TheBrooklynGame.com took a look at Joe Johnson's comments about the Nets' selfishness and regardless of whether this is who Johnson was talking about or not, the culprit for that alleged "selfishness" seems to be center Brook Lopez.
Johnson went out of his way to simultaneously criticize his team as a whole and not mention any names. It was a general assessment, he wasn’t interested in finger-pointing.
Johnson himself said “I don’t know guys’ mindsets” when asked about why selfishness was a problem, and like him, I’m not going to pretend I know what’s going on in his head. For all I know, he could be talking about Jorge Gutierrez.
But Johnson’s intentions aside, a look at the numbers and the game film paint a strong picture: if there is a player on this team not passing enough, it’s Brook Lopez.
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Lopez has recorded just one assist (to Mirza Teletovic) and one secondary assist through four games. Worse, according to SportVU data provided exclusively to The Brooklyn Game, Lopez has touched the ball 88 times in the frontcourt, and only passed 29 (29!) times. Only Nikola Pekovic & Andre Drummond have a worse ratio of passes to touches in the frontcourt.
That in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing: if a big man’s open at the basket for a dunk and he gets the ball, there’s no reason for him to pass it out. But only 18 of Lopez’s 88 touches have started within 12 feet of the basket, and most of his looks have come at the elbows or in post-up position.
via Brooklyn's Passing Problem Is Brook Lopez - The Brooklyn Game.
The site goes on to provide this table, which is pretty stunning:
So... that's not great.
Remember, the Nets took off last season after Lopez' foot injury forced him out and the Nets went small. That's not to say that Lopez is the problem. He's a uniquely talented big man, and honestly, until Deron Williams proves he can be himself for more than a month without getting injured, he's the Nets' best player.
But Lopez is likely struggling to understand what it is he needs to do under Lionel Hollins. Hollins wants him to be a prototypical "tough big," snatching rebounds and attacking the basket. Meanwhile the spacing for Brooklyn is, in large part, complicated. Kevin Garnett is often trying to snipe from the extended weak-side elbow, and Lopez is still learning to play with Mirza Teletovic and the Nets' shooters.
Lopez has never been known as a black hole, and he should learn how to navigate the offense better with time. But he's also under a lot of pressure to get Hollins off his back, despite downplaying the fact that he was benched in the fourth on Sunday. The dynamics here are more complicated than a selfishness on an individual or team level.
