You know, I love Brook Lopez shooting threes. It’s great fun, seeing him stand out five feet behind the line begging for the ball and then launching from deep when he finally gets it. Really super. I love it.
But I can’t help but think back to his time with the Nets where he became an All-Star because of what he could do to people in the paint. And I look at his stats that say he’s only shooting three shots from two-point range per game, and I start to think that maybe the Bucks are misusing him a bit.
I understand the game plan: unclog the paint as much as possible so Giannis Antetokounmpo can do his thing (which doesn’t usually involve shooting threes). That means everyone, including Lopez, has to get out of the way. It seems like at the beginning of games, Lopez gets a few token interior touches, but he’s quickly sent back out to the perimeter for the rest of the game.
Obviously, the Bucks are winning games with this strategy. But would it kill them to try and use one of their more fearsome paint scorers… in the paint? Even just for one game, pretend like they’re the Nets and they don’t have any good players and Lopez has to assert his dominance with dunks and hooks and baby jumpers. I would love that. Tell Giannis to take a game off and see the real dunkmaster go to work.