Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks sees Brook Lopez as an important part of the team’s future.
This might surprise some, since many believed Marks would stage a full-scale roster teardown to begin his tenure in Brooklyn. But of the many roster casualties that are sure to follow the Nets’ 2015-16 season, Lopez isn’t expected to be one of them, per the New York Post‘s Brian Lewis:
Brook Lopez’s first season since re-upping with the Nets hasn’t gone the way he or the team had hoped, shut down in the dying days of a 21-56 campaign.
But Lopez has spoken with new general manager Sean Marks, and will do so again at more length. Lopez, 28, insisted he has no regrets about re-signing with the club, and Marks reassured the star center he plans to use him as a building block, not a trade chip.
“He has talked to me, and we both definitely want to be here and see things happen here and help the team grow going forward,’’ said Lopez, who spoke with Marks before last Tuesday’s game in Orlando and was told he would be shut down for the rest of the season.
Brook Lopez has two years valued at more than $43.8 million left on his current. He is one of the best centers in the game when healthy, and has, albeit infrequently, showed a willingness to journey beyond the arc on offense. His shot-blocking has improved a great deal over the years, and he can be a defensive plus within the right system.
At 28, he is the Nets’ best, and only, building block option. The team isn’t too sure what it has long term in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson or Sean Kilpatrick, Thaddeus Young has always teetered on being a glorified role player, and Brooklyn doesn’t control its own first-round pick until 2019.
Brook Lopez is who the Nets have, and they, quite frankly, could do a lot worse.
Now they just need to figure out how to turn what they have into something better.
