Brook Lopez Discusion

Agree that Lopez spent more time in the post than outside. He worked over Nance and whoever else that came down on him. Lue commented that he along with Randle had their way in the paint.

 

He’s still taking threes, but less of them, and he’s working down low where he’s so skilled. Add to that solid defense on LeBron all night, a couple blocks, another great game. If we’d used him like this all season nobody here would be complaining.

 

Lol, yeah, I should have said “most people wouldn’t be complaining”.

 

8 boards tonight, that's like what he usually gets in a whole month worth of games.

 

It has been VERY refreshing to see him in the paint more by design. The Lakers have a run a nice little weave action that I'm pretty sure is new, but ends up with some really creative open looks. In these sets we can usually get a nice deep post touch for either Julius or Brook or a great look for one of the wings off a screen.

It's been incredibly vindicating seeing how much Brook has been used in the post the last three games and how effective he's been there. I knew he'd look great if we leaned on him more. Part of me wishes we'd always done this for him and we'd always done this for ourselves, but @wcsoldier81 brings up the correct point. We couldn't have run these plays all season long because at the start of the year Brook was our best shooter. KCP started off colder. Ingram and Ball weren't knocking down shots yet. Julius has been an inside threat all season long. Early on we desperately needed Brook to be an outside threat. At this point, we're capable of putting Brook down low and especially with Kuzma in the starting lineup, we've got other shooters on the floor. It's great to see Luke also flex his creative muscles to find post touches in the modern NBA with two bigs near the rim.

Also props to Brook for running the floor all game long. It's incredible underrated, but Lonzo typically finds Brook 2-3 times a game early in the clock when he rim runs and gets a deep touch before the defense is set.

He's been great. I truly hope we can keep him around for cheap if/when we sign our big guys. If/when we don't sign big guys, Brook deserves to be kept around whether it's a hometown deal long-term or a big one-year deal.

 

I like Lopez. I don't think he is as skilled as Gasol was in his prime but he does have nice touch like that bank shot over Nance. He is far from a lumbering presence in the paint but just so deliberate. In the post, Lopez can draw the doubles, shows good recognition and is a good passer. I like him at the elbows too where he directs traffic.

Lopez had a pair of follow-ups last night after misses which padded his rebounding total. He is not a dominant force on the boards but plays smart. Was not too trigger-happy downtown which was good. Lopez alters shots along with his blocks. On the latter he does not swat them out of bounds but keeps the ball in play. A lost art...

Lopez reminds me of Divac just without the comedy except at the expense of his sibling...

 

Last 3-4 games have been the Lopez I had hoped that we traded for. So much better and I'm glad he's finally listening and going down low more often. His touch in the post is one of the best in the league for a center.

 

Two max slots for ?, a fast developing core and the possibility of MAYBE hoisting the trophy if the first happens/is fruitful, then get to talk mess to Robin after all that?

 

Good game from Lopez. Produced points, rebounded, nice block on Durant, directed the offense from the post. Jackson noted that he was not settling for the trey. Always a good thing.