4. Andray Blatche: 34 minutes with Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez;
+8.5 per 100 possessions APLot of “fluke” potential in these numbers — the Nets have grabbed an astonishing 88% of all available defensive rebounds with this lineup on the floor (yeah, not happening in more minutes), and there’s less than a game’s worth of data. You can see the pairing of Blatche & Lopez working in theory: both are talented offensive big men that can space the floor a bit, and with Blatche’s career-best season on the glass, he can make up for Lopez’s deficiencies there without the offensive negative that comes with putting Reggie Evans on the floor.
Overall, I’d be skeptical of this lineup; Blatche still has a long way to go before you can quantify his defensive effort as anything beyond laughable, and the team’s recorded more turnovers than assists with this tandem on the floor, which is an automatic red flag.
Still, it’s not hard to see why Brooklyn Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo is enticed at the potential of a Blatche/Lopez combo; if you can get at least a net neutral out of them defensively, there’s devastating offensive potential there.
