Brook Lopez finally returned to the Nets practice court Tuesday. It's been seven and a half weeks since his December 23 surgery to repair a broken foot suffered two days before. Avery Johnson said of Lopez, "He looked good."

When asked if Lopez could return during the six games before the February 26 All-Star Game, Johnson responded: "No, I’m not ruling anything out. Nope. Not ruling anything out. But the main thing is, we don’t want to bring him back too soon."

Johnson added that Lopez won’t necessarily need a full practice to return. DeShawn Stevenson, who said he's playing Wednesday vs. Memphis, said Lopez looked "really, really" good in practice. Deron Williams and said Lopez looked "really good."

"It was good,'' Lopez said. "It was nice to be back, obviously... I went pretty much the whole five-on-five.''

Meanwhile, on the other side of the medical chart, Shawne Williams has a bad shoulder and is questionable against his hometown club and Mehmet Okur won't play before the break.

• Nets' Lopez returns to practice - Tim Bontemps - New York Post Nets Blog
• Brook Lopez practices for the first time since breaking his foot - Colin Stephenson - Star-Ledger
• Brook Lopez back at practice - Andy Vasquez - NJ Nets Nation