Player Preview: Kris Humphries

Entering only his third full year with the Nets, Kris Humphries somehow ranks as the franchise's second longest tenured player, behind only Brook Lopez. Such has been the rate of roster turnover in the years immediately preceding the move to Brooklyn. Though he's been with the team since an early 2010 trade that sent Eduardo Nájera to the Mavericks, Humphries has never seemed like he'd be with the franchise for the long haul, probably due to the constant imminent expiration of his contract. After the Nets expected and hoped for Kris Humphries to decline his player option entering the 2010-2011 season, Kris Humphries instead opted in and went on to have a life changing season, both on and off the court. Since then he's been on one year deals for two straight seasons, always appearing to be more of a stop-gap in the Nets' plans to acquire someone with more pedigree, and a fallback at worst. Well, we're finally about to embark on the Nets' first season in Brooklyn, and the "former Kardashian" is still here. So what do we make of that?

First off, it should be noted that although Humphries re-signed with the Nets this offseason, he was not only not their first choice (Kevin Garnett and Ersan Ilyasova re-signing with their incumbent teams squashed those hopes), but the team may still have plans to move him in the future. Humphries' relatively short but inflated 2-year, $24 million contract indicates that Billy King and the front office would like to keep the option open of flipping Humphries for a similarly sized but lengthier contract, the type meddling non-playoff teams like to get off their hands in exchange for soon-to-expire deal. This may very well be in the Nets and Humphries' future, but for now let's consider what Kris Humphries the player will bring to Brooklyn this rapidly approaching season.

Even though Humphries has been with the Nets for almost 3 years, there are still many Nets fans, myself including, that don't know quite what to make of his game. Sure, he averages a double-double, relatively uncommon amongst bigs in the league, but are those just empty stats? He accumulates a fair amount of highlight-stealing blocks, but does he actually play good defense? He's had two good years in a row after a largely unimpressive start to his career, but were those just two consecutive "contract year" bumps? Will Kris ever find love again? Was it ever love in the first place?

With all these questions, let's start with some relative certainties. The first thing an average basketball fan will think of when seeing Humphries (other than "boooooo!") is that he cleans up the boards, and that he most definitely does. It's also very much needed on a team that features a center with a career rebounding average of 7.5 per game, and a rebounding percentage of 12.9. Humphries, in his last two years with the Nets, can boast a rebounding average of 10.7 per game and rebounding percentage of 20.2 (for reference, the average rebounding percentage for a big is 14.5%). So we can safely say that Humphries rebounding is an important, even crucial contribution to the Nets' roster.

Where things get shadier is when we look at the defensive side of the court. Though I will acknowledge that Humphries' knack for chase-down blocks is exciting to see as a fan and should have a positive effect in Brooklyn, on the whole, Humphries' defense is not a positive. As I noted in my off-season grades of the Nets, while Humphries' last second help D looks pleasing to the eye when he does swat that ball out of the air, it's more likely that Humphries will be late on a rotation and give up a bucket because of it. His one-on-one post defense is a little bit better (especially when he plays Blake Griffin, for whatever reason) but he can still be vulnerable to a pump fake and subsequent drive-by. Given that he's playing with another defensive liability in Brook Lopez, Humphries' lack of polish and IQ on that end of the court poses a true concern for the Nets' ability to get stops.

The Nets' defense is certainly not hopeless, but it definitely does not look good with that kind of frontcourt. Okay, so what if the Nets just try to out-gun everyone? If you can't have a good defense, aim for an elite offense, right? Well, Humphries may be a hindrance there as well. Though he's great for a put-back dunk, transition jams and the occasional mid-range jumper, Humphries' inability to truly spread the floor all the way to three-point line will create issues for Lopez down low. When Humphries is on the court, he is by far the biggest weak link in the offense, and very often an offense is only as good as its weakest link. 

The Nets would seem to do best with a 1-in, 4-out offensive plan, the kind the Orlando Magic used with Dwight Howard when they advanced to the 2009 Finals. In this type of offense, the Nets would either need to go small with Gerald Wallace at the power forward, or use recently signed EuroLeague star Mirza Teletovic as a stretch-4. If Teletovic can adjust to the NBA and provide the kind of shooting that will allow for the adequate floor spacing the Nets need, he will be a huge asset, while Kris Humphries will be relegated to the bench during important stretches where the Nets simply try to out-score the opponent. If this does happen, it will be for the better of the team, and Humphries has indicated that he would be willing to play that role if necessary.

Kris Humphries has a weird role on the Nets; he's the team's biggest household name, but it's not because of his basketball skills. He does have skills and brings important things to the table, but he gets by on mostly energy and hustle; it's clear on the rare off-night from Humphries how much he depends on simply working harder than his opponent. He's a player that seemingly plays above his talent-level, though he was in fact a highly-tauted prospect coming out of his Minnesota high school and a late-lottery pick. Though he may not be the Nets' ideal choice at power forward, Kris Humphries is a player I'm happy survived the move out of New Jersey; his workmanlike game should be well applauded in Brooklyn.

Follow @NetsTakeOver