Advertisement - scroll for more content
Brook Lopez Rumors
Nurkic also reflected on the differences between Giannis in the NBA and in FIBA play. “Of course he’s different. In the NBA he has so much space, with shooters like Brook Lopez spreading the floor, he’s almost unstoppable. Here it’s another game — no defensive three seconds, so much happening in the paint — but he’s still a dominant player,” the Bosnian center said. Is it easier in FIBA play than in the NBA? Nurkic acknowledged that the tighter court and different rules offer some relief, but not much. "A FIBA setting is probably a little easier than an NBA setting because he's spacing the floor better in the NBA than here," he opined.
“Of course he’s different. In the NBA he has so much space, with shooters like Brook Lopez spreading the floor, he’s almost unstoppable. Here it’s another game — no defensive three seconds, so much happening in the paint — but he’s still a dominant player,” the Bosnian center said. And if anyone can maximize the Greek Freak’s impact in FIBA basketball, Nurkic pointed to one man: coach Vassilis Spanoulis. “Of course he can," he responded. "If a legend can’t find it, then no one can find it.”
Deandre Ayton was Lakers top target among centers
I believe that Deandre Ayton was the Lakers' top target among centers from the first minute of free agency. I know it might have looked to some like the Lakers lost out to the Clippers on Brook Lopez and pivoted to Ayton, but that's not how it went down. Ayton and the Trail Blazers came to terms on a buyout agreement on the day before free agency officially began and the 7-foot Bahamian was instantly regarded by numerous interested teams as a virtual lock to land with the Lakers.
"Not to take any sort of slight at Phoenix, but playing with James is a whole lot different than what their situation was," Frank said. "Obviously, Brad had great success playing with John Wall [in Washington]. He actually had great success playing with Russ [Westbrook in Washington]. So, we can look at those situations. "I think some of the areas that, especially in his Washington days, that he was able to explore with not the same level of talent [there], I think we'll be able to get a little bit more out of [here]. Like with his pick-and-roll play, it's different when you have the guys that we have spacing the floor and the centers that we have that he will be playing with. Whether it's [Ivica Zubac], whether it's Brook, whether it's John Collins, and you have that nice balance of defense and offense on the floor."
Advertisement
The Clippers recently re-signed James Harden and added Brook Lopez and John Collins to go with Kawhi Leonard. The team won 50 games this past season despite having Leonard play in just 37 of them and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Nuggets in seven games. “We just thought the Clippers presented an opportunity for Brad to really be the best version of himself, to get back to being exactly who he is, which is a multiple time All-Star and All-NBA player,” Bartelstein said. Beal made three All-Star teams and an All-NBA team in his 11 years in Washington.
Look for Tyronn Lue, who likes big lineups, to experiment with playing Lopez and Zubac together. “I think we complement each other extremely well,” Lopez said. “Obviously, we’ll be very big. I think we’d be great defensively, just dominating the paint, sealing the paint off. Then offensively, we complement each other there as well, spread the floor for him, give him all the room in the paint for them to go wild.”
“We’ll see. I’m capable of a lot of stuff,” Lopez said. “Obviously, I’m comfortable spreading the floor. I’m comfortable being in the post. I love defending, I love being anchor on defense. Bottom line, I just want to help the team win. Whatever they need me to do, whatever they see fit for my role, I’m going to be working as hard as possible to be great at that.”
Law Murray: Brook Lopez has jokes, RE: Lawrence Frank 😆 ...asked Lopez about Yanic Konan Niederhäuser. Lopez says that he is looking forward to pushing and mentoring YKN, citing the battery of HOFers Lopez has gotten to learn from and play with and how they have impacted him. pic.x.com/6QzXbVhFkL
Advertisement
Law Murray: Lawrence Frank is happy with Clippers adding veteran front court help in the form of John Collins and Brook Lopez Mentioned that Clippers can experiment and play Lopez and Ivica Zubac TOGETHER
Michael Scotto: Update: The Los Angeles Clippers have a second-year team option on their two-year, $18 million deal with Brook Lopez, league sources told @hoopshype . @FredKatz was on it.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement