After dominating the Big East as a senior last year at Providence, Nets rookie guard MarShon Brooks had about as smooth of a transition to the NBA as possible.
But after scoring 14.6 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from behind the 3-point arc before the All-Star break, Brooks has seen his numbers dip across the board over the past few weeks.
“It’s been kind of tough,” Brooks said after scoring 11 points in Saturday’s 102-89 win over the Bobcats. “I just can’t really make my shots I usually make. It’s kind of frustrating. I’d like to get a good game under my belt. I just want to play better, and finish strong.
“I had a great start to my rookie season. … I don’t want it to be remembered for struggling down the stretch.”
In the 15 games since the All-Star break, Brooks is averaging 9.8 points per game while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 26.5 percent from 3-point range. But the thing that has Brooks more frustrated than anything else is when he doesn’t take a shot he knows that he should.
“Obviously I’d like to make it every shot I shoot, but when I get to second-guessing, that’s when I start making mistakes,” he said. “Little mistakes where I should have shot the first shot, and it’s the better shot for the team.”
Brooks shrugged off any suggestion he has hit the “rookie wall,” saying he just sees that as an excuse. But one thing that has changed recently is the addition of Gerald Wallace to the lineup. Instead of being the No. 2 scoring option behind star point guard Deron Williams, as Brooks was most of the first half of the season, the rookie is competing for shots with Wallace, Anthony Morrow and Gerald Green on the wings.
“I want to finish as strong as possible, whatever that takes,” Brooks said. “Just playing defense, whatever it takes. Obviously with Gerald playing so well and Anthony playing so well, the same shot opportunities aren’t there like they were to shoot myself through a slump. So I just have to play defense and be active.”
Brooks has taken plenty of heat for his performance on defense from Nets coach Avery Johnson for much of the season. But Johnson was pleased with the way Brooks defended against the Bobcats on Saturday, helping hold Charlotte shooting guard Gerald Henderson to seven points on 3-for-11 shooting.
“This was his best defensive game,” Johnson said. “He had a breakdown there in the fourth quarter, but he only had one, maybe two. … He had a better defensive game.”
* The Nets had until midnight last night to decide whether to renew the 10-day contract of guard Jerry Smith. The 24-year-old guard averaged 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in five games since he was called up from the Nets’ D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor, and was signed on March 16.