[washingtonismoney]

Not sure if any Cardboarders are subscribers to Cleaning the Glass, an NBA site run by Ben Falk, a former executive with the Trail Blazers and Sixers. Back on Wednesday, Falk wrote a nice essay centered on Robin Lopez (pun intended heh heh heh), which begins thusly:

It took one day for us to tell that Robin Lopez was different.

It was early September. The summer had faded, and, along with the Portland rain, the Blazers veterans had started to return. They would play pickup at the practice facility each day to ramp up their conditioning for training camp, going half-speed until the game got close. But when Robin joined the fray, the whole atmosphere changed. He played hard the whole time. He set crushing screens, walled off the rim, boxed out, and cleaned the offensive glass.

At the end of that first day of pickup, one of the vets walked over to the coaches with a giddy grin plastered on his face. “That is a big f——er right there. And he plays hard.”

It’s a nice appreciation of Lopez, a just fun character who dovetailed on- and off-the-court perfectly at Portland, and includes this charming line: “Fit is a funny word to use for Lopez, because he is not your typical NBA personality. (I mean, for starters, how many players have used the word “kismet” in an NBA press conference?)” Lopez apparently has zero ego, which is nice for a guy who’s banked $51 million so far in his career.

Anyway, if any of you are NBA fans I recommend Cleaning the Glass greatly. Link here: https://cleaningtheglass.com/the-whole-i...n-the-sum/

[washingtonismoney]

Not sure if any Cardboarders are subscribers to Cleaning the Glass, an NBA site run by Ben Falk, a former executive with the Trail Blazers and Sixers. Back on Wednesday, Falk wrote a nice essay centered on Robin Lopez (pun intended heh heh heh), which begins thusly:

It took one day for us to tell that Robin Lopez was different.

It was early September. The summer had faded, and, along with the Portland rain, the Blazers veterans had started to return. They would play pickup at the practice facility each day to ramp up their conditioning for training camp, going half-speed until the game got close. But when Robin joined the fray, the whole atmosphere changed. He played hard the whole time. He set crushing screens, walled off the rim, boxed out, and cleaned the offensive glass.

At the end of that first day of pickup, one of the vets walked over to the coaches with a giddy grin plastered on his face. “That is a big f——er right there. And he plays hard.”

It’s a nice appreciation of Lopez, a just fun character who dovetailed on- and off-the-court perfectly at Portland, and includes this charming line: “Fit is a funny word to use for Lopez, because he is not your typical NBA personality. (I mean, for starters, how many players have used the word “kismet” in an NBA press conference?)” Lopez apparently has zero ego, which is nice for a guy who’s banked $51 million so far in his career.

Anyway, if any of you are NBA fans I recommend Cleaning the Glass greatly. Link here: https://cleaningtheglass.com/the-whole-i...n-the-sum/

[jacketree]

Somewhere there is a photo of my 5' - 1" tall daughter and Rolo in front of the old Beesaw's on 23rd in Portland's Alphabet District. They were both there for breakfast; he recognized her and she chatted him up about watching him play at Stanford.  One of her teaching colleagues is also a Blazers cheerleader, so she would sometimes get court side seats. In the picture he's got a coffee mug and they both have big smiles.  Funny picture given the disparity in height. She says he's a really nice, genuine person.

[jacketree]

Somewhere there is a photo of my 5' - 1" tall daughter and Rolo in front of the old Beesaw's on 23rd in Portland's Alphabet District. They were both there for breakfast; he recognized her and she chatted him up about watching him play at Stanford.  One of her teaching colleagues is also a Blazers cheerleader, so she would sometimes get court side seats. In the picture he's got a coffee mug and they both have big smiles.  Funny picture given the disparity in height. She says he's a really nice, genuine person.

[PVTree]

I always liked the Lopi. If Robin and Michelle Wie would have stayed together, I wonder what type of talented kids they would have had.

[PVTree]

I always liked the Lopi. If Robin and Michelle Wie would have stayed together, I wonder what type of talented kids they would have had.

[burger]

If Lopez plays a couple of more years, he'll likely pass Brevin Knight, Rich kelley, and Jason Collins as the Stanford alum with the most NBA games played.  Full list of Stanford in the NBA here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/fri...e=stanford

[burger]

If Lopez plays a couple of more years, he'll likely pass Brevin Knight, Rich kelley, and Jason Collins as the Stanford alum with the most NBA games played.  Full list of Stanford in the NBA here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/fri...e=stanford