Robin Lopez has long lived in the shadow of his highly touted twin brother and Stanford teammate Brook, but it appears the young seven-footer is ready to make an impression of his own.
Lopez stood out yesterday as the Raptors, holders of the 17th pick at the June 26th NBA draft, held their second day of pre-draft workouts at the Air Canada Centre.
"For us to get the quality of big men in … we’re not down in the lottery, that was a great workout for us in terms of level of play and quality of players and players that we might draft as well," Kelly said.
Koufos is noticeably skilled, but he is not a good fit for the Raptors, since he prefers the outside shot to inside play, similar to 2006 No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani.
Lopez, on the other hand, needs lots of work at the offensive end, but showed decent athleticism and a willingness to get on the boards and block shots that the Raptors have long lacked.
Kelly was impressed.
"He might not be the most graceful, his brother (projected to be a top five selection) is probably a little more polished, but yet," Kelly added, "he is a true five (centre) who likes to bang."
Lopez has seen a lot of the Raptors and believes he would fit in well next to players such as Bargnani and Chris Bosh.
"They’ve got a great young team," Lopez said. "I think I could pick up some rebounds, give them quality minutes out there defensively, pick up a few offensive rebounds."
Lopez showed some of those skills during a three-on-three scrimmage. He was very quick off the floor going after rebounds and at one point, blocked a Koufos jump shot, hustled down the court, threw down a dunk, then sprinted back the other way to grab a defensive board.
Bosh said his gig was essentially an on-camera job interview for possible future employment with the late-night variety show, the results of which are expected to air tonight. Fans should tune in, if only for the possible historical significance: Who knows how long it will be before the Raptors get similar screen time on U.S. network TV.
"They wanted to see how I would do," said Bosh of Leno’s people, "so hopefully I do pretty good and it’ll be funny and they’ll invite me back."
Yesterday he engaged in a handful of encounters with his fellow NBAers, swapping hairstyling advice with L.A.’s Sasha Vujacic and suggesting to Derek Fisher that the Lakers wear ’80s-style short-shorts in their best-of-seven series with their retro rivals. Some of Bosh’s work appeared to be improvised. Some of his lines were delivered via cue cards scribbled on the fly by a Tonight Show staffer.
"I like doing it. I like the finished (TV) product, to see how it turns out, the finished piece," said Bosh.
"I’m just doing one game so far, seeing how that goes. Hopefully everybody in Toronto will watch it."
Interesting day at the Raptor workouts yesterday with Robin Lopez and Kosta Koufos going at each other in a battle of bigs.
Neither, right now, is the answer.
Lopez, as you’d expect, rebounds the ball better – at least he did in a three-on-three game we saw – is more energetic but has the offensive range of a Joakim Noah clone at the moment. The chin-high release of his jumper makes him an early favourite to lead the NBA in getting his shot blocked next year unless someone does some major corrective surgery on his stroke.
Koufos? I wonder about his motor. He shoots it well, with range, but they do this drill at the end of the workout where the already-tired players run baseline to baseline for three minutes.
I don’t want to say Koufos loafed (although you could have timed him with a sun dial) but he was taking his sweet time except for about the first 45 seconds and all of a sudden got to sprinting in the last 25 or 30 seconds. Full effort? I’m not sure. Hardly a way to impress.
Still, he’s a good shooter to just about three-point range and doesn’t mind some contact under the basket.
Here’s the one problem I see with Chris Bosh doing Leno as the special NBA final correspondent. There’s a chance that at the same time his bit airs tonight, the game may be in its dying minutes. Thanks for those 9 p.m. starts, NBA.
I’m presuming it will end up being at least a little funny, but I’m not sure how much credit I can give to Chris, though. He was there with a camera guy, a sound guy and three producers. From what I could tell one producer just looked serious all the time and sort of stood back and watched everything go down. Making funny TV is very intense. Then there was another guy who was figuring out who to interview. Then the third guy would listen to how the interview was going and quickly scribble goofy questions down on a sheet of paper and flash them to Chris to make sure he was being goofy enough. Cleary if you do this enough times someone is going to say something funny, and when you edit it all together you might get a funny bit. We’ll see. Jay could have just hired Cabbie to bug Kobe. That would have been funny for sure.
"(He is) very physical. (He) might not be the most graceful," said Jim Kelly, Toronto’s director of player personnel. "His brother is probably a little bit more polished. But yet he is a true five who likes to bang down inside."
Learning how to be tough inside was pretty much Robin’s only recourse when playing one-on-one games with his brother in Fresno, Calif.
"They were intense," Robin said. "We played up to 50, by twos and threes. They were kind of ridiculous, because you would have Brook out there, I’d check it to him, he would just shoot. I would check it, he’d shoot a three, (it would) go in. Check it, shoot a three, go in. Check it, he would miss, I’d get it, and . . . it got kind of repetitive. But I guess that’s one of the reasons why I believe I’m conditioned so well."
"(Koufos is) not your typical bruiser. He has a lot of strengths that are different than mine," Lopez said. "He’s better on the perimeter. I think you just have to get a feel for him, almost like a test run. You need a couple plays to get used to it.
"But as good of a player as he is, I feel I gave it my best shot. I put my best foot forward there."
Mbah a Moute’s situation is more complex since it is uncertain whether he will remain in the draft or return to UCLA for his senior season. He has until June 16 to make a decision.
Mbah a Moute will work out for the Chicago Bulls today, and also has workouts scheduled with the Charlotte Bobcats, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers. However, the Trail Blazers’ workout could be problematic since Minyem said it is scheduled for June 20, after Mbah a Moute is to make his decision on his future, so he is trying to reschedule it.
According to sources, Mbah a Moute is considering remaining in the draft if he receives a guarantee of being selected in the second round, and also if a team is willing to guarantee him a contract. Only first-round draft choices are guaranteed NBA contracts.
TJ Ford is a UT grad, and hangs out in Austin to mentor young Longhorns as much as possible. For those of you without a map handy, Austin is an hour north of San Antonio, it’s home to the Spurs-owned Austin Toros of the NBDL, and the official NBA team of the city is the Spurs. At the rate Austin’s growing it will probably be a suburb of River City before long.
It’s not a stretch to say Ford lands in Spurs country, where the fans adore him and he could truly help run the team and give Parker some rest. We all know how much Popovich loves to save his starters during the regular season. A healthy TJ gives him the option to take another five minutes per game off of Parker’s shoulders, and also gives his a great option to use should Parker get hurt. Don’t be surprised to see TJ get a lot of play from the Spurs this summer.
17. Toronto Raptors – Roy Hibbert, Georgetown C
The Raptors are third to last in rebounds, and other than that, they look outstanding offensively, defensively they are mediocre, which is where they should look to make most of their improvements.
The only area with a real weakness may be center, where undeveloped Bargnani lays, and behind him Nesterovic is getting up in age. The Raptors are most likely looking for a center that can hold his own in the paint defensively and shows at least some sort of offensive production and thats exactly what Hibbert is best at.
There’s questions about his conditioning and being foul prone, but with the Raptors situation right now, he’ll be a perfect role player defensively, somewhat of a reach, but a certain upgrade in a needed area. McGee is available, but he’s good at blocking and only blocking, he lacks a lot of awareness in many departments and is likely to be a bust, and right now the Raptors have Bargnani and are looking for a sixth man, and good defense which Hibbert will be good for.
Just from what I have read, it is clear that the club has received genuine interest from a handful of teams about Ford whicj is always nice to know. BC was partying with other general manger’s at last week’s draft camp in Orlando and it’s likely the names of both Ford and Calderon came up over a beer or two. Who would not pick BC’s ear when so many teams need a point guard in this league.
In his search for a better draft choice, BC knows that he will have to give up one of his PGs to get it. Those are the cards he is playing with and it will be interesting to see if he plays it cautious or goes all in before the draft.
As much as missing yesterday’s workout was a tough pill to swallow because of Lopez and Thompson, today’s is really going to cut deep. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail about my affection for three of today’s prospects, Walker and CDR in particular so let’s get right down to business for workout batch number three.
On Wednesday afternoon I was able to head to the ACC to watch Ryan Anderson, Kosta Koufas, Robin Lopez, Drew Neitzel, Jeremy Pargo and Jason Thompson try to impress the Raptors brain trust. Here are some notes from what I saw and heard:
So, why doesn’t Bryan Colangelo simply put 2 and 2 together and trade TJ Ford, or perhaps sign and trade Jose Calderon, and trade for a player like Corey Maggette. Then draft a big man at 17, and we’re set.
Why won’t Bryan Colangelo doing that? Maybe he will. It seems to be everything we need. Would it make too much sense? Probably. Bryan Colangelo has a knack for doing the unexpected, then it turning out well.
If that’s all we do, I can see us eclipsing our 47 win record. But why can’t we turn ourselves into contenders? That’s what everyone wants; The Celtics did it, the Lakers did it, and heck even we did it. But unlike two years ago, why can’t we take it to the next level? And for the first time ever since the inaugural season in ’95 earn some real respect. While staying young.
Dino Blogger Goes One on One with Paul Jones
The North Las Vegas Aces will hold basketball and dance tryouts July 10th-12th. The camp will include special invited NBA guest speakers: Former NBA Tony Farmer of the Golden State Warriors; Shawn Marion and Maurice Banks of the Miami Heat; Jamario Moon of the Toronto Raptors and Boxing Champ and Dancing with the Stars Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather. The tryout will be held at Gibson Middle School from 9am-12noon. Registration is $100 (cashiers check or cash).
Enjoy the series this year, folks, but ask yourself how many participants in these Finals will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
(And please forget that vote for Pau Gasol.)
Think about that a second and consider that in the old days, these two teams brought Hall of Famers off the bench.
Talk to Bill Walton, second teamer.
You can’t just put players in famous uniforms and re-create history.
But I suppose it’s better than seeing the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto Raptors All-Star Chris Bosh was in town conducting interviews for NBA TV and he caught up with former Lakers power forward Kurt Rambis, who is now a Lakers assistant coach.
Bosh asked Rambis about his famed glasses.
"Those Rambis glasses you wore were cool," said Bosh.
To which Rambis responded, "They were women magnets."
"Really," said Bosh. "Maybe I ought to get me a pair."
Even though Bosh has a summer job his other gig is still on his mind. I asked him if he had thought any more about The Raptors current point guard situation. "I don’t know if I’d call it a ‘situation’ said Bosh diplomatically "… but we need Jose back."
And if Toronto Raptors G.M. Bryan Colangelo has his way, T.J. Ford will be carrying his bags—and his me-first attitude—to a different N.B.A. city.
This is NOT how an on-court leader SHOULD carry himself, if he has a goal of winning the NBA championship one day in the not-too-distant future.
It reflects poorly on the entire Raptors’ organization and someone with considerable clout within their club NEEDS to get him to stop this sort of nonsense, which you didn’t see from the Leader of these teams …
17) Toronto Raptors take Marresse Speights Sophomore PF/C (6′10, 245 lbs.) from Florida. On a team that can use a big man to help them inside on both sides of the ball I think Speights will do great. I truly believe that Speights is going to work hard and be the a power on a team that needs one.
- ABC dello Sport Universitario
Related posts:
re: Bleacher Report
Whoever thinks that McGee is going to be ‘a bust’ in the NBA doesn’t understand what real NBA talent looks like in a big man.
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