One of the stories that came out of media day yesterday that hasn’t got much attention was a quote from Brook Lopez.

Those that played with Avery Johnson during his career or played for him with the Dallas Mavericks or New Jersey Nets know that the coach is a bit of a taskmaster.

However, Brook Lopez had something interesting to say at media day…

Via Scott Cacciola and the Wall Street Journal…

“Veteran center Brook Lopez, who declared himself 100% healthy after missing most of last season with foot injuries, said Johnson already distributed a “big playbook” to the players in anticipation of training camp. “All the defensive principles, our ideas, our beliefs,” Lopez said. The handbook even includes the dates of four written tests for the players, he said.

For Lopez, one of six players carried over from the New Jersey days, the crush of reporters at media day was something new, too. He found he had four times as many interviews and photo shoots lined up than in past years, not that he seemed to mind.”

Moke Hamilton, SNYNets.com

In the years I’ve been covering the game, I’ve never heard of anything like this before. For all I know, coaches have been doing this for a while… But if that’s the case, it doesn’t seem likely that Lopez would have mentioned it.

I’ve had to take multiple written exams during the course of my life… So what better way to make players earn playing time than to have to score at least 75% on coach Avery’s exam? None that I can think of…

Avery Johnson seemed excited yesterday when meeting the press, we’ll see how optimistic he sounds when the Nets begin preseason play on October 13 in Atlantic City.