Lopez continues to search for explosiveness

Post #1 » by **rsavaj** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:22 am

http://arizona.sbnation.com/phoenix-sun ... -lon-babby

Seth Pollack wrote:Robin Lopez Continues Search For Explosiveness, Despite Suns' Claims He's Healthy

Last season, according to Synergy Sports Tech data, Lopez was ranked in the top three percent of the league in offensive rebounding scoring efficiency, recording 23 percent of his points on put backs. As the roll man on pick and rolls, Lopez connected on 69 percent of his attempts which rivaled Amare Stoudemire.

This season. the numbers have dropped considerably on both accounts. The only improvement is in his spot-up game which improved from 40 percent last season to an excellent 57.5 percent this year.
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Even when Lopez has a solid six minutes to start the game, he rarely comes back in again until the second half, if at all.

Watching film of Robin's above the rim play from last season as compared to what he's able to do now, there's really very little question that he's not the same athletic, explosive player that we first saw after the Suns drafted him with the 15th pick in 2008.
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Lopez suffered an injury to his back late last March which caused nerve damage in his right leg that he says he's still not fully recovered from. Despite what Babby said on the radio, it's not an injury that's fully healed.
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Why would Babby publicly discount the impact of an injury that so clearly has limited Lopez' progression into the player the organization thought he could be? The obvious answer is that he doesn't want to diminish Robin's value in a potential trade.
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Guys this size who move as well as Lopez don't come around very often. There's a reason the Los Angeles Lakers haven't given up on Andrew Bynum and there's a reason Greg Oden will get plenty of chances to come back to the league. These guys are special, and while Robin's upside isn't as high as Bynum's and Oden's, his combination of size, athleticism, skill and energy is rare.

For Robin's sake lets hope he gets back what he lost and that he's traded to a team that will show more patience in developing young players. You hate to see anybody not have a fair opportunity to reach their potential.

more at link

Post #2 » by **Qwigglez** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:54 am

I think I'd rather package Lopez and Warrick for a PF like Tyrus Thomas or Boris Diaw. Sign Earl Clark over the offseason.

hunterxaz · Post #3 » by **hunterxaz** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:04 am

Why would you want a garbage player like Earl Clark? Get something we can use and would help. Diaw thrived when Stat was down, I wouldn't be opposed to that.

Nando88 · Post #4 » by **Nando88** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:12 am

hunterxaz wrote:Why would you want a garbage player like Earl Clark? Get something we can use and would help. Diaw thrived when Stat was down, I wouldn't be opposed to that.

you're STILL singing that same song?

:lol:

RaisingArizona · Post #5 » by **RaisingArizona** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:17 am

lol, hunteraz's hate for EC is great.

harshey1388 · Post #6 » by **harshey1388** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:19 am

ginobiliflops wrote:lol, hunteraz's hate for EC is great.

epic haterade

Post #7 » by **rsavaj** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:39 pm

Let me just put out my final thoughts on Lopez since the offseason is practically here. I don't think he's a bust. I don't think he's a terrible player.

I think he's a 22 year old(only a little older than me) who has been playing injured this whole season. He's 22 years old. If you want to use Gortat's play to denigrate Lopez, please let me know how well Gortat's was faring in the NBA when he was 22. And I'm not comparing Lopez to Nash as players, but we thought Nash was crap when he was 22, and he managed to turn things around. Lopez can do the same.

I love Gortat. He's our center of the future. He's part of the core of this team. He's one of the best things to happen to this franchise. But I will not point to him and then say "YOUNG INJURED ROBIN LOPEZ, WHY CAN'T YOU PLAY LIKE THIS?!"

We know what Robin can do when he's healthy. We've seen it firsthand. Do you judge him off his healthy games, or do you judge him off his injured games?

This front office has no patience at all. Lopez will be gone this summer, and we'll probably throw in a few picks for good measure. Giving up on a 7 footer who can make a nice backup is supremely stupid, but we're going to do it, and some(most?) of you will clap and laugh gleefully.

irish22022 · Post #8 » by **irish22022** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:56 pm

lopez will be a backup somewhere, but it won't be here. he's just okay, his ceiling isn't that high. we have too many bad contracts that we need to move, so some decent players will get moved along with them to make it desirable. that's just how it goes.

Post #9 » by **rsavaj** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:43 pm

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2011/ ... 0#comments

I keep wanting to copy/paste Seth's comments on Lopez here, but there are a few of them, and I agree with most of them, so I'll just post the link so you guys can read for yourselves.

Post #10 » by **Miklo** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:55 pm

rsavaj wrote:Let me just put out my final thoughts on Lopez since the offseason is practically here. I don't think he's a bust. I don't think he's a terrible player.

I think he's a 22 year old(only a little older than me) who has been playing injured this whole season. He's 22 years old. If you want to use Gortat's play to denigrate Lopez, please let me know how well Gortat's was faring in the NBA when he was 22. And I'm not comparing Lopez to Nash as players, but we thought Nash was crap when he was 22, and he managed to turn things around. Lopez can do the same.

I love Gortat. He's our center of the future. He's part of the core of this team. He's one of the best things to happen to this franchise. But I will not point to him and then say "YOUNG INJURED ROBIN LOPEZ, WHY CAN'T YOU PLAY LIKE THIS?!"

We know what Robin can do when he's healthy. We've seen it firsthand. Do you judge him off his healthy games, or do you judge him off his injured games?

This front office has no patience at all. Lopez will be gone this summer, and we'll probably throw in a few picks for good measure. Giving up on a 7 footer who can make a nice backup is supremely stupid, but we're going to do it, and some(most?) of you will clap and laugh gleefully.

My thoughts exactly

Dr Pepper · Post #11 » by **Dr Pepper** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:37 pm

I don't see much of a future for Robin Lopez in the NBA since he's a big man with a bad back and seemingly doesn't have much in the way of talent or payoff either. Imo even when healthy his ceiling was a roleplaying big that brings energy and does the dirty stuff like rebound. But a bad back simply isn't going to help especially in the physical marathon that is the NBA season. He doesn't seem like a good bet for the future and the Suns should look to move him but the Suns also have far bigger priorities in the offseason.

RocPHX · Post #12 » by **RocPHX** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:48 pm

He's horrible. Wish I could say more about the guy but man, he's really depressed the hell out of me.

Post #13 » by **Miklo** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:50 pm

Not convinced that he has a bad back, to be honest. I am currently recovering from the same injury he had, all that happened is one of his discs slipped and it caused repeated trouble, but it's just like pinching a nerve in your back, it's a freak injury and not a permanent one. This again is just my opinion, I'm nowhere near a doctor, but my doc told me I will fully be recovered after the few months is up so I dunno.

RunSunRun · Post #14 » by **RunSunRun** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:59 pm

rsavaj wrote:Let me just put out my final thoughts on Lopez since the offseason is practically here. I don't think he's a bust. I don't think he's a terrible player.

I think he's a 22 year old(only a little older than me) who has been playing injured this whole season. He's 22 years old. If you want to use Gortat's play to denigrate Lopez, please let me know how well Gortat's was faring in the NBA when he was 22. And I'm not comparing Lopez to Nash as players, but we thought Nash was crap when he was 22, and he managed to turn things around. Lopez can do the same.

I love Gortat. He's our center of the future. He's part of the core of this team. He's one of the best things to happen to this franchise. But I will not point to him and then say "YOUNG INJURED ROBIN LOPEZ, WHY CAN'T YOU PLAY LIKE THIS?!"

We know what Robin can do when he's healthy. We've seen it firsthand. Do you judge him off his healthy games, or do you judge him off his injured games?

This front office has no patience at all. Lopez will be gone this summer, and we'll probably throw in a few picks for good measure. Giving up on a 7 footer who can make a nice backup is supremely stupid, but we're going to do it, and some(most?) of you will clap and laugh gleefully.

Wow, one of the best posts I've seen on here in a long time.

It seems our FO and most of our fanbase is part of the "what have you done for me lately?" crowd. However, do people not remember our YEARS of struggling to find a viable big man to be our C? Now we have a solid starter in Gortat and a decent-good backup with a healthy Lopez. Lopez is struggling this year, no doubt, but the guy is only 22. He is really young and I still believe has a lot of potential, it would be extremely foolish on our part to give up on him at this point.

Do we really want to repeat the same circle again? We had Nash, gave him away, than wanted him back. We had Gortat, we had Earl Clark (sorry hunter, just had to), etc. etc.

Let's stop giving away our players and actually grow them for once.

EDIT : Do you people really want the likes of Earl Barron, Siler...Sean Marks, and so forth as our back-up Centers? Seriously?

Post #15 » by **rsavaj** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:01 pm

^^Word, Miklo. Whenever somebody says "he has a bad back", are you simply parroting what you read on the boards, what you've heard on the radio, or are you actually thinking about his injury and what it means?

Post #16 » by **rsavaj** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:31 pm

Noah (9th pick) was a 22 year old rookie, had a PER of 15.5 and his team won 33 games
Lopez last season was 21, in his 2nd yr, had a 17.6 PER and the team won 54 games

Lopez has time to grow. Giving up on him now would be a mistake. What's the rush to move him? I mean, he's cheap...it's not like he's weighing down our payroll.

And if he sucks as much as you guys say he does, who will take him anyways? So...again I ask, why move him?

Jimmy76 · Post #17 » by **Jimmy76** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:42 pm

from the trax sounded like we see Gortat as our long term starter (more than understandable) and want to package Nash+Lopez for pick(s) so we can rebuild

Dr Pepper · Post #18 » by **Dr Pepper** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:53 pm

rsavaj wrote:^^Word, Miklo. Whenever somebody says "he has a bad back", are you simply parroting what you read on the boards, what you've heard on the radio, or are you actually thinking about his injury and what it means?

Even Lopez says he's not 100% and his inconsistent and disappointing play throughout the season can also lead to that conclusion. Gentry mentioned just a few days ago that Lopez has been a disappointment. Gentry mentioned that Lopez hasn't been the same athletically which to me has been a factor ever since his injury.

"That's probably been the biggest mystery for our team," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said of the lack of improvement in Lopez's game. "In actuality, we really thought that he would probably be the second-most-important guy on our team, especially if he took a big leap. I'm not real sure if it's the injury or what, but he hasn't been able to give us the consistent play that we thought we'd be able to get from him.”

"... One of the things that I thought had been a great thing was he was one of the big men that had great athleticism,” Gentry added, “He's struggled in that department a bit. I'm not sure if he's completely healthy and not saying that. It's not the type of year he anticipated or we anticipated."

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2 ... z1Hjx4Rr3S

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rsavaj wrote:Noah (9th pick) was a 22 year old rookie, had a PER of 15.5 and his team won 33 games
Lopez last season was 21, in his 2nd yr, had a 17.6 PER and the team won 54 games

Lopez has time to grow. Giving up on him now would be a mistake. What's the rush to move him? I mean, he's cheap...it's not like he's weighing down our payroll.

And if he sucks as much as you guys say he does, who will take him anyways? So...again I ask, why move him?

It depends on the Suns and how they assess their future in the offseason. However they do need a legit starting PF, a starting SG (Vince expires this season?), and they might even deal Nash in the offseason if its a full rebuild so Lopez could be a piece on a number of deals.

JohnVancouver · Post #19 » by **JohnVancouver** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:07 pm

If he has some problem with his leg stemming form the injury last year. that would explain a lot - I mean, really - you don't just forget how to play in the space of 6-8 months

I've been baffled by his pl;ay - one minute he looks like the guy we were excited about, then he's, frankly, hopeless. My big concern about keeping him is that after being drafted as the 'centre of the future', how will he adapt emotionally to being a backup? That could be a problem for him, and us

if RoLo can get us the PF we need or picks to do same, great

I also think trading nash is a mistake - he's comparatively cheap and you're not going to get much for him

b-ball forever · Post #20 » by **b-ball forever** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:11 pm

I won't mind one bit if he gets traded for a solid piece, RoLo sucks.

He's still young and does have a chance to become a decent role player if he manages to get paired up with a dominant bigman again, but he'll never be anything special and is easily replacable, specially now with Gortat and Frye on the team.

If he manages to become half the player Noah is that'd be a major achievement for him