HOUSTON — Brook Lopez has had plenty of time over the past few weeks to think about being selected to his first All-Star Game. But it’s one thing to think about being in the game, and another to sit in a team meeting with the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony, as Lopez did yesterday as All-Star weekend began.
“It was crazy to sit in the meeting room and see who was in there, and to see that these guys are my teammates, and that I’m on the All-Star team,” Lopez said during media availability Friday. “That was a pretty humbling experience.”
After initially being passed over for the Eastern Conference All-Star team by the league’s coaches last month, Lopez was named by NBA commissioner David Stern as an injury replacement when Celtics star Rajon Rondo tore his ACL.
But Lopez wasn’t dwelling on how he got his ticket to Houston, and instead was just happy he had made it to his first All-Star Game.
“I’m on the team, and it’s an honor,” he said. “By no means I wish Rondo to get hurt or anything like that, [but] what happened, happened, and I’m happy to be here. I don’t think there’s any way you could dampen my attitude towards this. I’m an All-Star, and I’m happy to be here.”
It wasn’t long ago Lopez was on the sidelines watching as he recovered from an injury. A year ago at this time, he was in the middle of rehabbing from the first of two injuries to his right foot that caused him to miss all but five games of the lockout-shortened season, while also being the subject of near-daily trade rumors involving him being shipped to the Magic for Dwight Howard.
But after spending the offseason regaining his strength and the confidence in his foot, as well as adding a significant amount of muscle weight, Lopez has been one of the league’s elite centers this season, averaging 19.0 points — tops among NBA centers — to go along with 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in a little more than 30 minutes a night.
“When I was hurt, I tried to put myself in the best position when I got back, and it’s worked out,” Lopez said. “I got in the weight room, worked on healing my foot in rehab, and I wanted to be ready to go and be able to hit the ground running this season when I could play.”