Numbers Don’t Lie
While the Nets may have been absolutely horrific the past two seasons, Brook Lopez was hands-down their best player. This past season he averaged 20.5 points per game while making 47% of his field goal attempts.
What is truly shocking is that he drilled 134 threes, which were the most in the NBA among centers. To put that number into perspective, D’Angelo Russell made 135 threes this past season and he is a perimeter player. Lopez also boasted a player efficiency rating (PER) of 20.48, which was higher than that of Marc Gasol, Paul George, and C.J. McCollum.
You could make the case the Lopez was just putting up numbers on a bad team. However, it was only two seasons ago where the Nets, led by Lopez, took a 60-win Atlanta Hawks team to seven games in the playoffs. On the surface, you may think that Lopez was just a throw-in, but if you actually look at the numbers, you could make the case that he’s one of the top ten big men in the entire league!