ORLANDO – With an offense that relied heavily on penetration from the likes of Jaycee Carroll and Chris Douglas-Roberts in the first half, Nets No. 10 overall draft pick Brook Lopez looked like the answer to the eternal question:
What’s 7-foot and invisible?
But in the second half, Lopez started getting touches. He started getting aggressive. He started being as noticeable as A-Rod in recent headlines.
“We just switched up looks,” said Lopez, who scored eight of his 10 points in the second half – but finished with a rebound – in the Nets’ 86-74 summer league romp over host Orlando here last night in the Orlando Summer League that drew a healthy gathering because of the earlier matchup of No. 1 pick Derrick Rose and the Bulls against No. 2 Michael Beasley of the Heat.
“We were getting really good looks inside and they weren’t really stopping us,” Lopez continued. “We didn’t really need to stop and post up. That just came in the second half.”
Carroll scored 22, Douglas-Roberts 15 and Ryan Anderson 14, but Lopez made himself known offensively with a couple of nice post moves, a jumper at the foul line (“See, I can shoot?” he joked).
But the play that stuck out for him was getting back defensively, and with Magic center James Augustine having him by a good step, reaching up and deflecting a pass.
“I really liked that,” said Lopez, who rated his performance as “I wouldn’t say satisfied but I’ll accept what I did. And I’m looking to build on it.”
And the building has to start with rebounding: 20 minutes, ZERO boards.
“Obviously, as a 7-foot center, he’s going to have to come with the mentality tomorrow that, ‘I’m going to dominate the glass,’ ” said coach Lawrence Frank. “He’s going to have to rebound.”
Especially with the Nets playing Miami and Beasley.
*
Nets GM Rod Thorn said there was nothing imminent on free-agent front. Nets apparently will see what type of offers are fetched by their guys Bostjan Nachbar (unrestricted) and Nenad Krstic (restricted; Nets can match any offer) before proceeding. …
Beasley, playing despite a slightly cracked sternum, scored 28 points shooting 9-of-21 in the Heat’s 94-70 blowout of Chicago.
SUMMER LEAGUE Nets 86 Magic 74