, he was posting up for a lot of his offense. He had to fight hard to score the ball almost every play. WIth Lin back, Lopez is getting much easier looks. It's incredible how excited I got for the simplest posts passes that Lin gives to Lopez. It's because those weren't there before.
When Lopez gets easier looks, it conserves some more energy for defense.And he is clearly getting re-energized from playing for a much better and exciting team than the pre-allstar break Nets. Now you can say "well he should have generated that same energy when Lin was injured." Well I would like that to, but losing takes its toll.
Lopez is wanting the ball and lin is getting him the ball. That is why Lopez is playing well. He is currently the #1 option. When a big gets rewarded he will play with more energy.
Brooks numbers month to month from november trough march have been identical this year, pre and post all-star as well. his usage and FGA are not up with Lin back nor is his FG% or TS%
his 2 games in april have been off the charts... is it small sample, his typical april push, or has he finally turned the corner?
i tend to think it is one of first two, considering we have seen this kind fo thing every year for him. but who knows there are alot of factors.
birthday push and some opponent teams are simply distraction.
