The MarShon Brooks Problem

The Brooklyn Nets are playing well. Very well. They've won four in a row, thanks in large part to an increased focus on the defensive end of the court. Brook Lopez is playing at a near All-Star level, proving to the doubters that he just may be worth the max level contract he received in the off-season. The vaunted, uncreatively titled "Bench Mob" has been responsible for more than a few wins in which the starters struggled, with veterans Jerry Stackhouse and Reggie Evans especially providing invaluable contributions. Even the reclamation project Andray Blatche has been a revelation. There is one, pink purse wearing elephant in the room, however, and that is the recurrent benching of MarShon Brooks.

The expectations going into Brooks' second NBA season were great, with many penciling the guard in as a dark horse Sixth Man of the Year candidate. At the very least, Brooks was expected to bring a valuable scoring punch to the second unit, which would include such offensive non-factors as Evans and Keith Bogans. Outside of a few good showings, however, this has not been the reality of Brooks' season so far, and he has instead found himself on the outside of the rotation looking in.

This shift could originally be attributed to injury, as Brooks was forced to miss several games just after the start of the season. In his stead, Jerry Stackhouse, the 38-year-old player-assistant coach not expected to receive actual court time, performed admirably enough so that Brooks' absence was barely noticed. Though Brooks is now healthy, Stackhouse has since only gone on to elevate his play to off-the-bench game-changer, culminating in his 5 of 6 3-point shooting performance against Boston. Meanwhile, a valuable, still developing player is left on the bench racking up DNPs.

A lot of has been made of Brooks' defensive issues, and for great reason. Just about every game Avery Johnson is seen chewing out Brooks for a blown rotation or missed assignment, often within minutes of Brooks checking into the game. On a team with a newfound defensive focus, Brooks' defensive cluelessness is undoubtedly an issue, while Stackhouse's veteran awareness is a net positive. It just does not make sense to me, however, that a player with MarShon's scoring efficiency (very small sample size alert, but Brooks currently has a PER of 21.8 and true shooting percentage of .638 in 104 minutes played) should receive no playing time whatsoever, even with his defensive shortcomings. As Brooks' former Team Chuck coach Charles Barkley has pointed out, a player with that kind of scoring ability should see at least some court time, as his highly productive offense will outweigh his defensive faults.

Avery Johnson, for all the criticism and calls for firing he regularly receives from fans, has done a great job to start the season. It's early, but he may even be a coach of the year candidate. He has the team playing defense when no one thought they could, and he's also helped forged an identity that seemed unlikely to emerge this quickly with such a new roster. But Johnson does not have a very good track record with developing and playing young talent, often choosing the veteran, coach's favorite type (see Graham, Stephen) over the more talented, but still emerging younger player. His inability or unwillingness to develop a player with Brooks' potential is concerning, as Brooks is one of the few players on the roster that stands to improve as the rest of the core declines with age and mileage in the latter years of their bloated contracts. For as great as Stackhouse has been so far (keep your heart, J Stacks, keep your heart!), does anyone expect the 38-year-old to not fall back down to Earth a bit? I know the Nets are in complete "win now" mode, but wouldn't it still be more beneficial to the team's future and chance at internal improvement to play the 23-year-old, the player entering only his first full, non-lockout season?

Much of this can be countered with "hey, it's working right now, why mess with it?", which is a point fairly taken. It is working, right now. Whether it will work for the rest of the season remains to be seen, and it's likely that even if things continue mostly as they have been, Brooks will still receive at least some sporadic playing time as injuries and tired legs crop up (Brooks received good minutes against Portland, but only so that Jerry "A+" Stackhouse could be fully rested for the next night's ever-important Battle of the Boroughs). But would it not be ideal that the player brimming with offensive potential be a larger part of the rotation? A player that has been nothing but productive in the minutes he has seen this year? Stackhouse is a pleasant surprise and valuable member of the team, but what is he honestly doing for this franchise one or three years down the road? MarShons' development is crucial, and he can't develop without playing time. His defensive inadequacies can't be fixed in practice alone, he needs real, in-game burn.

It might be too early to read so much into the Brooks situation, and perhaps in a week or two Brooks will prove himself enough in practice to get out of Avery's infamous doghouse. All of this will be moot, and I will look silly for panicking. But as of right now, as well as the team is playing, it's troubling and disappointing that a player with MarShon's potential is such a non-factor on this team. Brooks has great value for a 25th pick, but right now he's only receiving the non-existant playing time of a typical late first round pick, and that needs to change.

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