Frontcourt
Everyone loved Ed Davis’ contributions to the Brooklyn Nets last season, but DeAndre Jordan is at a different level than Davis.
Jordan is a three-time All-NBA selection and a former All-Star who has averaged at least 10 rebounds per game in each of the last six seasons, while his 67.0 percent shooting from the floor is the highest mark in NBA history.
Davis led the Nets with 8.6 rebounds per game last season. Jordan hasn’t averaged less than 13.1 boards a night since 2012-13. Throw in his 70.5 percent free-throw shooting last season — better than Davis’ 61.7 percent mark — and Jordan is a significant improvement at the backup center spot.
Jordan is an 11-year veteran and is showing some signs of wear. He’ll be 31 by the time training camp starts and he’s not quite the rim protector he once was. His 1.1 blocks per game last season is far less than the 1.9 he averaged in 2016-17 and the more than two blocks a game he posted in three straight seasons between 2013-16.
But he also brings bulk, something Brooklyn had absolutely none of outside of two-way player Alan Williams, and in a rugged Eastern Conference that will now have Joel Embiid and Al Horford as a tandem with the 76ers, Marc Gasol in Toronto, the Lopez brothers (Robin and Brook) in Milwaukee and Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis in Indiana, the Nets need that size.
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