New Year's Resolution: Brook Lopez

Coming into the 2012-13 season, many predicted that the success of the Brooklyn Nets' inaugural campaign would largely depend on the health and expected improvement of its longest standing member, Brook Lopez. After two months of basketball, not only has this proven to be the case, but Lopez has played himself into becoming the team's most important and best player thus far. When Lopez is assertive and converting his touches at a high rate, the team wins games; when he is out of the lineup or shrinking from contact, the Nets falter.

The biggest question marks coming into Lopez's 5th season, aside from a clean bill of health, were whether Lopez could become a decent to good defender and rebounder. While he still would never be mistaken for Bill Russell, Lopez has progressed in those areas more than even his biggest supporters might have expected. Much of this can be credited to Avery Johnson, who though just recently let go after a rough December, did help instill a new found team-wide defensive confidence for a stretch in November before Lopez was sidelined for two weeks with a sprained ankle. Brook will never not be a lumbering 7 footer, but he at least appears to have a better understanding of defensive rotations and pick and roll coverage, as well as how to meet driving point guards at the rim, as exhibited by Lopez's average of a stellar 3 blocks per game. Likewise, Lopez's rebounding has visibly improved, as demonstrated by his 14.9% rebounding rate, highest since his rookie season.

Our New Year's Resolution for Brook Lopez is rather simple then; keep scoring at an efficient rate, continue to improve on the areas formerly thought to be weaknesses, and always play with confidence. The latter point is key; not many Nets have as visible a shift in body language between on and off nights as Brook Lopez. When Lopez is firing on all cylinders and the shots are falling, everything appears easier; the and-1 continuation moves through contact go down, the pick and rolls with Deron Williams in transition are perfectly executed, the wonderful "thanks for the assist, bro" post-basket finger-points are numerous. Yet when Lopez struggles, the signs are even more obvious; forced off the backboard long 2's and a subsequent complain for a foul call, mid-air adjustments away from contact under the rim, one-handed rebounds and exasperated sighs abound. Nets fans would obviously prefer to see the former more than the latter Brook, and for that to happen, Lopez needs, to put it in his own favorite words, "just continue to be aggressive, you know."

There are a few more specific potential areas for improvement I'd like to point out with Lopez, however. For one, Lopez currently posts an uncomfortably low assist rate of 5.5%, the lowest for his career. While centers are not typically expected to boast huge assist totals, on account of getting most of their touches at the end of an offensive set where a shot is the most desired outcome, there are many times when Lopez could clearly look to pass rather than force ugly, contact-adjusted jumpers. Much of this comes from Lopez's aforementioned bad habit of trying to get the foul call rather than make the smart, patient pass back out, which oftentimes results in a no-call and a wild miss. Granted, sometimes Lopez has no choice but to force a shot in bad position, as the Nets typically use much of their shot clock on offensive possessions. However, there is usually enough time for Lopez to look for a pass-out and a reset rather than chuck up a bad shot, and doing so would improve not only Lopez's own offensive efficiency, but the team's ball movement as well, the latter of which could always stand to improve.

A second minor complaint is Lopez's declined free throw percentage this year. There's not all that much to write about this; a return to Lopez's career average of 79% would be much preferred to this season's current 70%. Early season struggles from the line could be chalked up to the need to more fully return to form after injury, and perhaps to some simple statistical, low-sample size fluke. Either way, free throw percentage has often been a point of struggle for the Nets, inexplicably so, and it's especially important for the player of such offensive focus in Brook Lopez to regain that stellar free throw percentage he exhibited his first three years.

All said, there is not nearly as much to harp on with Brook Lopez's play so far this year as there is for certain other high-earning members of the Brooklyn Nets. Lopez just needs to continue to improve in the areas he's shown great promise in this year, which is all the more important when considering that Brook Lopez is one of the very few Nets who is not yet past or even at his prime. Lopez is already clearly the team's best offensive player, but further improvement on defense and on the boards will cement his role as the team's overall MVP as well. Here's to good health in 2013 for the big man.

Other players' Resolutions:
Deron Williams
Joe Johnson
Kris Humphries
Gerald Wallace
The Bench Mob: Part One
The Bench Mob: Part Two


Follow @NetsTakeOver