Thanks for the video. Haven't actually seen him play all that much, even though I'm in NY. Surprised at how mobile and athletic he still looks. I sure hope we're not just dumping him next summer... but I suppose that'll depend on whether or not we can sign him at an affordable salary and still get those two max FA's we keep hearing about.
Try ludicrous speed better. Brooks is the none talked about gem in this. Brooks is a very good player. And he is in his prime.
... that was tasty. I read elsewhere he is a good locker room guy and hope it's true. He's in a contract year so with that need to perform and the FO's emphasis on conditioning, should be looking like this again if no new injuries. Like every other player's caveat. Zu can learn a lot from Brook's footwork. Pay attention and compete young guy. There's a chance Lopez goes out at the trade deadline and Zu could be starting again. I thought Moz ran the floor well for a guy his size. Nothing in that compilation showed how he runs. Kareem, what do you think on that aspect .... speed down the court compared to Moz or Zu? OX? D'Angelo .... you got any thoughts?
I've been watching him for awhile now and he is far from lumbering. He is a good shotblocker and his rebounding numbers suffer because of this, plus he never seem to fail to box out. Rim protection check, spread the floor check, low post threat with good hands check. Free throw shooting check.
Footwork, moves and ambidexterity around the rim ..... check. Well OK. Far from lumbering hopefully translates into he runs the floor as well as Moz who my gut felt maybe last year was a little faster than Zu. Hopefully Zu picks the speed and quickness up with his svelte new body this year. Wonder how Bogut when healthy compares in big man speed out there? At least Brook is not afraid to leave his feet to block a shot unlike the dudes (Moz looking at you) who stand straight up with hands up and that's it.
Great thing about Brooks is he is a modern day center with some old school skills. He can hit the J from deep and he has a 20 point a game post game. His rebounding and rim protection skills keep him from being a 30 mil a year player. However, his good completely outweigh his deficiencies.
I'm with many others here. I do like Brook Lopez and in fact I was hoping we could work something out to get him when we were exploring options to trade Pau. He's a very good player. And I think he's going to be a nice fit in Luke's system because of his ability to stretch the floor. At this point he's probably our best outside shooter if Swaggy P is gone. He'll be an enormous upgrade over Moz thankfully. Zubac will have a good model offensively to come up under and this buys him time to develop. Not sure if he'll be here past this year but it'll be nice to have him on the team. I'm just sad we had to lose Russell in this process.
One thing I've seen a lot of is "we got a bad rebounding Center who can't defend". Well... half of that is true. Brook Lopez has never been and isn't now a good rebounder for his monstrous size. He is a true seven footer (7'1" in shoes) with a nearly 7'6" wingspan and a 9'5" standing reach. He's a massive human being. In those highlights look at how large he looks next to guys like Karl Towns who is more than an inch shorter than him. For Brook's size he's never averaged more than 9 rebounds per game and that's unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. It shows a lack of attention and a lack of desire since he has all the tools to make it work. However: Brook Lopez is a rim protector. Last year he had a game against Milwaukee where he recorded 8 blocked shots. He had four games with 5 blocked shots and 9 games with three or four blocks as well. Brook may not be a pick and roll defender, but he's got excellent length and that giant frame helps him change and affect shots near the rim on a nightly basis. So yes Brook brings challenges to a defensive lineup, but he's not completely useless on that end of the floor either. The other factor: you know the maximum amount of threes D'Angelo made in a game? Seven. You know the maximum amount of threes Brook Lopez made last year in a game? Seven. The two were actually extraordinarily similar shooters from the three last season. D'Angelo took 0.9 more threes per game, but made just 0.3 more per game. Keeping in mind D'Angelo played only 60 games last year, he took 384 threes. Brook Lopez took 387 threes in 75 games. Brook made 134 and D'Angelo made 135 threes. Brook is also a decent passer. His assist/turnover ratio isn't great (it's basically 1), but he is one of few Centers to average 2.5 assists per game. He won't replicate D'Angelo's assist totals, but he'll at least be a good ball mover in this offense. He was relied on to be the man in Brooklyn, we'll probably lean on him at times here too but not to the same extent. I think honestly people will grow to like Brook. He's a good personality and by all accounts a great teammate. More than that though he's a talented player. He's no slouch at all. Looked at in the context of today, this trade is much more even than first blush.
I'm not as down on Lopez as I have made myself out to be. I think he's clearly one of the best centers in the game, I just see the move for what it was, a Mozgov salary dump, and hopefully getting that pick to flip for George. I doubt Lopez figures into our long term plans, and as I've said, he doesn't add wins to the roster as is.
Replacing Mosdogcrap for Brooks is a poor man's Kwame to Gasol. Brooks will be an immediate impact on this team. And if he runs into some injuries during the year, the Lakers have Zu. Lakers have the center position set perfectly for the next year. I would play each guy 24-28 min a game and keep them fresh, healthy and motivated. No more guarding air and turning the offense into a complete and utter joke the moment he comes in.
Thanks real. So I guess Julius and B.Lopez compliment each other extremely well, as their strength is the other's weakness. (rebounding and rim protection) It would be a shame to lose Julius for George. George + Ingram + Lopez would mask most of Julius' struggles on the defensive end. And we'd be killing teams on offense if Ball and Ingram prove to be adequate shooters.
That's another factor too. I didn't want to talk about it because I thought Randle might be the center piece in the George trade. But if Randle stays, yes, him and Brooks would compliment each other really well on the court.
