Should Suns bring back Robin Lopez?

Revived · Post #1 » by **Revived** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:21 am

Everyone (including me) were hating on Lopez all season because well...he sucked. But he has been playing well in the month of March both defensively and offensively. Should we resign him to backup Gortat? What should the $$$ be?

7'0 center...only 23 years old....what will the market for him look like?

sunskerr · Post #2 » by **sunskerr** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:08 am

This might have been better suited to just be in the free agent thread, but...

He's been playing solid recently. But even before that I've advocated just keeping him. I think he can fetch around 5-6m in restricted free agency. Would've preferred we try to sign him to a 4-5m extension before the resigning deadline.

The magic were fine giving gortat $6m+, so I don't see why we shouldn't resign him.

Revived · Post #3 » by **Revived** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:10 am

sunskerr wrote:This might have been better suited to just be in the free agent thread, but...

He's been playing solid recently. But even before that I've advocated just keeping him. I think he can fetch around 5-6m in restricted free agency. Would've preferred we try to sign him to a 4-5m extension before the resigning deadline.

The magic were fine giving gortat $6m+, so I don't see why we shouldn't resign him.

Well before the deadline he played like complete crap so the thought was that there was no point in bringing him back at all.

And while Gortat for $6 mil +, remember that he was considered the best backup C in the NBA which is why he got that. Plus it wasn't Orlando who gave Marcin that offer, it was Dallas who saw Gortat as the starting center on that team and then Orlando shocking everyone matched the offer. But the Magic have shown that they don't care about spending money ex Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Big Baby, Hedo Turkoglu, J-Rich etc.

Lopez is no where close to what Gortat was when he was a FA. I want Lopez back but not on $5-$6 mil....more like $3-$4 mil.

sunskerr · Post #4 » by **sunskerr** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:21 am

sunsfan88 wrote:
sunskerr wrote:This might have been better suited to just be in the free agent thread, but...

He's been playing solid recently. But even before that I've advocated just keeping him. I think he can fetch around 5-6m in restricted free agency. Would've preferred we try to sign him to a 4-5m extension before the resigning deadline.

The magic were fine giving gortat $6m+, so I don't see why we shouldn't resign him.

Well before the deadline he played like complete crap so the thought was that there was no point in bringing him back at all.

And while Gortat for $6 mil +, remember that he was considered the best backup C in the NBA which is why he got that. Plus it wasn't Orlando who gave Marcin that offer, it was Dallas who saw Gortat as the starting center on that team and then Orlando shocking everyone matched the offer. But the Magic have shown that they don't care about spending money ex Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Big Baby, Hedo Turkoglu, J-Rich etc.

Lopez is no where close to what Gortat was when he was a FA. I want Lopez back but not on $5-$6 mil....more like $3-$4 mil.

I also would like him on a deal for $3m or $4m but I just see some team throwing more at him than that in restricted free agency. He may be a back up big, but he's 7 feet tall and only 23-24. Fact is bigs like him command some decent money.

We see it all the time in the NBA. One team might see a player that is not very useful, but maybe another team sees a diamond in the rough.

nevetsov · Post #5 » by **nevetsov** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:38 am

Plenty of teams will be throwing their MLEs at him. He'll take that as a minimum if theres a team that offers him the opportunity to fight for a starting spot.

On the other hand, the one team reported to be very interested in him (GSW) just traded for Bogut and still has Biedrins (who could be amnestied?)..

I'd be interested for a Lopez for B Rush deal with the W's but not sure if you can still sign and trade under the new CBA..?

RunDogGun · Post #6 » by **RunDogGun** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:09 am

Nev, GS amnestied Charlie Bell this season.

I think you can still sign and trade, you just can't do it during the season. I wish we would have done that deal with the Pacers themselves.

Moochthemonkey · Post #7 » by **Moochthemonkey** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:09 am

he's been good for like a week, but overall not consistent enough to warrant a 4$ per million multi year contract. Where could he start in the NBA anyway?

nevetsov · Post #8 » by **nevetsov** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:46 am

Good pickup RDG, forgot about that. What a waste of such an important get-out-of-jail-free card..

I think Lopez could at least challenge for the start in:

ATL
BOS
CHA
DAL
MIA
POR
SAS
TOR
WAS

Plus a few other teams this year who have injuries (MIL etc).

Frank Lee · Post #9 » by **Frank Lee** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:48 pm

Fly Robin Fly.....

Frye makes LOWpez expendable or at least a non-priority. I think we'd be better served adding another PF to go with fledgling Morris. Frye can shift to C when theG sits if we had the appropriate tough guy PF.

I wouldnt want to tie up the MLE* on the BoyBlunder, but he is an asset. I cant imagine why we would not secure him with the QO, purely as a trade option. We cant control what others will do, but we may be able to glean another asset (late draft pick) with a sign and trade.

Look at Nev's list... LOWpez would be getting minutes on all those squads. And many of them have will have cap space/MLE to bid on him. The good thing is we can bluff up our intent to keep him, as we have ample room in the flexible budget.

sunskerr wrote:This might have been better suited to just be in the free agent thread, but...

But we have MODs who determine that :roll:

*(or that amount as we do not have an MLE until we are over the cap)

DRK · Post #10 » by **DRK** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:48 pm

If Robin keeps up this level of play, its not Robin but Gortat that's theone to be worried about being moved.

Robin = 23
Gortat= 29

Many teams will be willing to give up a whole lot of stuff for Gortat, than Lopez. I love Gortat, but the offensive numbers he puts up is not a true indication of what he truly is; a beneficiary of Steve Nash.

Robin is more athletic, bigger, and more capable of shot blocking than Gortat. Although Gortat's offence and rebounding is far and away more advanced than Lopez', just like Gortat did, Lopez can/should develop a very good offensive game, with a mid range jumper entending to 16 feet.

Re-sign Lopez. I've seen enough of him in the WCF's, and good enough play over the last week for him to justify a renewal of his contract.

nevetsov · Post #11 » by **nevetsov** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:57 pm

Can someone confirm for me, we didn't extend the QO to him did we?

Doesn't that make Robin unrestricted?

Frank Lee · Post #12 » by **Frank Lee** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:05 pm

I do not think we have to until the off season.

this last round of QO's were delayed because of the CBA crap/delay. Feels like they have overlapped. It was Brooks who we offered one to, to secure him, but he slow boated us. Now we have to sign him, else he is unrestricted for next yr.

We can cage up Robin, but he will still be up for plucking.

I think thats the case.

Post #13 » by **rsavaj** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:47 pm

We don't have to offer him the QO until this summer.

Seth at Bright Side says that it's pretty clear that this FO+Gentry is not very high on him at all, so I don't see us ever re-signing him.

I really think we should though. Not because he's going to replace Gortat or whatever, but because it's so rare to have two decent centers on your squad. He's young, he's 7 feet tall, and he can hopefully keep improving.

If someone throws the MLE at him, I'd probably offer him the same contract.

pidi · Post #14 » by **pidi** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:20 pm

it depends realy on how much he is getting offerd from other teams, for the right price ( same as warrick ) i would do it, if he wants too much than there are players like turiaf who can do the same as lopez does. i think he will leave

bigfoot · Post #15 » by **bigfoot** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:45 pm

DRK wrote:Robin is more athletic, bigger, and more capable of shot blocking than Gortat.

Re-sign Lopez. I've seen enough of him in the WCF's, and good enough play over the last week for him to justify a renewal of his contract.

Gortat is a far superior defender than Lopez. They both block on average 2 per 36 minutes over their careers.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2012

Lopez is bigger but is no where close to being as athletic as Gortat. If Lopez had 3/4 of Gortat's athleticism he would be a monster. No way Lopez can do this

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38iHIQNeGEw[/youtube]

bigfoot · Post #16 » by **bigfoot** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:49 pm

The problem with Lopez is his psyche is too fragile. If just had the mental strength and fearlessness of a Disney princess he would be unstoppable.

JMac1 · Post #17 » by **JMac1** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:52 am

bigfoot wrote:The problem with Lopez is his psyche is too fragile. If just had the mental strength and fearlessness of a Disney princess he would be unstoppable.

Post #18 » by **lilfishi22** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:56 am

We could use a young 7 footer on our roster for sure.

But not for $4m a year and definitely not for someone who's been test and failed to meet expectations. I'm sure we could get a unproven, untested and talented 6'11-7' guy to do Lopez's job for less than a mil (refer to Siler).

sunskerr · Post #19 » by **sunskerr** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:27 am

lilfishi22 wrote:We could use a young 7 footer on our roster for sure.

But not for $4m a year and definitely not for someone who's been test and failed to meet expectations. I'm sure we could get a unproven, untested and talented 6'11-7' guy to do Lopez's job for less than a mil (refer to Siler).

Lopez is leagues ahead of Siler.

carey · Post #20 » by **carey** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:04 am

Jason Smith gets $2.5M a year. He's averaging 8.1 PPG and 3.9 RPG.
Aaron Gray gets $1M a year. He's averaging 4.1 PPG and 5.1 RPG.
Robin Lopez gets $2.5M this year. He's averaging 4.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG. His QO is $4M next year.

I'd rather have Aaron Gray at $2M a year for a while than Lopez at $4M+...