Brook Lopez: Class Act

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It’s crazy to think that back in 2008 the New Jersey Nets selected Brook Lopez in the first round of the draft. Lopez has never gotten the credit he deserved while In Brooklyn. Mostly because playing for the Nets is generally a curse to those who are doomed to play for the franchise – but mostly because Lopez was consistently under-the-radar his entire career. Maybe it’s because he’s a finesse-type center? Soft-spoken, kind of doofy looking – whatever it may be, the spotlight was never on Lopez. Even at times when it was obvious he was the best player on the Nets roster, the spotlight was always on somebody else: Kris Humphries (for all the wrong reasons), Deron Williams (for all the wrong reasons), Kevin Garnett or even Joe Johnson.

Lopez was a guy who came to work and enjoyed what he did with whoever was around. It’s a rare quality in people – let alone a professional athlete. Brook Lopez somehow managed to be an unassuming seven footer. This, as well as his price tag combined with an injury history, is why his name has come up in trades for the last three or four seasons. On paper, trading Lopez always made sense: a finesse-center, with a big salary, lower leg issues, who can’t run the floor . . . seems like the type to be a welcome issue on a good team instead of a player a fan-base looked at as “holding back” his team. To be fair to Lopez, he was never holding back this team – the team, eh and Billy King, have put the Nets in a perennial moon-walk avoiding the big dance – but anyhow. . .

The day has finally come for Lopez to be traded. Reports have come out that on draft day, the Lakers and Nets have agreed to a trade in which the Lakers give up D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov for Brook Lopez and Brooklyn’s 27th pick in the first round. The Lakers relieve themselves of the Mozgov contract and get assets in return For the Nets, their big takeaway from this is acquiring D’Angelo Russell as a young player with the potential to become a very promising piece to their much needed rebuild.

With Lopez now gone, the Nets have nothing but young guys trying to prove they can handle playing in this league or veterans filling in spots and collecting paydays.

Nets players went on to social media to show love to Brook Lopez as soon as the news came out.

Sean Kilpatrick posted a touching picture of him hugging Lopez during a game followed by: “First player I met once I became a Net & said do what you do best. Thanks for making sure I was always alright. Good luck in LA big fella”

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson posted a video of him and Lopez reinacting theme song from the television show The Wayans Brothers, and you can tell RHJ was really hurt by this move: “Couldn’t sleep… I’ve had a lot of teammates throughout my life and I loved and embraced every single one of them. But this guy right here became a best friend, biggest critic, big brother, smart ass, goof ball, turned me into a Disney lover and more. But the one thing that always meant a lot to me is no matter what we went through on or off the court we always talked to each other. You will be truly missed “BROTHER” good luck with everything and remember “We ride together We die together……. Bad boys for life”

This is what made Brook Lopez special in the Nets community. Sure, the Nets are on nobody’s radar – ever. They are the worst team in the NBA today but there are two things nobody can take away from them. One is the successful re-brand in the transition from New Jersey to Brookly and the other is that Brook Lopez was always a class act.

Back to the trade itself.

As previously stated, for the Nets this was a small price to pay to get someone like D’Angelo Russell. CBS Sports’ Chris Barnewell says this is good for Russell, in that he gets a “fresh start” in Brooklyn. Russell bumped heads with Byron Scott, then had that infamous “snap chat controversy” with Nick Young – there was definitely a need for change. Brooklyn has a bunch of young guys on the squad, but none came into the league with more potential than Russell.

It’s a shame Brook didn’t get a chance to be traded to a contender though. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of Brook Lopez and I always said that he deserves better. He deserves to be on a winner. There is no telling what the Lakers plans are with Lopez, but my guess would be to have his veteran presence in a locker room full of young guys to help them along the way. Or maybe, ultimately, to be used as a piece for another trade before the draft or mid-season before the trade deadline.

Regardless, it’s officially the end of an era for a franchise riddled with errors. Lopez leaves the Nets as the team’s all-time leading scorer and one of the most over-looked stars in the last decade of New York area sports.

G.W. Gras

twitter @GeeSteelio