Felipe López (basketball)

Felipe López
Personal information
Born	December 19, 1974 (age 49); Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Nationality	Dominican
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	199 lb (90 kg)
Career information
High school	Rice (New York City, New York)
College	St. John's (1994–1998)
NBA draft	1998: 1st round, 24th overall pick
	Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Playing career	1998–2011
Position	Shooting guard
Number	13
Career history
1998–2000	Vancouver Grizzlies
2000–2001	Washington Wizards
2001–2002	Minnesota Timberwolves
2002	Diablos de La Vega
2004–2005	Long Beach Jam
2005	Baskets Oldenburg
2005	Caballeros de Santiago
2006	Plus Pujol Lleida
2006–2007	Albany Patroons
2007	Villa Duarte de Calero
2007–2008	Minas Tênis Clube
2008	Gregorio Urbano Gilbert
2008	Marineros de Puerto Plata
2008	Gaiteros del Zulia
2009	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey
2009	Obras Sanitarias
2010–2011	Gregorio Urbano Gilbert
Career highlights and awards
	First-team All-Big East (1998); 2x Third-team All-Big East (1995, 1997); Haggerty Award winner (1998); Mr. Basketball USA (1994); Gatorade National Player of the Year (1994); McDonald's All-American MVP (1994); 2× First-team Parade All-American (1993, 1994); Second-team Parade All-American (1992);
Career statistics
Points	1,448
Assists	252
Rebounds	604
	Stats at Basketball Reference

Luis Felipe López (born December 19, 1974) is a Dominican former professional basketball player. He starred as a high school player and for the St. John's Red Storm in college basketball. López played for four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has played for teams in a half dozen countries, as well as in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) in the U.S. Most recently, he has been a broadcaster with Spanish-language networks. His life story was the subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary entitled The Dominican Dream.

Early life

López's father, who played amateur baseball in the Dominican Republic, and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was 14. López played high school basketball at Rice High School in New York City, where he followed New York high school player Dean Meminger in becoming one of the most highly touted recruits in U.S. high school history.^[1] The 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) guard made many All-American lists in 1994, earning Player of the Year honors from Gatorade, USA Today, Parade, and many others.

College career

López appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated before he had played his first college game. He also appeared with Jim Brown and Jackie Joyner-Kersee at a televised town meeting on race and sports along with then-president Bill Clinton. López was the only Latino onstage during the discussion.^[2]

López and Allen Iverson were the two most lauded recruits coming out of prep that year, and both went on to play in the Big East.

López finished his freshman season for the St. John's Red Storm with an 17.8-point-per-game scoring average. He earned a spot on the All-Big East Rookie Team and All-Big East Third Team. His numbers dipped slightly the next two years, bottoming out at 15.9 ppg as a junior. As a senior he averaged 17.6 ppg and garnered All-Big East First Team honors. He finished his career with 1,927 points, placing him fourth all-time in St. John's history behind former players Chris Mullin, Malik Sealy, and D'Angelo Harrison and sixth in Big East history with 1,222 conference points, while also ranking seventh all time in steals, 14th in assists, and 20th in rebounds. He also holds the St. John's record for most three-pointers made in a single season (60) and in a career (148).

Professional career

López was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 24th pick in the 1998 NBA draft and was immediately traded, along with Carl Herrera, to the Vancouver Grizzlies for point guard Antonio Daniels. López's drafting into the NBA was cause for great celebration in the heavily Dominican community of Washington Heights in New York City.^{[citation needed]} He played 112 games for the Grizzlies before being traded to the Washington Wizards along with Dennis Scott, Cherokee Parks, and Obinna Ekezie in exchange for free agent Isaac Austin on August 22, 2000. López went on to sign as a free agent with both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks, although he never played a regular season game for the Mavs. He trained with the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers in the first months of the 2005–06 NBA season before signing a contract with Lleida.^[3]

López holds career NBA averages of 5.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and one assist per game.^[4]

Career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

NBA

Source^[5]

Regular season


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1998–99	Vancouver	47	32	25.9	.446	.273	.644	3.5	1.3	1.0	0.3	9.3
1999–00	Vancouver	65	0	12.0	.425	.167	.615	1.9	0.7	0.5	0.3	4.5
2000–01	Washington	47	38	23.6	.436	.207	.732	3.4	1.6	0.9	0.4	8.1
2000–01	Minnesota	23	10	19.9	.454	.565	.576	3.2	1.5	0.9	0.5	7.4
2001–02	Minnesota	67	0	8.7	.378	.424	.673	1.2	0.6	0.3	0.0	2.5
Career		249	80	16.6	.432	.327	.659	2.4	1.0	0.6	0.2	5.8

Playoffs


Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2001	Minnesota	4	13.8	.318	.200	.667	2.8	1.3	1.0	.0	4.3
2002	Minnesota	3	10.0	.250	.500	.500	.3	.3	.3	.0	1.3
Career		7	12.1	.308	.286	.600	1.7	.9	.7	.0	3.0

References

^ "Sports Illustrated story". Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
^ "Clinton Needles Sports World For Not Hiring Minorities". CNN. April 15, 1998. The meeting, broadcast live on ESPN, was the second of Clinton's three planned nationally televised town meetings on race. The forum's makeup angered Latino activists who complained that too few Hispanics were represented. Felipe Lopez, a basketball star at St. John's University, was the only Hispanic on the panel.
^ San Martin, Pablo (January 12, 2006). "El Plus Pujol Lleida se refuerza con Luis Felipe López" (in Spanish). Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Felipe Lopez | Vancouver Grizzlies". www.nba.com. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "Felipe López". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 16, 2022.

5. Beat Nuts-Get Funky https://genius.com/The-beatnuts-get-funky-lyrics

External links

"Shoot the Moon", New Yorker article by Susan Orlean

[1] "Sports Illustrated story". Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2009.

[2] "Clinton Needles Sports World For Not Hiring Minorities". CNN. April 15, 1998. The meeting, broadcast live on ESPN, was the second of Clinton's three planned nationally televised town meetings on race. The forum's makeup angered Latino activists who complained that too few Hispanics were represented. Felipe Lopez, a basketball star at St. John's University, was the only Hispanic on the panel.

[3] San Martin, Pablo (January 12, 2006). "El Plus Pujol Lleida se refuerza con Luis Felipe López" (in Spanish). Retrieved July 15, 2006.

[4] "Felipe Lopez | Vancouver Grizzlies". www.nba.com. Retrieved February 17, 2024.

[5] "Felipe López". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 16, 2022.

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