HOLL’ NEW GAME
Lopez ready to learn from another coach
This has been a typically turbulent offseason for the Nets, something that’s become a routine tradition since Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the team in 2010.
But while the drama surrounding the departures of Jason Kidd and Paul Pierce and the arrivals of Lionel Hollins, Jarrett Jack and Bojan Bogdanovic has garnered most of the headlines, the most important factor in whether the Nets will be successful next season — Brook Lopez’s recovery from right foot surgery — has progressed under the radar.
There is good news on that front, however. Lopez has been cleared to begin working out after undergoing seasonending surgery in January.
“I don’t think you’ve seen anyone this side of a 4yearold girl so happy to jump rope,” Lopez told The Post with a laugh in a phone call from Moscow, where he spent several days with his twin brother Robin, a center for the Trail Blazers.
“It’s going great. I was cleared about a weekandahalf now. It’s just been really ramping it up from there. Obviously you don’t start playing games immediately, but it’s been about getting my conditioning back, and getting back into shape.
“I’m not playing basketball, I’m not running sprints or anything like that yet. I’m still building it. I’m cleared. … I can go full bore, but there’s not any rush.”
Lopez said he hadn’t had any dis cussions with the Nets yet about any potential restrictions next season, including any minute limits or sitting out parts of backtobacks. He also said he thinks he’ll be able to participate fully in training camp when it begins in late September.
“Like I said, we’re not rushing anything,” Lopez said. “I would say we would shoot for earlier than that if we could, but there’s no reason to.”
Lopez was basically the only bright spot for the Nets through the first two months of last season, averaging 20.7 points and shooting over 56 percent from the floor in 17 games before his season came to an end on Dec. 20 in an overtime loss to the 76ers.
But, if he returns to full health, Lopez will undoubtedly be a key component during the Nets’ first season under Hollins. The two had breakfast in Orlando shortly after Hollins was hired, and Lopez came away excited about what he heard from his new coach. Hollins forged his coaching reputation in Memphis as a strong defensive coach who ran a precise offense that heavily featured his two talented big men, power forward Zach Randolph and center Marc Gasol.
“It was good to get to talk to him,” he said. “We talked about what we expect going into next season, what he expected from me, and I think we’re both excited.
“I know he expects a lot from his players, and I’m prepared for that.”
Hollins’ arrival, of course, was preceded by Kidd’s sudden departure, just a year after he’d been hired to run the team. At this point, though, Lopez is used to coaching changes. Hollins will be the seventh coach Lopez will have had in his career — including interims — as he enters his seventh season in the league.