Nets News: Lionel Hollins Benches Brook Lopez
By Evan Massey
Brooklyn Nets’ head coach Lionel Hollins benched big man Brook Lopez due to his lack of effort on defense against Nikola Vucevic.
The Brooklyn Nets were hoping that Brook Lopez could be the piece that they were missing last season, but last night was simply not his night. Lionel Hollins ended up benching Lopez due to the fact that he was getting torched on the defensive end of the court by counterpart Nikola Vucevic, and simply wasn’t making much of a difference on offense either.
What happened after Hollins decided to bench Lopez and move on with Mason Plumlee as his center? The Nets were able to surge forward to a 104-96 win over the Magic and a 4-2 record on the young season.
There are definitely concerns about Lopez this season from the Nets, and he has averaged just 15.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. Obviously the block number is a bit surprising and an improvement from last year, but he still has plenty of work to do. Rebounding has always been an issue for Lopez, and he has yet to work and improve in that area.
“[Brook] wasn’t guarding him, and I wanted him to guard [Nikola]. Simple as that. Get on him. You know he’s shooting the ball and making shots, you’ve got to guard him.” – Lionel Hollins
Averaging 6.3 rebounds per game at 7’0″ and 275 pounds simply isn’t going to cut it at the NBA level. Whether it’s simply that he doesn’t want to put forth the effort to grab rebounds and get in position or if it’s just that he doesn’t understand how to put himself in the right position, he needs to fix the problem if he wants to take the next step. He hasn’t looked as dominant offensively either, and it brings up concerns of whether or not his injury problems are catching up to him.
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Brooklyn is very happy with Plumlee as their backup and are confident in his defensive ability and potential moving forward. Hollins definitely wasn’t pleased with the effort that he received from Lopez against Orlando, and it will be intriguing to see if that comes back to bite Lopez long-term or if it was just a one night thing.
If Lopez is unable to step up defensively against the better big men in the league, he might see his fourth quarter playing time reduced long-term. Plumlee is much more energetic defensively, rebounds better, and is just as good of a rim protector.
That being said, this likely won’t be something that will happen each and every game. Lopez wasn’t able to defend against Vucevic last night and Hollins decided to make a change. Expect to see Lopez continue having a big role with the Nets and getting good minutes each and every game as the starting center.
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