The Big Apple Lopez Twins

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There’s something quite unique about the bond between twin siblings as they have a bond between them forever. The journey of NBA centers Brook and Robin Lopez began in North Hollywood, California. The Lopez twins would play high school basketball at San Joaquin Memorial in Fresno, California before attending Stanford University in Palo Alto, California as they are West Coast guys at heart. As a sophomore, Brook would average 19.3 points and 8.2 rebounds as he was named as a Third-team All-American. In 2008, the Lopez twins would each forgo their final two years of eligibility at Stanford in favor of the NBA Draft. Brook Lopez would be selected by the New Jersey Nets with the tenth overall pick while Robin would go to the Phoenix Suns with the 15th overall selection.

Brook has spent his entire NBA career with the Nets which has included moving with the team from Northern New Jersey to Brooklyn, New York in 2012. And with the Nets, Lopez has gone on to become a cornerstone of their franchise which culminated in an All-Star Game appearance in 2013. Robin on the other hand has had to work a little harder to find stability as he has been traded twice, but at each stop along the way he has provided energy and a presence on the defensive end of the floor.

(l-r) Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez

The Lopez twins each hit the free agent market this summer looking to cash in on a big payday, but nobody expected what we’ve seen from them. Brook decided to return to the Nets while Robin decided to join him in the Big Apple. Robin wasn’t going to join the Nets and be his twin brother’s backup; so instead he opted to take his talents to the other side of the East River and join the New York Knicks on a four-year contract that is worth $54 million.

The past three years have seen the Nets make the NBA Playoffs, but they haven’t been a real title contender while the Knicks are coming off of a season where they only managed to win 17 games. What the Lopez twins have done is to put a spotlight on NBA basketball in New York City once again as sports reporters will have plenty of material to now go off of in order to drum up a story in regards to the brothers.

The Nets-Knicks rivalry goes back to 1976 when the then New York Nets joined the NBA after the American Basketball Association folded. The Nets had to pay the NBA $3.2 million due to the league’s expansion fee and $4.8 million to the Knicks for “infringing” on their territory. This left the Nets in financial peril and they were forced to sell the contract of Julius Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers. And thus the first die was cast in the rivalry between the Nets and Knicks. The Nets would then move to New Jersey where they would meet the Knicks three times in the playoffs, but the rivalry never truly amounted to anything. There was hope that the rivalry would intensify when the Nets moved to Brooklyn, but it has been lukewarm at best. However the rivalry stands to reach another level just due to the fact that the media in New York City will run the notion of Brook playing for the Nets and Robin for the Knicks.

On the court, the Lopez brothers have different styles even though they both are mellow. Brook is more the scorer while Robin tends to provide size off of the bench while grabbing rebounds and blocking shots. Brook had to prove himself this past season to new Nets head coach Lionel Hollins who wanted the seven-footer to be more aggressive. Robin played a big role for the Portland Trailblazers last season as he helped them win the Northwest Division Title for the first time in franchise history. Robin now joins the Knicks to play in the famed “triangle offense” of team president Phil Jackson. Lopez should have success with the Knicks due to the fact that he plays well without the basketball as Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony is known to play a ton of isolation ball. But one things is for sure as the newspapers in the Big Apple will have something to talk about game day between the Nets and Knicks.

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