After a great college career in Stanford that garnered him Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 (07), All-Pac-10 Freshman Team (07), McDonald’s All-American – high school (06) and Third Team Parade All-American (06) honors, Lopez will be expected to share power forward and center duties with Josh Boone, Sean Williams and maybe even fellow rookie Ryan Anderson.

Jeff Fox on CollegeHoops.Net did a great scouting report on Lopez before the draft that praises him for being a tough cookie in the post and having a sweet jump hook shot. He also talks about his size, which at seven feet is impressive and at only 20, can get even better. However, Fox, does a great job of pointing out that Lopez missed a bunch of games last season and may not have the polish he needs to thrive in the NBA right away.

MyNBADraft.com is a little bit more negative on the big guy, saying that Lopez needs to develop his offensive game, but also states that his size and athleticism should be in the NBA for the next eight to 10 years regardless of what he accomplishes.

Hopefully for Nets fans, he sticks around a little longer than that.

I on the other hand have a bit of a different opinion on Lopez. I believe that the youngster has the ability and the look of a future NBA star. Considering how the league is starved for talented and marketable seven footers that aren’t named Duncan, Lopez may have came into the league at exactly the right time.

However, he’ll have to develop his game and work extremely hard to be noticed on the Nets. Ryan Anderson is a damn good shooter and Sean Williams showed a ton of promise with his blocking ability last season. Speaking of promise, Josh Boone grew leaps and bounds as an all-around player last season and looks focused on remaining in the starting lineup. That means Lopez is going to have to play a well-rounded game and be someone the team can depend on.

It’s not going to be easy for him, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

Photo by the Stanford Daily

First I saw something in the Star-Ledger, then I saw something on the Pennsylvania Sports Ticker and now today on Yahoo Sports.

While his chronic knees have probably healed up since he hasn’t played a game in three seasons, is he really worth a guaranteed contract?

I don’t think so.

Even if the Nets manage to sign him for a relatively safe sum, there are still several problems with the former Olympian’s game that need to be addressed however.

Always a defensive liability, even when healthy, Houston’s presence in the Nets lineup won’t be able to help them nearly as much as some hardcore fans think. I mean, it’s obvious that he may be able to provide solid secondary scoring and everyone knows that the Nets could use a guy with a good jumper off the bench since Mikki Moore is gone, but how many minutes is this guy going to be able to get with Vince Carter playing 38 minutes a game?

Not the toughest player on the court either, Houston isn’t going to slotted at small forward anytime soon, meaning that all of his minutes would have to be out of the shooting guard position.

Just because the guy has a name that people remember doesn’t mean that he’ll be able to help this team.

The area where the Nets needed the most help this offseason was getting bigger and by picking up Jamaal Magloire and getting Nenad Krstic back healthy, they’ve successfully done that. Add in a supporting role for guys like Josh Boone, Jason Collins and Sean Williams and it’s easy to see that the Nets will be better on defense and much more aggressive in the paint.

Williams may be more trouble than he’s worth however, failing numerous drug tests in College with barely any offensive game to speak of. However, he’s more athletic than Collins, who is a waste of space at this point in his career. If given a chance, Williams could develop a solid post game in a few years.

Now, notice how I didn’t mention Houston in the last few paragraphs?

Carter, Jefferson and Kidd will provide the Nets with plenty of offense and a 36-year old Houston isn’t really needed.

Stay at ESPN and continue to provide commentary my friend. Your knees feel better lately because you’ve been playing NBA Live for the past three years. Once you start running around again, you’ll have shin splints faster than Antoine Walker and you’ll become an even bigger problem on defense.

It doesn’t matter that you had a great workout last Tuesday workout at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan. A workout is a horse of another color compared to a real NBA game.

Your presence would be great for the fans, but how much  you could actually help the team in limited playing time remains to be scene in my mind.