TALL TALE: Nets center Brook Lopez entertains a group of kids — they’re just a bit shorter — on a recent trip to Malawi. (Rica Rodman/Wasserman Foundation)
Brook Lopez was coming off the best season of his career and getting ready to head out of town for the summer when he got a disappointing piece of news from Nets athletic trainer Tim Walsh.
For the third time in less than two years, he needed surgery on his right foot, this time to replace a screw inserted in an earlier procedure that had bent.
“I think I was more disappointed than anything,” Lopez told The Post yesterday. “I wasn’t concerned. I was disappointed, but it was best to do it when we did it, in the week after the season, to give myself the most time to get back in shape and to get ready for the season.”
Lopez was the Nets’ best and most consistent player last season, averaging 19.4 points to lead all NBA centers and making his first All-Star team. After having the surgery in May, the 7-footer recently was able to shed his walking boot and resume workouts. He said he’s on track to be ready by the time the Nets reconvene for training camp in late September.
“I feel great,” Lopez said. “I have been getting in some weight lifting, getting shots up and everything is going well.
“I’m not fully working out. I’m not jumping or running or anything like that, but we have a good month-and-a-half just until training camp starts, so we’ll definitely be all right by then.”
Being in a walking boot for the past couple of months did not deter Lopez from a busy travel schedule. After going on a cruise with his family around Europe, he headed to Africa this month on a trip organized by the Clinton Foundation. He visited Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda and spent time with former President Clinton. Lopez, an avid traveler, said he had never been to Africa, but had always hoped to go.
“I had a connection with our agency who previously worked with the White House and with the foundation, so they asked if I wanted to go and I jumped at the chance,” Lopez said. “It was a huge honor to be considered for it.”
Out of everything he experienced on the trip, Lopez said one charitable moment stood out.
“It’s tough to choose, but I think when we were in Zambia, we were outfitting kids with hearing aids, or just people in general with hearing aids,” he said. “And just seeing when the hearing aids finally worked for them, and their eyes lit up when they could hear for the first time, it was really incredible to see.
“I can’t put it into words … you had to be there to see it for yourself. The thrill of seeing that happen never lessened. It was really cool to see kids five minutes after they got the hearing aids in their ears running around the area, and running around the hotel grounds making noise and listening to themselves speak.”
While Lopez was globe-trotting and recovering from the surgery, the Nets have been busy remaking their roster in an effort to improve upon last season, when the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. And between the hiring of Jason Kidd as head coach, the return of former mentors Lawrence Frank and Roy Rogers to the staff, and the acquisitions of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry and Andrei Kirilenko, among others, Lopez is amped to get back on the floor in a few weeks.
“All combined into one, the direction our team has been moving in … I’m so excited for the season to start,” he said. “It’s really been unreal, and I’ve honestly found myself dreaming about working out in training camp and playing in games and everything. It’s really an ideal situation.”