With two of the top five spots, Shawn Bradley is the most recent single season blocks per game leader in Nets’ franchise history.
The Nets have had some elite rim protectors guarding the paint in the past, and we’ll take a look at which players have posted the best averages of blocks per game through the organization’s history. Here are the best five seasons in the Nets’ history in that category, though the list only includes two names: Shawn Bradley and George Johnson.
Note that blocks became an official NBA stat in the 1973-74 season.
Shawn Bradley – 1997, 4.0 BPG
While Bradley averaged 4.0 blocks per game in the 40 appearances (38 starts) he logged for the New Jersey Nets in the 1996-97 season, it’s worth noting that those numbers came before he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Bradley averaged 3.8 swats per contest as a member of the Nets, though he only played parts of two seasons with the franchise. Between Philadelphia and Dallas, Bradley averaged 3.4 swats per game in that 1996-97 campaign and led the NBA in that category.
Shawn Bradley – 1996, 3.7 BPG
Bradley’s first tenure with the Nets came in the second half of the 1995-96 campaign, when he was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to New Jersey. The towering big man recorded 67 regular-season appearances (57 starts) for the Nets in what was his third year in the NBA, averaging 12.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per contest. If we also add the games he played for Philadelphia into the mix, then Bradley averaged 3.6 blocks per game in the 1995-96 campaign. He finished second in the league in that category behind Dikembe Mutombo, who averaged 4.5 blocks per game.
George Johnson – 1978, 3.4 BPG
Johnson was without a doubt the most consistent rim protector and interior defender the Nets have had in the history of the organization — regardless of which city they played in. He averaged over 3.0 blocks per game in three straight seasons between 1977-78 and 1979-80, but the best season of his career came in the 1977-78 campaign. His 3.4 blocks per game were not only a career-high, but they also ranked first in the league by a sizable margin. The second-best blocker in the NBA that season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, averaged 3.0 swats per game. Johnson also averaged 8.7 points and 9.6 boards per game in that year.
George Johnson – 1979, 3.2 BPG
Johnson couldn’t replicate the numbers he posted in the 1978-79 season, but he still enjoyed an excellent campaign and once again surpassed the threshold of 3.0 blocks per game. He finished second in the league in that category, though, as Abdul-Jabbar paced The Association with an impressive 4.0 blocks per contest. Johnson also averaged 6.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in that season.
George Johnson – 1980, 3.2 BPG
The 1979-80 season was the third and final year of Johnson’s successful run with the Nets, though he’d later move on to the San Antonio Spurs to continue posting excellent numbers on the defensive end. Johnson averaged 7.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per contest in his final season in New Jersey. Throughout his 305 regular-season appearances with the Nets organization over two stretches — he also played for them in 1984-85 — Johnson averaged 6.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game.
