At the grizzled old age of 25, Brook Lopez has endured a 12-70 record, an All-Star selection and a broken foot that reduced a season to five games — after three consecutive seasons in which he recorded perfect 82-game attendances.
Yes, Lopez has seen a lot so far.
But he admits he hasn’t seen anything like this current Nets campaign.
“I thought I got the craziness out of the way early, I thought I’d be done with it,” said Lopez, pointing back to the nightmare of his second season, the nauseating 12-70 record in 2009-10 when the Nets were a mere 29 games out of the playoffs. “This is definitely more bizarre than that, though.”
Yeah, tumbling to a 5-14 record after a 113-83 embarrassment against the now 4-13 Knicks Thursday at Barclays Center could be considered bizarre. Coaches and players spoke of defensive systems being inserted on the fly. That’s sort of different from the championship aspirations both teams espoused in the offseason.
Now add various injuries, the hiring of a future Hall of Fame player but unproven coach, the most widely reported demotion of an assistant coach in memory to all those thus-far failed expectations and you have REALLY bizarre.
“It’s been tough,” said Lopez, whose 24 points and nine rebounds, eight offensive, went for naught. “Obviously, it’s not going the way I think anyone planned it would. But you’ve got to stick with it. We have a lot of guys that have been around the league, been through [it] on good teams and bad teams so we know what we have to do.”
So why haven’t they done it?
“I don’t really want to blame injuries because I still feel we’re better than a lot of teams we played. I don’t know if it’s chemistry either because I’ve rarely been on a team like this where everyone really gets along with each other and respects each other,” Lopez said. “I don’t know if it’s just energy or what.”
Thursday it was defense.
“They got whatever they wanted. No one was there to help each other. We didn’t really help the helper at all, I’m completely a culprit of it,” Lopez said. “We’re just out of sync on that side of the floor.”
But the turnaround can come, Lopez said. Will it get done is another matter. But it is doable. Through the magic of modern medicine and an Eastern Conference that borders on laughable after the happenings in Indiana and Miami, no team is beyond redemption this season. The Nets are utilizing Lopez inside more — mainly because Lopez is healthy enough to utilize after missing seven games with a sprained ankle.
“He’s responded,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Brook, especially with the year he had last year, if we can keep him healthy [he can] continue to build on being successful. … He’s only 25 so I would say yes, his ceiling is very high.”
Only 25 and in his sixth season. With all he has experienced already, the longest tenured current Net just feels like he has been around a lot longer. And despite all he has seen, he is still susceptible to surprises. Case in point: this season.
“Absolutely,” said Lopez. “I couldn’t have predicted this at the beginning of the season. I feel like I have more seasons than I do under my belt. Absolutely.”