The 2013-14 NBA season was a completely lost one for Brook Lopez, who wasn’t even able to play 20 games for the Nets due to a horribly-timed broken foot. As Houston Rockets fans knew too well with former star center Yao Ming, centers are prone to those debilitating lower body injuries.
As Brooklyn heads into a new season with a new coach and a lot of new faces, one of the people its going to lean on heavily has to prove his worth but in his on-court performance and even his ability to physically get onto the court.
The Nets have made the playoffs each of the last two seasons–the team’s first two in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center–but the team was clearly hindered by the non-presence of their best and biggest player, who is still just 26 years old. He hasn’t even entered his prime yet, who has averaged 18.8 points or more in his last five (some full, some very short) seasons.
His main problem, though, is that his rebounding has never been as good as a 7-footer’s should be. This wasn’t a much of a problem earlier in his career, when he averaged around 8.5 boards per game. Then, in the 2010-11 campaign, that number dropped to just six per game, an enormous and troubling drop-off.
The scoring never waned, but concerns about Brook’s lack of ability at corralling loose rebounds and his seeming inability to play physical against other NBA centers have plagued his last couple of seasons in tandem with his injury troubles. In the NBA, it’s very hard to be a truly dominant center on just scoring alone with sub-standard rebounding and defense.
Is it possible that the rehab from his broken foot could make Brook a stronger player, on both sides of the ball? Yes, of course. The miracle of modern sports medicine is that–often–major procedures can make player even better when they return to action.
Hopefully that’s the truth with Lopez, who has played less than 20 games in two of the last three seasons. However, one major change he needs to make is an attitude one. Brook has never been a intimidating presence in the paint, even at his hulking size. On the other hand, other recent notable star centers–Dwight Howard, Shaquille O’Neal, and Joakim Noah–were/are loud, brash, and rough with opponents in order to establish position.
Too many times, Brook is caught being too soft at the hoop when he takes a fadeaway hook shot instead of a dunk or layup taken right at a defender. If he can make the small but crucial change to his playing style, Brook has the chance to be one of the best centers in the entire league this year, should he remain healthy of course.
The Nets, losing key players in Paul Pierce, Shaun Livingston, Andray Blatche, and others, must replace the production they lost. And who better to do that exact job than Brook Lopez?
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