Getting harder for Nets to bank on Brook

Oft-Injured Center Could Put a Crimp in Hollins’ ‘Big’ Plans

October 21, 2014 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brook Lopez’s bothersome right foot has to have the Nets on edge entering next week’s season opener against Boston.

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Brook Lopez and the Nets are being cautiously optimistic about the former All-Star center’s latest injury to his lower extremities.

Both parties are doubtlessly hoping that what is being characterized as a “mild sprain” slated to sideline the 7-footer from Stanford for two weeks doesn’t become another season-ending fracture to his right foot.

Combining 2011-12 (the season before the Nets arrived in Brooklyn) and last year, Lopez played a grand total of 22 games due to a break in the same foot, and an issue with his ankle as well.

He had surgery earlier this year to repair the fracture in the fifth metatarsal and also underwent a first metatarsal osteotomy, a procedure that shifts the weight bearing in the foot, according to the team.

But that bothersome right foot, which is being counted on to hold up through the 82-game grind of the upcoming regular season and, presumably, a deep playoff run, flared up again during the Nets’ NBA Global Games trip to China last week.

“Brook Lopez experienced right foot soreness after being stepped on during the preseason game against the Kings [in Beijing] on Wednesday night,” Nets medical director Dr. Riley Williams III said in a team-issued statement.

“X-ray and CT scan studies done Thursday in New York reveal no fractures or bone injuries,” Williams noted.

With the season opener exactly one week away (Wed., Oct. 29 at Barclays Center vs. Boston), the Nets will have to rally around the collection of big men – Kevin Garnett, Mason Plumlee, Jerome Jordan and Willie Reed — Hollins and general manager Billy King have brought in to surround Lopez.

But Hollins, who won’t be employing the “small ball” lineup former coach Jason Kidd used to great success during the second half of the season and into the playoffs last year, knows the importance of having Lopez back on the floor and in full health.

“I don’t think there’s a coach in the league that wouldn’t want a big man with his skill,” Hollins said. “He can score the ball and he can get fouled and make his free throws.

“There are going to be possessions in every game when we need a basket, or foul shots, and Brook can be the guy we can go to. Not a lot of teams have that.”

Neither may the Nets if Lopez is unable to ward off the perpetual foot problems that have previously haunted the careers of productive NBA centers like Bill Walton, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Yao Ming.

Then again, the last time he was healthy and vibrant, Lopez had is best season ever during the Nets’ inaugural campaign in our fair borough. The 26-year-old averaged 19.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and a career-best 2.1 blocks per night, leading Brooklyn to 49 wins.

Lopez was off and running this year after being limited to just 17 appearances in 2013-14. He put up an average of 18 points and six rebounds while logging about 23 minutes per contest in two-plus preseason games before being sidelined.

“I think that his foot is holding up really well and he’s a little frustrated,” Hollins’ top assistant, Paul Westphal, said of Lopez. “Some plays he’s not quite making, but to me he’s doing very, very well.”

For now, all the Nets can do is hope the soreness Lopez is experiencing is similar to a stretch he endued after his first set of surgeries before his breakout 2012-13 campaign. Though he missed eight games early that season, Lopez was able to rebound and help Brooklyn return to prominence as an Eastern Conference contender.

Brooklyn certainly looked lost on the boards and along the interior without Lopez on Sunday night, dropping a 95-90 preseason contest to Boston in an experimental 44-minute game.

But the Nets bounced back nicely Monday evening, throttling the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-88, right here in Downtown Brooklyn.

Plumlee, the Nets’ First-Team All-Rookie Selection from a year ago and a proud member of Team USA during its recently completed gold medal-winning run through the World Championships in Spain, played the role of Lopez against Philly.

The Duke alum netted 20 points and ripped down 17 boards as the Nets heeded Hollins’ need to emphasize strong inside play.

“That’s the aggressiveness and toughness we need from him every night,” Hollins said of Plumlee. “That’s the expectation for him. It’s not to get 17 points. It’s not to get 20. But to go out and be aggressive.”

“It has to be consistent,” added Plumlee, who also saw increased playing time due to the continued illness (stomach flu) of Garnett.

“It can’t just be one night. It has to be something I do every game.”

Or at least every game until Lopez proves he can come back and be the All-Star the Nets need him to be to seriously compete in the East.

Until then, let’s all remain cautiously optimistic, with an emphasis on caution.

Nothing But Net: Last week, it was Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov rumored to be selling a stake in the team and the Barclays Center. That rumor was shot down vehemently by King before it could gain momentum. This week, however, reports began surfacing that Bruce Ratner, the Nets’ original owner in Brooklyn, is looking to sell off his majority share of the arena. And this one might have some teeth to it. “Our goal is to identify a strategic partner as we continue to capitalize on the great performance of Barclays Center and the promise of Nassau Coliseum,” Barclays Center spokesman Barry Baum said in a statement. “The current management team [Ratner and Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark] will continue in its existing role.” Stay tuned! … Ironically, Lopez was the only player in his 2008 Draft class to play in every single game over his first three seasons in the league before being limited to only five contests in 2011-12 after breaking his right foot for the first time.