Last season, MarShon Brooks was an essential part of the Nets offense. Despite being a rookie, Brooks became the team’s second scoring option — behind only Deron Williams— when a pair of foot injuries forced Brook Lopez to miss virtually the entire year.
So it’s not surprising that Brooks has gone through an adjustment period early in training camp as he goes up against six-time All-Star Joe Johnson in practice every day, and is no longer a focal point of the offense.
“He had a good practice yesterday … but he struggled a little bit early on, and I understand why,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “There were times last year when he was the best guy, and he could get his shot off pretty easily.
“Now? He’s playing against Joe Johnson every day. He’s going against [Josh] Childress and Gerald Wallace. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re just as athletic, they have more experience. So, early on, there was an adjustment.”
Brooks said he has been up to the challenge of going up against bigger and stronger players on the wings every day at practice.
“It’s fun. It’s a challenge every single day,” he said. “I think everybody’s got their hands full on this team. Every single day you come to practice, if you don’t come with it you’ll get your [butt] busted.”
Even in the brief times when Lopez was healthy last season, it was clear that Brooks — who has been playing with the ball constantly in his hands since early in his college career at Providence — was struggling to adjust to playing off the ball.
So, as Brooks entered the summer and saw that his touches would become even more limited with the arrival of Johnson in a trade with Atlanta and with Williams and Lopez both agreeing to resign, he went about working to improve that aspect of his game.
Much of that work came in practicing scoring in catch-and-shoot situations, particularly from 3-point range, after going 19-for-68 (27.9 percent) on spot-up 3-pointers last year, according to mysynergysports.com.
“That’s all I’ve been working on in the off-season, just trying to get stronger and hit the open shot,” Brooks said. “Obviously [Lopez] is going to get the ball. He has to … he draws double teams.
“It was the first time in a couple years I didn’t have the ball in my hands. But if I can just add that, if I can continue to get better at it as my career goes on, just catching and shooting, it’s going to make for a long career for me, and make life a lot easier for me.”
Brooks also spent his summer trying to get stronger, in order to better handle the rigors of an NBA season. He put on about 10 pounds, and said he can already noticed the difference when he tries to get to the basket.
“I can take the bump a lot better at the rim,” Brooks said. “Last year, if I hit my man with a good move, even if I did freeze him for a little bit, he could push me off route and I’d have to take a shot maybe at the elbow as opposed to at the rim.
“So I just feel I can take the bump better, and I can initiate contact a lot better … instead of just going in there and just shooting floaters, I can go in there and mix it up a little bit and not be afraid. I’m looking for that bump when I’m going in there now.”
tbontemps@nypost.com