Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This summer when the Milwaukee Bucks were targeting center Brook Lopez in free agency, coach Mike Budenholzer knew exactly who to call first.

He reached out to Kenny Atkinson, his former assistant in Atlanta who is now in his third season as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Not only did Budenholzer have a history with Atkinson, but he saw firsthand the work Atkinson did in extending Lopez's game when he encouraged the veteran center and former all-star to spend more time beyond the three-point line.

That tweak changed the dynamic of Lopez's game, totally inverting his shot chart. After spending the first eight seasons of his career as a traditional center, Lopez – now known in Milwaukee by the nickname Splash Mountain – has become a proficient three-point bomber shooting 35.4 percent on a whopping 6.7 three-point attempts per game. His 229 three-point attempts are the most on the team and rank 14th in the NBA.

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With the Nets making their first visit to Milwaukee this season for a 4 p.m. clash with the Bucks at Fiserv Forum on Saturday, Atkinson will have to prepare his team for the three-point monster he helped create. When it comes to thanking Atkinson for getting that process started, Budenholzer said he's already taken care of that.

"People don’t understand, I think, what Kenny did for him and what Kenny has done in Brooklyn has been really great," Budenholzer said. "He’s a great coach; he helped me a ton. In all honesty, 100 percent, I’ve thanked him for what he did with Brook.”

However, Lopez has shown over the course of the season that he's more than just a gunner. He's still putting up 2.2 three-pointers for every two-point attempt this season, but that number has dipped in December. Last month, Lopez put up 135 shots with 99 coming from beyond the arc.

In 13 games in December heading into Saturday, Lopez has attempted 134 shots, including 85 three-pointers. His effective field-goal percentage, though, is virtually the same over the two months (53.7 percent in November versus 53.4 percent in December) largely thanks to his high conversion rate (57.1 percent) on twos this month.

The inside offensive skill set he showed early in his career is still there. In addition to shooting a career-best 35.4 percent on three-pointers, Lopez's 58.1 percent shooting on twos represents his best in a season to date. It's just that now, compared to early in his career, more of his two-point shots are starting with Lopez getting the ball beyond the arc and working his way in.

With the ball in his hands along the three-point line – where opponents close out hard in fear of his shot – he can go mobile, agile and hostile while attacking off the dribble. He's a bit slower and more methodical than teammates such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe, but he tends to get clearer drives to the basket and has worked on various finishes, including hooks, floaters and reverses at the rim.

“It’s something we’ve just been doing a lot in vitamins, just reading what the defense gives me," Lopez said, referring to individualized workouts at practice. "Guys like Giannis and Bled, they do such a good job drawing the defense. A lot of times guys are closing hard and so it’s just making the read.”

Lopez busted out a bevy of different two-point looks over the past two games against the New York Knicks. His eight two-point field goals over the pair of games marked his highest volume of converted two-pointers in successive games all season.

He was especially effective on Christmas, when he put up 20 points, including nine at the free throw line, while making just one three-pointer. There was a driving dunk after pump-faking Enes Kanter into the air at the three-point line, a turnaround fadeaway after a pick-and-roll, a drive from the top of the key into the lane for a hook then another pick-and-roll that ended with a baseline fadeaway jumper for an and-one.

Rolling, not just popping beyond the arc, after setting screens is something the Bucks have encouraged Lopez to do more because they see openings where he can reap the benefits while opposing teams lock in on the likes of Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe and Khris Middleton.

"Like anything, the more he can do, the more he develops, the harder he’ll be to guard," Budenholzer said.

Knicks coach David Fizdale was reminded of another former all-star when watching Lopez score in multiple ways. He saw the same progression when he coached the Memphis Grizzlies.

“That's the evolution, I'm telling you," Fizdale said. "It was the same thing that happened with Marc Gasol. All of a sudden, he started shooting threes and then it opened up that other part of his game where you see, ‘God, this guy can dribble and pass and do all of this stuff.’ All you're seeing are the steps that come with the stretching of the floor."

Lopez's teammates enjoy seeing that progress up close. At the start of the year, having a floor-spacing center who shot well on a high volume of threes was akin to the Bucks having a new toy. Lopez executing slow-motion blow-bys on closeouts and putting up points in new ways is like discovering that toy has a special hidden feature.

“Euro-stepping, dunking on people; it’s amazing," Antetokounmpo said when asked about Lopez. "He can get a lot of easy ones. He’s 7-1, 7-2; he’s huge. He’s always going to shoot his threes, we want him to shoot the threes because that creates a lot of space for me, Khris, Bledsoe and Malcolm (Brogdon) also. But I think he’s got to mix it up a little bit.”