Queen City Hoops - Prospect Profile

06/03/2008

UPDATED: Much better link for pre-draft measurements: The Numbers from Draft Express in sortable chart form. (END UPDATE)

I swear it is coincidence that the day I decided to put together a profile of Brook Lopez, Chad Ford released the numbers from the pre-draft camp in Orlando. A couple of them work in Lopez's favor: His height, measured at 6-11.25 (barefoot) and 7-0.5 (shoes), and his wingspan, 7-5. Those are good numbers, because "you can't teach height."
Unfortunately for Brook, you can not really teach explosive athleticism either. Because that is something he just does not have, coming in dead last in a couple of the drills in Orlando. For more details on his and other top prospects measurements (physical and athletic) - ESPN Official Height and Weight of Prospects (Insider Required) and ESPN Prospects' Combine Numbers (Again, Insider).

Links:

(Espn Insider Required) ESPN's overview of Brook Lopez - "Takes bad shots from time to time." - I guess that explains a big man who shot less than 47% from the floor.

Lopez's stats from ESPN - Good numbers, generally, but the shooting percentage and points per shot numbers are not strong at all.

And his stats from kenpom.com - Compared to Kevin Love, Lopez is better at blocking shots, not turning the ball over, and shooting the ball...more often (think quantity not quality, for this one).

NBADraft.net gives their thoughts on the prospect - "A decent shot blocker, not likely to become a great one but can be solid" - I think you could replace "shot blocker" with "player", and sum up Brook's potential.

The DraftExpress.com profile - Did not like seeing this in his list of negatives: "Has struggled against NBA caliber big men".

Some youtube provided highlights:

Final thoughts: Hmmm...Brook looks destined to be an NBA player for a long time. Not because I think he will be great (or even good), but he should be able to be an average center. And that counts for a lot - just look at Nazr. Do the Bobcats really need a big man who is not much of a rebounder? No, but they do need a big man, and Brook is that. He has the size to play from day one, unlike some of the other big men projects available (hello, JaVale McGee), and a solid skill set (hello, DeAndre Jordan). He is not a fun pick, though, because he is a relatively known commodity (as much as a 20 year old kid can be), leaving little to the imagination. Kevin Love is compared to Bill Walton, Anthony Randolph to Chris Bosh, and Brook? To P.J. Brown and Chris Kaman. Exciting.

Previous Profiles:
Anthony Randolph - 6'11" PF, LSU

Kevin Love - 6'10" C/PF, UCLA

Click here to comment/view comments for this post.

Anonymous Lucy Says:		garbage
Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:57 pm

Brett Says:		Thanks for weighing in, Lucy (not his/her real name, but he/she did not leave one, so I had to put something in that spot). Are you calling Brook Lopez garbage, which would seem harsh for a soon to be lottery pick? This profile of him garbage, which would also seem harsh, since the worst I had to say about him was he would probably be an average NBA center for a long time? Or just the site in general? Whatever the case, thanks for reading but try to add more constructive feedback going forward.
Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:32 pm

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