Robin Lopez

Robin Lopez

Lopez with the New Orleans Hornets in 2013
No. 8 – New York Knicks
Position Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1988-04-01) April 1, 1988
North Hollywood, California
Nationality American
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school San Joaquin Memorial
(Fresno, California)
College Stanford (2006–2008)
NBA draft 2008 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career 2008–present
Career history
2008–2012 Phoenix Suns
2012–2013 New Orleans Hornets
2013–2015 Portland Trail Blazers
2015–present New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards

Robin Byron Lopez (born April 1, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 15th pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in 2012 and was traded to Portland in 2013. He played college basketball for Stanford University alongside his twin brother Brook Lopez, who currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets.

Early years

Lopez was born in North Hollywood, California, to Heriberto Lopez, a Cuban baseball player, and Deborah Ledford, a swimmer.[1][2] He was born into a life of basketball, as his grandfather played at the University of Colorado. Lopez moved from Hollywood, California, to Oak Harbor, Washington, while in second grade to be near his older brother, Alex, who was playing basketball at the University of Washington at the time. He moved to his current hometown of Fresno, California, a year later, where he attended San Joaquin Memorial High School. There he played with his twin brother, Brook, as well as future NBA forward, Quincy Pondexter. Both teammates played with Lopez on their successful AAU team, the Elite Basketball Organization (EBO), along with Derrick Jasper of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Tre'Von Willis of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Lopez was named MVP of the Adidas Superstar Camp Underclass All-Star game in his junior year, and to both the 2006 McDonald's All American team and the Parade All-American third team in his full senior year.

College career

Robin Lopez with his brother Brook at Stanford.

Lopez was one of just three players for the Cardinal team to start all 31 games in the 2006–07 season. He averaged 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while averaging 24 minutes.[3] He led the team with 73 blocked shots, breaking the Stanford record for a freshman and recording the second highest single season record in Stanford history. This mark also was the highest in the Pacific-10 conference. With his twin brother, Brook, the two blocked more shots than seven Pac-10 teams.[4] Lopez also had two double-doubles on the season.

Lopez had his 100th career block in a game versus Santa Clara University on December 19, 2007. In his sophomore season, Lopez achieved All-Pac-10 Defensive Team honors while also being named an Honorable Mention to the All Pac-10 team.[5] He was second in the Pac-10 in blocks for the season. With 83 blocks in his second season, Lopez moved into second place all time for career blocks by a Stanford player.

Lopez declared that he would enter the 2008 NBA draft on March 31, 2008 after just two seasons at Stanford.[6]

College statistics

Year Age G MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF FG% FT% 3P% PPS
2006–07 18 31 24.0 7.5 5.5 0.9 1.5 0.63 0.2 2.4 2.3 .480 .545 .000 1.17
2007–08 19 36 24.5 10.2 5.7 0.6 1.8 0.33 0.5 2.3 2.6 .534 .652 1.000 1.40

Professional career

Phoenix Suns (2008–2012)

Lopez battles JaVale McGee for the opening tip-off.

Lopez was selected with the 15th overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 2008 NBA draft. After being drafted by the Suns, Lopez said: "I was hoping I'd drop. I think I was the only person in the draft that was hoping he'd drop."[7]

Lopez joined a Suns team already featuring one of the all-time great centers in Shaquille O'Neal, and thus was not expected to get many minutes during his rookie season. He got the first start of his career on November 7, 2008, against the Chicago Bulls in place of the injured O'Neal; he played 30 minutes, scored 14 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and had 2 blocks.[8] For his rookie season, Lopez only saw an average of 10.2 minutes per game, with 3.2 points and 2 rebounds. At the end of the season, Shaq was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, making Lopez the assumed starting center.[9]

During the 2009–10 regular season, Lopez averaged 8.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.0 block per game. During the end of the season, however, Lopez was injured, and was replaced by Jarron Collins until the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, where the Suns eventually lost, 4 games to 2.

After the 2009–10 season, Lopez went into a major decline, despite starting and playing more games. During December 2010, he was injured again, and he was temporarily replaced by Earl Barron. This eventually resulted in decreased production from Lopez, which forced the Suns to trade for Marcin Gortat. While Lopez was still starting for the Suns, his stats were quickly declining, while Gortat's stats were improving. This forced Lopez to eventually become a bench player again. Robin Lopez would average 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds at an average of 14.8 minutes per game.

Lopez in 2011 while with the Suns.

In the shortened 2011–12 NBA season, Lopez wouldn't even produce a single start for the Suns. Because of Gortat's increased production at center, Lopez was forced to become a back-up center once again. He averaged 5.4 points with an average of 14 minutes per game there.

New Orleans Hornets (2012–2013)

Lopez while with Hornets.

On July 27, 2012, the New Orleans Hornets acquired Lopez in a sign-and-trade from the Phoenix Suns.[10] It was during this time that Lopez would produce his best results yet, starting for every game of the season and gaining new career highs in almost every field in the process.

Portland Trail Blazers (2013–2015)

On July 10, 2013, New Orleans traded Lopez to the Portland Trail Blazers as a part of a three-way trade that also involved the Sacramento Kings.[11] In his first season with the Trail Blazers, he recorded 29 double-doubles and set the franchise single season record for offensive rebounds.[12]

Due to his presence in the Portland community, as well as his consistent and blue-collar style of play, Lopez was a fan favorite amongst the Portland faithful. He was honored with the Maurice Lucas Award in March 2014 for his efforts in his "Read Big" literacy campaign with Portland Public Schools.[13]

On December 16, 2014, Lopez was ruled out for a month after breaking his hand against San Antonio the night before.[14]

New York Knicks (2015–present)

On July 9, 2015, Lopez signed with the New York Knicks.[15] He made his debut for the Knicks in the team's season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 28, recording 8 points and 2 blocks in a 122–97 win.[16] On March 20, 2016, he recored 23 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in an 88–80 loss to the Sacramento Kings.[17]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008–09 Phoenix 60 7 10.2 .518 .000 .691 2.0 .1 .2 .7 3.2
2009–10 Phoenix 51 31 19.3 .588 .000 .704 4.9 .1 .2 1.0 8.4
2010–11 Phoenix 67 56 14.8 .501 .000 .740 3.2 .1 .3 .7 6.4
2011–12 Phoenix 64 0 14.0 .461 .000 .714 3.3 .3 .3 .9 5.4
2012–13 New Orleans 82 82 26.0 .534 .000 .778 5.6 .8 .4 1.6 11.3
2013–14 Portland 82 82 31.8 .551 .000 .818 8.5 .9 .3 1.7 11.1
2014–15 Portland 59 59 27.8 .535 .000 .772 6.7 .9 .3 1.4 9.6
Career 465 317 21.2 .532 .000 .759 5.0 .5 .3 1.2 8.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010 Phoenix 6 6 17.3 .543 .000 1.000 4.0 .0 .3 .2 7.8
2014 Portland 11 11 33.4 .489 .000 .667 9.2 .8 .5 1.8 10.0
2015 Portland 5 5 23.4 .600 .000 1.000 4.4 .6 .2 1.0 5.2
Career 22 22 26.7 .514 .000 .774 6.7 .5 .4 1.2 8.3

Personal

Lopez is an avid comic book enthusiast and also participated in theater productions at Stanford.[18]

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.