Crystal LoGiudice – USA Today Sports Images

In his rookie season, MarShon Brooks emerged as a quality scoring-threat for the Brooklyn Nets. It was one of the pleasant surprises of their 2011-2012 NBA season. However, with their acquisition of Joe Johnson this past off-season, that substantially diminished Brooks’ role in the offense.

Last year, Brooks averaged 29.4 minutes per game for the Nets. He also was able to average 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game last year. The only concern was Brooks’ efficiency. He posted a field goal percentage of just 42.8 percent and a three-point percentage. However, there wasn’t much concern about that considering that he was a rookie and he still had a lot of time left to work on those issues.

This season has been a completely different story for Brooks. He’s averaged just 11.3 minutes per game. Obviously that has hurt his production. He’s averaged just five points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 rebounds per game this season. It’s obvious that Johnson is a better player that deserves to play over Brooks. However, it’s also hard to justify keeping a young player with as much talent as Brooks has buried that deeply on the bench.

That’s why the Nets need to look into trading him this coming off-season. For starters, it will allow the Nets to either acquire other players that address their needs or acquire draft picks. The move would also give Brooks the opportunity to go elsewhere and gain more experience at the professional level. Right now, he’s pretty much just taking up space in Brooklyn, which doesn’t do him or the team any good at all.

Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.