With concerns about the effectiveness of big men in today's NBA, having a player like Lopez is a luxury for Brooklyn. He's clearly their best player and the person they will need to play like an All Star if they want to get into the postseason. Now that Deron Williams is gone, Lopez is the face of the franchise. He also does a good job of protecting the rim, so having Lopez close to the basket will pay major dividends for Brooklyn. Four of his seven rebounds were of the contested variety, good for seventeenth highest in the league. He does a great job of snatching rebounds in traffic. But in last year's playoff run, playing next to Thaddeus Young, he upped his rebounds and rebound rates, with four 30-and-10 games in two weeks. Lopez's rebounding rates have never been near the top of the league and he's never averaged double digit rebounds a night in his career. Lopez has received lots of criticism over his rebounding totals over the years, and there's something to it. He's a great scorer in the low post, has a nice set jumper and is a very capable pick-and-roll partner. He's averaged 17 points and seven rebounds on 51 percent shooting from the field through his run with the Nets. Through all the Nets' turmoil, Lopez has managed to be one of the better big men in the league. THE KEY QUESTION Can Brook Lopez carry this franchise? The team is hoping to find some value out of fliers on former first-round picks like Bargnani, Robinson, Ellington and Larkin. The buyout of Williams' maximum contract shows where this franchise was over the summer. OUT: Deron Williams, Mason Plumlee, Mirza Teletovic, Cory Jefferson, Jerome Jordan, Darius Morris IN: Andrea Bargnani, Thomas Robinson, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, Willie Reed, Ryan Boatright PLAYOFFS: Lost to Atlanta Hawks, 4-2, in first roundĭEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 105.0 (24th) ROSTER No.Īssistant coaches: Paul Westphal, Tony Brown, Joe Wolf, Jay Humphries OFFSEASON CHANGES RECORD: 38-44 (eighth in Eastern Conference) This team isn't outright terrible on paper, but the Nets' situation isn't a good one.
It's the frustrating no man's land that teams constantly try to avoid, and the Nets don't even own their 2016 first-round pick. This will be a challenging year for Brooklyn, which could potentially be good enough to compete for a playoff spot at the bottom of the East but has no chance of doing any real damage.
There's also 26-year-old Croatian forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who likely will start at small forward for Brooklyn and could be the breakout candidate the team needs.
Familiar faces like Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young and Jarrett Jack will play big roles under coach Lionel Hollins, although the team may try to begin implementing a youth movement sooner rather than later.įirst-round pick Rondae Hollis-Jefferson leads a group of young Nets that also includes point guard Shane Larkin, wing Sergey Karasev and former lottery pick Thomas Robinson. The centerpiece of the Nets' roster is now 27-year-old big man Brook Lopez, who will be joined by a cast of aging veterans and discarded young players hoping to establish themselves. Now the Nets are trying to remake themselves on the fly with a dearth of draft picks or high-level young players. An expensive, aggressive attempt to quickly build the franchise into a contender after its arrival at Barclays Center completely flopped over the past couple years. The Brooklyn Nets are a team in transition.