NAS Note: We’ll be posting these as we finish them, up to the start of the season. When all are completed, they’ll be static pages you can access from the header any time.
Name: Brook Lopez
Position: C
Date of Birth: April 1, 1988
Hometown: Fresno, CA
Height: 7’0”
Weight: 260
Experience: 3 years
Drafted: 1st round, 10th overall by the New Jersey Nets in 2008
College: Stanford
2011-12 salary: $3,076,983
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Lopez increased his shot attempts from each space on the floor in every year of his career, except — curiously — at the rim, where his attempts declined from 6.6 per game in 2009-10 to just 4.8 per game in 2010-11. However, that number increased to 6 per game in games Lopez played with Deron Williams, so I’d expect that number to improve again in 2011-12.
Lopez can spot up with range out to 18-20 feet, though he relied on that jumper as a crux of his offense in 2010-11, averaging 3.6 attempts per game from 16-23 feet. It’s smart for Lopez to use that jumper to stretch the offense, but it’s most useful as a threat than a constant. Lopez’s stroke is excellent at the free throw line for a center, as he’s a career 80% shooter from the charity stripe.
Lopez normally makes intelligent decisions on the offensive end, though he often struggles passing out of double-teams and grabbed offensive rebounds at a career-low rate last season. Part of that is due to laziness, part of it mononucleosis, and part of it the system set in place by Avery Johnson that keeps Lopez away from the paint in many sets.
While his lack of quickness is a major issue, Lopez still has some physical tools that lead me to believe there’s a decent defender in there somewhere. For one, his 7’6” wingspan is a huge boon defensively, but he’s seen his block rate decline each year in the NBA, from 4.9% his rookie season to 3.4% in 2009-10 to just 3.2% in 2010-11. To compare, 4.9% puts him in Dwight Howard-Tim Duncan range, 3.2% in Jordan Hill-Spencer Hawes range. Additionally, Lopez is a legitimate center with size; he’s listed at 7’ but measured in at 7’0.5” at the 2008 NBA combine, and looks at least an inch or two taller today.
It is also impossible for him to not look awkward in pictures.
You’re now in a game where only time can tell
Survive the droughts, I wish you well…
Survive the droughts? I wish you well?
How sick am I? I wish you health
I wish you wheels, I wish you wealth
I wish you insight so you could see for yourself
You could see the signs, when the jackets is schemin’
And the cops is comin’, you could read they mind
You could see from behind, you could redefine
The game as we know it, one dream at a time
