Robin Lopez and His Future Here

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Blazer Freak

Blazer Freak

Superstar in the Making
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I know there has been a thread or two in the past week about RoLo, but I wanted to really put it out there for discussion.

I love RoLo and his fit here as a person as much as anyone, and yes he has been fighting through one of our countless hand injuries but this year he has just been flat out worse than last. Is he still great rolling to the basket off a Nico screen? Sure. But his rebounding? Down. Defense/Rim protection? Not as good as last year.

The final straw for me is the quality of his screens. Our offense is reliant on great screens up top to free Lillard for a solid second or two so he can force the defense into a bad position. However, this year RoLo's screens have been SIGNIFICANTLY less effective and, in my opinion, is a major reason why our offense (even before Wesley went down) was not as prolific as last year.

I think the real question is, putting our feelings about RoLo as a person and off the court goofball aside...is keeping him around really the right move? 10-12M is surely what he will get, and while it's a fair salary for a starting center, I think this season has shown we are still an improvement or two away from being a top tier contender. I think a big part of our infatuation with RoLo on the court is simply the fact that we haven't had a center of his skill level in years.

As much as I love RoLo and what he brings to this team, I think center is the one point of our roster that needs improvement before we truly are a real contender.
 
Maybe you should have saved this kind of thread for after the season was over?
But on second thought this might be the perfect time...Every player "Questioning/Bashing" thread so far this year has pretty much turned into a Player "Praising" thread so have at it!
 
And who do you think would do a better job? If you haven't noticed, true NBA centers are a rare breed these days. Be thankful that we have RoLo in the first place.
 
Blazer Freak said:
I know there has been a thread or two in the past week about RoLo, but I wanted to really put it out there for discussion.

I love RoLo and his fit here as a person as much as anyone, and yes he has been fighting through one of our countless hand injuries but this year he has just been flat out worse than last. Is he still great rolling to the basket off a Nico screen? Sure. But his rebounding? Down. Defense/Rim protection? Not as good as last year.

The final straw for me is the quality of his screens. Our offense is reliant on great screens up top to free Lillard for a solid second or two so he can force the defense into a bad position. However, this year RoLo's screens have been SIGNIFICANTLY less effective and, in my opinion, is a major reason why our offense (even before Wesley went down) was not as prolific as last year.

I think the real question is, putting our feelings about RoLo as a person and off the court goofball aside...is keeping him around really the right move? 10-12M is surely what he will get, and while it's a fair salary for a starting center, I think this season has shown we are still an improvement or two away from being a top tier contender. I think a big part of our infatuation with RoLo on the court is simply the fact that we haven't had a center of his skill level in years.

As much as I love RoLo and what he brings to this team, I think center is the one point of our roster that needs improvement before we truly are a real contender.
Click to expand...


Totally agree. That's why I said earlier hopefully this regression makes him cheaper.
I'll still bring him back we have no choices
 
kjironman1 said:
Maybe you should have saved this kind of thread for after the season was over?
But on second thought this might be the perfect time...Every player "Questioning/Bashing" thread so far this year has pretty much turned into a Player "Praising" thread so have at it!
Click to expand...
Not really. I've been thinking and seeing this the entire season, even before he was injured. Don't get me wrong, I love RoLo as much as anyone, but trying to be objective...he just hasn't been as effective this year. Look at our starting lineup of Dame/Wes/Batum/LA/Lopez. Where else are you improving? Dame and LA are cornerstones, Wes is now a question mark but before his injury we had 1/2/4 locked up. Batum is expiring and isn't going anywhere (as much as many would hope he would). Sure we have the bench to upgrade, but getting a super-sub or letting CJ/Meyers continue to develop is something that can be done any off-season.

chris_in_pdx said:
And who do you think would do a better job? If you haven't noticed, true NBA centers are a rare breed these days. Be thankful that we have RoLo in the first place.
Click to expand...
Center is the last position available to realistically upgrade. Now would I be fine if we brought back RoLo at 10-12M and kept our core together and improve? Sure. But Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, Tyson Chandler are three unrestricted options I'd love to throw everything we have at before we settle on RoLo for the next 3-4 years.

Don't take this as an attack on RoLo, it's not. I'm just as big of a fan as you guys are, I'm just simply trying to be objective on which positions we can actually improve going into next season.
 
I definitely question our screens. But our guards moving before the center is set could also be part of the problem. I'd have to review game film....
 
It's true, this year's version of RoLo isn't the same we say last year. But a part of me still believes that hand injury threw a wrench into his entire season. Also, there are a few problems with trying to acquire a marquee center on the open market. Most notably, getting a marquee player to sign in the Rose City. We've been down this path before and it never changes. Secondly, we'd have to likely not re-sign Matthews AND Lopez to make cap room for a MAX player. Lastly, I don't see Gasol leaving Memphis and I sure as hell don't see Jordan leaving Los Angeles, so that leaves Chandler. Is he really worth losing Robin and Wes? Not at this stage of his career.
 
I would much rather have Rolo back than Afllalo. I was all on board with the trade but with CJ coming on (and hopefully Wes back) plus Aaron not doing well at D, I just wouldn't cry if he opted out and left.
 
Yeah, Arron's defense was bad last night. It's confusing.
 
RE the OP: Whether "keeping him around" is the "right move" depends on who we could get to replace him.
 
BBert said:
RE the OP: Whether "keeping him around" is the "right move" depends on who we could get to replace him.
Click to expand...
Very true. But it also doesn't necessarily have to be via Free Agency. A trade could always an option. This thread was more to generate discussion about RoLo and his play and how we could improve rather than specific players to replace him with.

The worst part about this injury to Afflalo is that fact that if it is a torn triceps then there is no doubt he will pick up his option and we will likely start the season with Wes and Afflalo coming back from relatively serious injuries.
 
Rolo is a good example of stats being a poor indicator of a player's importance. He is a keeper for various reasons. Now I will admit that there are balls I think he should get to that he doesn't. He is not quick on his feet. But if you can re-sign him for 10-12 as you suggest, then you have to do it. The cap will eventually be going up and players are going to be over paid regardless.

I will say he is not a max player. Unlike LA, there is an amount that we just can't match. (If faced with that dilemma) But 10-12 is not that amount. No question that I would sign him for that amount. At what amount would I hesitate? Probably at 14 per year.
 
Blazer Freak said:
Very true. But it also doesn't necessarily have to be via Free Agency. A trade could always an option. This thread was more to generate discussion about RoLo and his play and how we could improve rather than specific players to replace him with.
Click to expand...
I agree with your original analysis especially regarding the quality of screens. That's on the coaches and the whole team. It has to be a point of emphasis.
 
The brightside to all this is that Wes will probably be resigned for cheaper than we expected. If afflalo really is out the rest of the year, I doubt he opts out this year. And since Lopez has had somewhat of a down and injured year, we can probably sign him for cheaper than expected at the beginning of the year too.

With that being said, would anyone still be interested in a possible Lopez sign and trade for hibbert deal?
 
Blazer Freak said:
The worst part about this injury to Afflalo is that fact that if it is a torn triceps then there is no doubt he will pick up his option and we will likely start the season with Wes and Afflalo coming back from relatively serious injuries.
Click to expand...

I just don't see that as a problem. AA for 7.7 sounds good to me. Especially since it is only for one year. He gives us depth off the bench (The 4 man rotation discussed in another thread) or we can trade his expiring contract at the deadline. Sounds like a win-win to me.
 
blue32 said:
I definitely question our screens. But our guards moving before the center is set could also be part of the problem.
Click to expand...

Beat me to it. For a good screen to take place it takes both players. I don't like how sometimes our bigs start moving before the screen even takes place, but I also think our guards aren't always the best at using the screens. They need to watch tape of guys like Steph Curry and watch how he moves around screens to get open or to lose his player.
 
All of our starters (ALL OF THEM) have career numbers in rebounding since Fropez' arrival.

/thread
 
chris_in_pdx said:
And who do you think would do a better job? If you haven't noticed, true NBA centers are a rare breed these days. Be thankful that we have RoLo in the first place.
Click to expand...
Well Omer Asik does also have an expiring deal. Also I believe DeAndre Jordan does also.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
I just don't see that as a problem. AA for 7.7 sounds good to me. Especially since it is only for one year. He gives us depth off the bench (The 4 man rotation discussed in another thread) or we can trade his expiring contract at the deadline. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Click to expand...
While I agree AAA at $7.7M is not a bad deal at all, as I think he was starting to really pick up as our 6th man before Wes went down. However, having that $7.7M on the cap while we potentially try to make moves this summer isn't the best thing for our flexibility.

dviss1 said:
All of our starters (ALL OF THEM) have career numbers in rebounding since Fropez' arrival.

/thread
Click to expand...
Hardly the end of the thread. A solid point, but how do you know that it isn't simply we no longer have Hickson playing center? Is there a way to tell what our players average with other players starting or what they average the minutes that RoLo is off the floor?
 
Blazer Freak said:
While I agree AAA at $7.7M is not a bad deal at all, as I think he was starting to really pick up as our 6th man before Wes went down. However, having that $7.7M on the cap while we potentially try to make moves this summer isn't the best thing for our flexibility.

Hardly the end of the thread. A solid point, but how do you know that it isn't simply we no longer have Hickson playing center? Is there a way to tell what our players average with other players starting or what they average the minutes that RoLo is off the floor?
Click to expand...

Flawed logic. When we had Joel and Oden LA was still averaging sub-par rebounding numbers.
 
Blazer Freak said:
A solid point, but how do you know that it isn't simply we no longer have Hickson playing center? Is there a way to tell what our players average with other players starting or what they average the minutes that RoLo is off the floor?
Click to expand...

Yes, maybe it's total blind coincidence that when Hickson left, we went from 24th in the league in rebounding to 1st last year, and 2nd this year. I bet any old guy could be plugged in there and we'll be Top 5.
 
Blazer Freak said:
While I agree AAA at $7.7M is not a bad deal at all, as I think he was starting to really pick up as our 6th man before Wes went down. However, having that $7.7M on the cap while we potentially try to make moves this summer isn't the best thing for our flexibility.
Click to expand...

Is that even an possibility? After re-signing LMA and a center (Whether it is Rolo or not) and Wes.........I was not aware that we had a chance at any other decent options. What did you have in mind?
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Is that even an possibility? After re-signing LMA and a center (Whether it is Rolo or not) and Wes.........I was not aware that we had a chance at any other decent options. What did you have in mind?
Click to expand...
We would have the mini-MLE this summer regardless of getting Afflalo or not.
 
You'd think the Blazers sould have some of Bill Walton's DNA laying around. Shouldn't be that hard to clone him.
 
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