Cart Before Horse: Brook Lopez gets a Max Contract

Mired on a team with few highlights for years, Brook Lopez quietly developed into a serviceable center. It wasn't until the (then) New Jersey Nets dealt rookie forward Derrick Favors, point guard Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and cash to the Utah Jazz for Deron Williams that any positive attention appeared in Newark.

Brook Lopez reveals his charbroiled secret to scoring in the post. (Getty Images)

Williams-to-the-Nets meant a top-tier facilitator paired with one of the few legit 7-footers in professional basketball. Their first whole season together, 2011-2012, should have been full of ESPN Top Ten plays. An early foot injury derailed that possibility, limiting Lopez to just five games.

Fast forward to this summer. The Nets moved across the Hudson River to roost in Brooklyn, continued flirting with the Orlando Magic in an attempt to acquire the increasingly dramatic Dwight Howard, and had to handle Lopez's restricted free agent status with kid gloves. Then it became clear that, when the Dwightmare is over, Howard wouldn't wake up on the East Coast.

Despite his injury, Nets management had to re-sign Lopez. What's more is, they had to offer Lopez at least $58 million over four years unless they wanted to start a bidding war with the Houston Rockets — another team pursuing Howard — or Portland Trailblazers, who missed out on RFA Roy Hibbert when the Indiana Pacers matched the maximum offer sheet the All-Star center signed with the Blazers.

Make no mistake: keeping Lopez is not a move to patch holes. He is a threat to score 20 points in the paint each night, and there are exactly zero NBA teams that would shy away from a center who can fill the bucket like that. Unquestionably, though, there are problems with the deal, and with Lopez. The Standford product puts up points, but is somewhat of a liability on the defensive end. Through four pro seasons, Lopez is averaging just 7.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 34.1 minutes on the floor. Worse yet is that the numbers dipped last season to 3.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks. Whether or not the numbers from such a small sample size are indicative of what he would have done over a 66-game season, those are unacceptable statistics for a center at any level of basketball — Biddy through The Association.

Lopez has a new contract and, as often is the case in pro sports, he must now prove that he's worth even a fraction of what he's owed. The general populous would do inscrutable things for $60 million. All Lopez has to do is keep making a ball go into a basket, and ensure that his hands work when that orange sphere clangs off the iron.


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Free Agency 2012: Day 1.5 Recap

We’re more than 40 hours into free agency and while few big names have agreed to new contracts, most have held meetings with at least one suitor and multiple other players are expected to sign extensions. Here, we skip past the fluff and get to the action.

"This many, times 11.6 million." Roy Hibbert is making money this summer. (Reuters photo)

• Yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed that Lavoy Allen will make $6 million over the next two years while wearing a 76ers uniform. After being a second-round selection in the 2011 draft, Allen started 15 games last season and earned an extension with his excellent defense.

• In realizing that chasing Dwight Howard is hopeless, the Houston Rockets have made a play for another center. The club agreed to terms with Omer Asik, who spent last season with the Chicago Bulls. He’s no D12, but Asik averaged 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 points in 14.7 minutes as a backup. After he signs the contract on July 11 – the first day free agents are allowed to put pen to paper – the Bulls will have three days to match the offer and keep Asik, if management so chooses, since the Turkish big man is a restricted free agent. Kudos to the Rockets for moving quickly after Howard’s dismissal of any club outside of Brooklyn.

• Kevin Garnett technically avoided free agency all together by deciding on Saturday (the day before the process started) to stay in Boston Celtic green to the tune of $34 million over three years. Kevin Garnett put up 15.8 points and nabbed 8.2 boards per contest last year and continued to be an integral member of a team on the cusp of a Finals berth. With his new contract, Garnett will have made more salaried money than any other player in the history of professional basketball with just a shade under $325 million to his name.

• Across the country, Blake Griffin informed Los Angeles Clippers management that he intends to sign a five-year extension worth up to $95 million. Running mate Chris Paul declined to sign his extension, but things could change now that the All-Star forward has announced his plans to stick around southern California.

• Another big man, RFA Pacers center Roy Hibbert, will make a financial windfall next season no matter where he lands. The Portland Trailblazers offered the Georgetown product a maximum deal of four years and $58 million, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard. Hibbert has not signed the Blazers’ offer sheet, but likely will, as reported by SI.com. The Pacers did not extend to Hibbert a max deal, but will have three days to make a matching offer if the 25-year-old signs with Portland. If he becomes a Blazer, Hibbert can do one of two things – 1) give Portland some much-needed consistency at the center position by keeping up his All-Star production, or 2) continue the bad luck of injuries to the team’s big men. (Yes, I’m knocking on wood for the sake of everyone involved.)

• As of this post, the most recent free agent news comes out of Indiana, where the Pacers and George Hill agreed to a 5-year deal. Few details are known, but the guard averaged 9.6 points in 50 games during his first season with the team.

• Andre Miller, the facilitator entering his 13^th NBA season, verbally agreed to a three-year contract with the Denver Nuggets. Specifics of the deal are unknown, but Miller was looking for roughly $3 million each season, as reported by Yahoo! Sports. The 36-year-old averaged 9.7 points and 6.7 assists for the Nuggets last year while sharing point guard duties with speedster Ty Lawson.

• He may not be the primary target, but the Brooklyn Nets reached a handshake agreement to retain Gerald Wallace. The swingman – obtained from the Blazers at last season’s trade deadline – declined to pick up a $9.5 million player option for 2012-13. The maneuver worked, as Wallace is expected to sign a four-year, $40 million dollar contract next week.

For a full list of players who could be changing teams, check out ESPN.com’s list of free agents for the summers of 2012 and 2013.


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