The New York Knicks may not have pleased their fans with the players they brought in in free agency but they are confident they can be much more competitive this season and potentially contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Robin Lopez was one of the Knicks biggest additions this offseason and while he is known as a defensive player first the Knicks reportedly plan to give him more opportunities on offense this season, according to Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal.
Lopez signed with the Knicks this offseason on a four year $54 million deal which seems to show that they view him as more than just a defensive center. Carmelo Anthony seems to like the signing as he has said that he didn't like to play against Lopez because he thought he set illegal screens. Now that they are teammates Melo will surely appreciate the hard screens Lopez supplies as he will get more open shots from them.
The idea of getting Lopez more touches on offense this season might be out of necessity because the Knicks don't have too many scoring options. After Melo their number two option is probably Arron Afflalo and beyond that there are a lot of question marks about who will score. Lopez will be the starting center for the Knicks and since they run the triangle offense he will be forced to get touches on the block and possibly score more than he is used to.
For his career Lopez has averaged 8.2 points per game but most of that damage has been done inside the paint although he has extended his range in recent years to about 16 feet out. Lopez made 40 percent of his shots between 10 and 16 feet last season which was a major improvement and although that isn't great, it is a step in the right direction.
On the positive side regarding Lopez' offensive game, he is a career 53 percent shooter from the field so he knows his limits for the most part. The 27 year old center will get more offensive opportunity than he ever has before so it will be interesting to see how he handles it and how his numbers are affected by it. Odds are that with more opportunity his numbers will only go up so look for some big numbers from Robin Lopez in his first year as a Knick.
