Brooklyn Nets: Why They Should Draft a Center in 2013 NBA Draft
By Pete Schauer
Brook Lopez’s third foot surgery could result in the Brooklyn Nets drafting a center in the 2013 NBA draft. (Photo Credit: Mark Runyan, Basketball Schedule)
With news breaking that franchise center Brook Lopez will be on the shelf until at least August, the Brooklyn Nets may want to entertain the idea of drafting a center in the 2013 NBA draft.
According to ESPN’s Mike Mazzeo, Lopez had the screw in his surgically-repaired right foot replaced and will need the next couple of months to recover before resuming basketball activities. Given the news, I think it’d be wise for the Nets to target a center in this year’s draft to provide depth and assurance behind Lopez.
I wasn’t originally a fan of Brooklyn drafting a center—I recently wrote that the Nets should be looking to upgrade the forward positions in the upcoming draft—but that was obviously before the news broke regarding Lopez’s third surgery on that right foot.
Andray Blatche had a solid season in Brooklyn in 2012-13 and should be brought back to bolster the 5 spot. (Photo Credit: Mark Runyan, Basketball Schedule)
Lopez is coming off of a career year in which he averaged 19.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while being named to his first All-Star game. Brooklyn did have depth at the center position in 2012-13 with the likes of Andray Blatche, but the 26-year-old backup center is a free agent this summer and isn’t guaranteed to be back in Brooklyn next season.
Mazzeo reported back in March that Blatche was hoping to re-sign with the Nets, but it’s now the end of June and he’s still not an official member of the team for the upcoming season, which further highlights the need to draft a center in the 2013 NBA draft.
Who will Brooklyn look toward if it does go the center route?
Mazzeo tweeted a few names out the other day who could be on the Nets’ radar based on his colleague Chad Ford’s mock draft.
Chad Ford's sixth mock draft has the #Nets taking 7-footer Kelly Olynyk out of #Gonzaga. Ford says Deng or Tony Snell could be the pick too.
— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzNYC) June 25, 2013
Note that Mazzeo was referring to Louisville center Gorgui Dieng in that tweet, which is the center I like for the Nets in the draft. Dieng is a monster on the boards and an excellent defender, as he averaged 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game this past season with the Cardinals.
Whereas Lopez excels on the offensive end, a guy like Dieng would strictly be brought in to bolster the defense and crash the boards—both areas where Brooklyn could use improvement.
It wouldn’t necessarily be a terrible move for the Nets to draft Kelly Olynyk, but he and Lopez have similar offensive games and he doesn’t have enough defense to warrant a first-round pick for a team that doesn’t need an offensive center.
While I still think the Nets need to address the lack of offensive production from the small and power forward positions, drafting a center in the 2013 NBA draft would probably be a good move for Brooklyn.