The Lopez effect?

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Rhal said:
Its the league now adays, you can't touch their money makers with anything like a hard foul without getting ejected and every slight bump sends them to the line. Just look at the NYK vs The Wolves tonight, Love shot more FT's then the entire Knicks team and half the time he went to the line I couldn't even see a foul.
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How did Love get more FTA than Melo? o.O
 
mgb said:
Not if he is boxing his player out of the play then you have to at least subtract that player. Which eliminates their main rebounder on most teams. If that is what we plan then we'll have players to corral the rebounds which is exactly what we did with Duckworth when we led the league in rebounds.
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I get your point, but do you see anyone on this roster who was as relentless on the boards as Buck, Mercy, or even Clyde?
 
mgb said:
Not if he is boxing his player out of the play then you have to at least subtract that player. Which eliminates their main rebounder on most teams. If that is what we plan then we'll have players to corral the rebounds which is exactly what we did with Duckworth when we led the league in rebounds.
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LaMarcus can't rebound like Buck Williams and Wesley can't rebound like Clyde Drexler. Lopezs role on the team is not a scorer and he is not an elite defender so he needs to do more on the boards than playing for a draw.

Rebounding isn't that important when you are shooting lights out as we were these last two games but when we shoot close to the same percentage as other teams they will get many more opportunities at defensive rebounds. I'm sadly expecting our rebounding to then be a more visible weakness.
 
Throw Batum in the mix as well as Lillard and we can get a lot of rebounds. I guess time will tell.
 
Draco said:
Yeah that attitude drives me nuts. Nate said in his original post this was a 3 game sample size, every poster in the thread is aware of that. But there is always some smart ass sticking their head in the middle of every discussion saying we will know more in the future. Duh we all are aware of that.
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Really? A "smart ass?" I don't think this phrase means what you think it means

FYI: That was being a "smart ass"
 
{Small sample size alert} It appears to me, so far, that although Lopez is very good at boxing out, he is not so good at grabbing rebounds, and often has them snatched away. No lift. So, it's good that he boxes out and his teammates are aware enough to crash the boards for the rebound.
 
BBert said:
{Small sample size alert} It appears to me, so far, that although Lopez is very good at boxing out, he is not so good at grabbing rebounds, and often has them snatched away. No lift. So, it's good that he boxes out and his teammates are aware enough to crash the boards for the rebound.
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Actually I will concede on sample size. But I believe this will be a trend as the season progresses.
 
The Blazers defense is giving up 108.1 points per 100 possessions which is 4th worst in the NBA.

Their defensive effective FG% is .486 which is above average good for 13th.
Defensive FT/FGA is .141 which is excellent only three teams are better
Their defensive turnover % is 9.6% second worst in the league.
Their defensive rebounding % is 69.7% which is bad, only 4 teams are worse one of whom is surprisingly Phoenix.

So through three games the Blazers are terrible at forcing turnovers, very bad at defensive rebounding, and overall have the 27th rated defense. They are winning games due to having the second most efficient offense behind the Clippers scoring 112.3 points per 100 possessions.

I sure hope the "Lopez effect" helps more going forward than it has thus far.
 
Dwight Howard and Omer Asik alone have a higher defensive rebounding percentage than our entire team.
 
Draco said:
The Blazers defense is giving up 108.1 points per 100 possessions which is 4th worst in the NBA.

Their defensive effective FG% is .486 which is above average good for 13th.
Defensive FT/FGA is .141 which is excellent only three teams are better
Their defensive turnover % is 9.6% second worst in the league.
Their defensive rebounding % is 69.7% which is bad, only 4 teams are worse one of whom is surprisingly Phoenix.

So through three games the Blazers are terrible at forcing turnovers, very bad at defensive rebounding, and overall have the 27th rated defense. They are winning games due to having the second most efficient offense behind the Clippers scoring 112.3 points per 100 possessions.

I sure hope the "Lopez effect" helps more going forward than it has thus far.
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Denver, Phoenix and San Antonio are all efficient offenses right?
 
Watching these games it feels to me like we are just flying up and down the court. Totally different from the McMillian era. But surprisingly our pace is 94.7 possessions per 48 minutes which is one possession slower than the league average.
 
Draco said:
Watching these games it feels to me like we are just flying up and down the court. Totally different from the McMillian era. But surprisingly our pace is 94.7 possessions per 48 minutes which is one possession slower than the league average.
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I think the entire league has gotten much faster.
 
Just watched highlights of the Spurs game. When Wes Matthews gets that big dunk late, Lopez is a complete wall preventing Duncan or anyone else from contesting that dunk. It's a huge lane to the basket for Wes. And THAT is why Lopez is more than his stats in the box score.
 
BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94 said:
An ejection for that? I hate protecting Golden Boy's...
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He was ejected for good reason. The league's new concussion rule. He took a HARD swipe and made contact near the head/neck area. Blake Griffin or not, that is a Flagrant 2 all night long.
 
http://ripcityproject.com/2013/11/05/portland-trail-blazers-robin-lopez-early-analysis/

That’s the thing – height still really does matter in the NBA. It’s something that can’t be taught, which is why it is so coveted (as an example, just look at how much bigs get paid). Even if he’s not the most skilled defensively, just having Lopez’s massive frame in the way can make a difference (not that it always does).

Before getting to defense, though, I must commend Lopez’s sheer effort. He has been giving it his all on the court. In a perfect world, you would like to think that every NBA player who is paid to play the game does this, but in reality, the looming threat of injuries and the grind of an 82 game season slow players down. Thus far, this hasn’t stopped Lopez. He has been chasing down loose balls and making scrappy plays continually.
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The Blazers are currently 19th worst in opponent field goal percentage allowed, 22nd worst in points allowed per game, and most damaging, 27th worst in defensive efficiency (points allowed per possession). Again, there have only been three games, so there is no need yet to panic, but these are troubling signs. This is compounded by the fact that over the offseason so much lip service was given to improvement on the defensive side of the ball, from players and coach alike.

If that defensive efficiency doesn’t get cleaned up, just making the playoffs will be a tall order, if not impossible, for the Blazers. It’s that simple – the defense has to be there. I’m seeing too many mistakes. NBA players are so talented and so good at shooting that all it takes is a single misstep for the opposing team to get a good shot off. Really – a single false step can be the undoing of an entire possession. No team can or will ever be perfect, but the goal is all about keeping mistakes that you can control to the bare minimum.
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Lopez has been solid but I can't be the only one who thinks that he's a backup C on a playoff team.
 
Fez Hammersticks said:
Lopez has been solid but I can't be the only one who thinks that he's a backup C on a playoff team.
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His Per/36 rebounding is 6.8. His PER is 9.0.

For comparison's sake, Meyers Leonard last year had a per/36 of 7.6 rebounds (9.0 this year, but in limited minutes), and people were freaking out because Leonard couldn't rebound.

I think Robin Lopez has been a huge disappointment so far, but that could be a part of learning to play with LMA on offense.
 
Yep, if only there was some way to get Asik without trading LMA.
 
It's LMA that has been disappointing me on Defense. Lopez has lived up to my expectations:

2.25: Blocks per game averaged by Blazers center Robin Lopez, who is tied for sixth in the league. The Blazers last had a player average two blocks in 2009-10, when Greg Oden averaged 2.3 over 21 games. The last time a player averaged two blocks over more than 50 games in a season was 2005-06, when Joel Przybilla averaged 2.3 in 56 games.
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http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...trail_blazers_by_the_number.html#incart_river
 
magnifier661 said:
I am a big time Aldridge homer and I totally agree with you. I am with Brian too. I think he's getting pushed out of the paint to easily. He needs to force the issue down low.
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It sounds like you're talking about offense. If not, how is he supposed to "force the issue down low" on defense?
 
Nikolokolus said:
It sounds like you're talking about offense. If not, how is he supposed to "force the issue down low" on defense?
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Oh yeah you're right. My bad… I think I'm talking more about rebounding. Aldridge's offensive rebounding needs to improve; which I believe improves the team's defense. If a shot goes up and he can grab an offensive board, teams won't be able to push after a miss as much as they've done so far.
 
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