Breaking Down Brooklyn Nets Center Position for 2014-15 Season
Brook Lopez is already injured. It's a good thing the Brooklyn Nets are prepared for his absence at center—or so they think.
The 5 spot probably has the most volatile stock of any single position on the Nets roster. Brooklyn may have talents like Lopez, Kevin Garnett and Mason Plumlee, but those guys only combine for four healthy feet.
Just as we get into the thick of the preseason, Lopez's history of foot injuries is coming back to the forefront of the team's collective mind:
The Nets say the Lopez injury isn't serious—for now.
The organization is going to be as cautious as possible as it moves forward with its best low-post player, one who missed all but 17 games last season and who has played in just 96 total games over the past three years due to foot and ankle injuries.
Concerning yourself with the foot injury of a player who has a history of foot injuries isn't being paranoid. And that's why Brooklyn was quick to shut Lopez down for two weeks, hoping to get him back for the start of the regular season so the Nets can have their three capable center candidates back for Game 1.
Lopez's size 20 feet aren't much smaller than the Earth's platelets. Push them together until they break, and you're doing a lot more than making mountains out of molehills. You're making actual mountains.
Injury concerns are the main problem with the Nets' center trio, and the issues surface even more when you consider Garnett, who missed Sunday's preseason game with a stomach virus, isn't necessarily capable of playing a full season. Nor should he be at age 38.
KG missed 28 games last year and 14 the season before that. He's at the point of his career when sitting for half of a back-to-back is a necessity. But if Lopez is hampered with injuries, an unfortunate, but realistic possibility, then the Nets find themselves relatively shallow at the center position, harboring only Plumlee and Jerome Jordan as viable options.
If the Nets can stay healthy, they'll consistently get production from the center position. Lopez is an elite scorer. Garnett shot 55.6 percent after Jan. 1. Plumlee is a young, energy guy with high upside. But defense could be a concern with this crew.
Garnett, who saw all of his numbers plummet during his first season in Brooklyn, is far from the player he once was in Boston and Minnesota, but that doesn't mean he's no longer a contributor to an NBA team. Actually, he still stands to be the best defensive big on the Nets. His lateral quickness may no longer be "Garnett-like," but KG is a master of the mental.
He bumps cutters who infiltrate the paint as aggressively as anyone. His rotations are on point. He directs a defense like few others...ever. But it's hard to say the same about Lopez, who isn't much of a defender or rebounder, though he's vastly improved as a shot-blocker throughout his career.
Lopez averaged 2.5 blocks per 36 minutes in his last healthy season a couple years ago. He was swatting 2.0 per 36 in the 17 games he played before he got hurt last year. The problem, though, comes in lateral quickness, which is partly why Garnett and Lopez don't always complement each other perfectly as a duo who can split minutes at the 5.
When two guys struggle with the same flaw, holes start to develop on a roster. And holes are exploitable.
The way your point guard is the quarterback of your offense is the way your center has to be the anchor to your defense. He's the back line, the final layer the opposition has to fight through to get to the rim.
Garnett plays smart, physical defense, but he no longer owns the "rim-protector" label. Lopez, meanwhile, proves the theory that you're not a paint intimidator just because you block shots. (Here's a more in-depth explanation as to why exactly that's true.)
This all means one thing: Mason Plumlee, it's your turn to step up.
Plumlee's importance only amplifies because of his quickness and energy. Even if he doesn't make a major defensive leap from last season, his light-footed shuffling and ability to drive ball-handlers to the out-of-bounds line—as opposed to letting them get into the middle of the floor, where it's easier to get to the rim—is a unique trait for bigs on this team.
Lopez, meanwhile, can block shooters when he's already around the shot, but his struggle is getting into position. Add in a propensity to get caught daydreaming, and the Nets end up more discombobulated on defense than they'd prefer.
In the clip below, a play from when Lopez was last healthy in the 2012-13 season, Lopez starts out guarding his man, Aaron Gray. Jose Calderon comes off an attempted screen from Andrea Bargnani and takes the handoff from Gray. As Calderon puts up the shot, watch Lopez as his back remains completely turned to the shooter:
That's the sort of aloofness people refer to when they mention that the Nets center isn't always locked in defensively. He's not an all-out bad defender. He's simply inconsistent, and his flaws (not a dominant athlete, zones out on occasion) are easy to manipulate. But maybe Plumlee can turn into that.
Plumlee spent the summer playing with Team USA, actually getting time on a gold-medal-winning squad. He had his moments when he looked undeserving of a spot on the roster, even as a mobile big on a team in need of filling that exact role.
At times, Plumlee's pick-and-roll defense looked perfect. In other moments, he overcommitted, straying too far from the paint, allowing his assignment to get a step in front of him and giving up routine layups.
All of that tells you Plumlee is exactly what he is: a young, 24-year-old kid who's on the early end of a learning curve. But it also says he has loads of defensive potential.
Even though Lopez is a capable shot-blocker, he's not the type that will sky over for swats on elite rim finishers. But Plumlee's phenomenal power and leaping ability (plus a 6"10", 235-pound frame) allows him to make plays this this:
If Lopez and Garnett can stay on the floor—if Lopez can push out 70-plus games like he did a couple years back, and KG can remain able to play on non-back-to-backs—the Nets can boast a better-than-average center combination. Lopez's scoring and Plumlee's upside paired with Garnett's capable defense and bullish screen-setting are fitting complements. But we'll have to keep repeating this phrase: if they can stay healthy.
KG's jump shot allows him the versatility to play the 4 and 5, especially when he can match up against a slower, close-to-the-basket power forward, an easier type for him to guard.
His efficiency may have wiped out last season, but a strong second half and 43 percent shooting from 16 feet out to the three-point line imply he can provide some stretch in the upcoming season—especially as a center. Plumlee, meanwhile, is looking like he can become more of an offensive contributor than he was as a rookie.
Now starting at center in place of the injured Lopez, the second-year big man is actually trying to take on a slightly larger offensive role.
If Plumlee isn't mainly a pick-and-roll and putback type of player, the Nets offense will have its issues, but that doesn't mean improvement is unnecessary, and we've seen some from the Duke alum.
The spin move is getting better. He's developed a lefty hook shot from the right block. But even with such progress, Plumlee isn't going to be handling the ball all that much.
He has a tendency to "One Republic" when he gets the rock away from the hoop: he stops and stares. His passing and offensive recognition haven't progressed as quickly as his work on the defensive end. And that's fine for now, considering the kid is only 24 years old.
It's going to be fascinating to learn exactly how Lionel Hollins doles out the minutes to these three guys. They can't all play at once.
KG averaged 20.7 minutes a night last year. Plumlee averaged 18.2. Lopez commands more than 30 if he's healthy. You only get 48 minutes at center—well, unless it's a preseason game against the Celtics.
So, does that mean more power forward for Garnett than we've seen in recent history, a potential issue with KG's declining athleticism? Will a dunk-heavy Plumlee move to power forward, possibly clogging up the floor if he hangs around the paint right next to Lopez? Does it mean fewer minutes for Lopez so he can rest and so Plumlee can see the court?
Matching Plumlee and Garnett together works. Plumlee is your pick-and-roll guy. Garnett can pick-and-pop. But if Brooklyn plans on pairing Plumlee and Lopez—who probably has a wider array of post moves than any other Eastern Conference center not named Al Jefferson but who isn't a gluttonous shooter away from the—that's going to be a whole different story offensively.
Now, with Lopez currently out, it's hard to tell exactly what Hollins is thinking on that front. We'll just have to wait.
If Garnett and Lopez stay on the floor, the Nets are in good shape. But if they have to roll with Plumlee and Jerome Jordan, who hasn't played an NBA game since 2012, for extended periods, Brooklyn has a problem.
As always, it's all about health. If the Nets can stay fortunate in that department, their biggest issue may only come in figuring out how to dish out a finite amount of minutes to their top three centers. That's an enviable problem to have.
Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade but maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work at WashingtonPost.com or on ESPN's TrueHoop Network at ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of Oct. 20 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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