The Painted Area: What If Thomas Robinson Just Isn't That Good?

I like this trade because even if TROB isn't that good.....he can be traded for another asset...

Patterson is the player 100% we do not resign....and cant afford him.
It is better to trade him before his last year of contract and get asset back!



I think TROB will pan out!
It is another AB-Gragic trade!

 

I think it's too early to tell. And it's not like he was given much opportunity to develop with Sacramento. Apparently Robinson was told to work on his perimeter skills so he could get time at small forward.

 

I remember that thread about Donuts complaining for more PT and the Front Office assuring him that he'll get it in the 2nd half.

We didn't need to trade away Morris for a 2nd rounder, but we did to free up that logjam. Getting PT for Donuts will definitely groom him for the future.

TRob might not pan out, but as long as he keeps away from the press, shows some improvement here or in the Dleagues, you'll bet Maury will flip that athletic 6'9 w/ 7'1 wingspan PF for something meaningful when the time is right.

 

Low risk move.

We are not banking on TRob to pan out, at least not this off season. If we could acquire a superstar level player then TRob will be on his way out since he's probably the most valuable trade chip at this stage. if not, there's hardly anything to lose with a high draft pick on a rookie scale contract.

To put it simply, we just can't lose in this trade, major props to Morey and co.

 

LOL WTF.

 

We gave Pat and MM plenty of opportunity. Each showed flashes of offense, but rebounding-- not so much. Now I hope we'll give DMo, TJ, and TRob opportunities. No more of Delfino at the 4, please! We need our true 4s to compete for minutes, to learn, to improve. We need to know what we've got. I suspect that's why Morey traded away Pat and MM.

 

TRob vs PPat.... potential vs known limited commodity.... I'm callin it a wash at this point.... with a slight edge to Rox - #5 pick from last year with 3 years left on a rookie scale contract has to have a better street value than PPat entering his last year of rookie contract....

(part retracted - Bima corrected me elsewhere...)

 

Morey basically betted 10$ in hopes of it turning into 150$ while also freeing up time for Dmo.

 

I just love how this BBS can't even give Robinson 5 games (with PT), let alone 5 months, without crying "calamity"

Morey didn't make this trade with the notion that Robinson is a sure fire lock to be a franchise cornerstone 4. He's working the long shot odds that he might have a surprise stud/starter on his hands (a la Asik), but we all know that Morey's very likely to still try for someone like Josh Smith this summer (possibly tossing Robinson their way in S&T to make it a little cap friendlier for us).

The Stretch 4 craze is more than a bit overblown on this board, IMO. How many fanbases do you honestly think were envious of our former frontcourt? We're a sliver over 0.500 and holding on to the bottom playoff seed in the West. I'm sorry, but we weren't getting out of the first round this year or next with Patterson-Morris manning the 4. The jump shots were nice, but the paltry rebounding and defense hurt, and their complete inability to draw fouls didn't help.

As people keep trying to say to the brick wall, clearing out Patterson and Morris, career backups, to clear the way for Motiejunas-Smith-Jones-Robinson-whomever else-whomever's yet to come was just as important as anything else. Morey and McHale can talk all they want about the D-League minutes, but I've seen nothing to change my mind that young guys need real NBA rotational minutes to develop. We were going to continue to get zero out of Motiejunas as long as PP and MM were wasting time in front of him.

Robinson doesn't need to be a 40 mpg 20-12 beast to be a success here. I look at him and see the same scrappy hustle that made both Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry such favorites here. And don't forget that the BBS had a love hate relationship with Chuck his first few years (rebounding, offensive liability, stellar post D yet to come). And those two weren't exactly 6'11" themselves.

And so many falling over themselves to take the first few months of the season (in a wretched situation) to early-declare Robinson a bust. Well, let's review some rookie seasons first:

Donatas Motiejunas
21 games, 5.5 mpg, 3.2 ppg on 0.540 FG%, 0.9 rpg

Terrence Jones
11 games, 8.3 mpg, 3.1 ppg on 0.382 FG%, 1.6 rpg

Royce White
0 games, no stats

Marcus Morris
17 games, 7.4 mpg, 2.4 ppg on 0.296 FG%, 0.9 rpg

Patrick Patterson
52 games, 16.7 mpg, 6.3 ppg on 0.558 FG%, 3.8 rpg

Carl Landry
42 games, 16.9 mpg, 8.1 ppg on 0.616 FG%, 4.9 rpg

Chuck Hayes
40 games, 13.4 mpg, 3.7 ppg on 0.562 FG%, 4.5 rpg

Thomas Robinson
51 games, 15.9 mpg, 4.8 ppg on 0.424 FG%, 4.7 rpg

I'm not saying that Thomas is going to be a STAR. Just that maybe, just maybe we need to give him some time before falling over ourselves to label him a bust. He's not exactly Thabeet-level yet.

If he can give us 10-15 minutes behind Motiejunas/Smith, I'm happy. He may not have Patterson's sweet 20 foot jump shoot, but I suspect the board will find that he's got a great knack for diving to the basket weakside for easy dump off dunks or tip ins.

 

Oh, we know Riverboat Daryl:
ASSET: Terrence Williams
ASSET: Thabeet (although he is blossoming with the Thunder)
ASSET: Royce White
ASSET: Marcus Morris
ASSET: Trevor Ariza

... and the beat goes on, on, on, on ... :grin:

But seriously, we need to give Thomas Robinson a chance before trashing him. He is short but has long arms. He needs to shoot at a higher percentage, but give Kevin McHale a chance to work with him. I wouldn't have drafted him at #5 and probably not even at #10, but he is a Rocket so let's wait to see if he is worth a #14.

 

He's almost back to posting his rookie year numbers (3-3-1) again!

 

Could I get per possession stats on Royce White?

 

My calculator keeps telling me "Divide by Zero Error" for some reason. I'll keep trying.

 

patterson could come off the bench on a championship caliber team

 

Thabeet blossoming.....ROFL.

 

what if he isn't that good?

well. even if he isn't that good
he can rebound
and he has a very high motor (he can run).

i suspect he'll be able to score on this team.

 

I was watching a Thunder game the other night (since I can't watch Rockets games), and their network announcers were gushing over his progress and potential.

 

The TRob situation reminds me of the Griz giving up on Thabeet only worse because the Kings gave up on him after a few months.

PPat is way more developed, this kid is an athlete without size and that's about it for now and he's not going to get taller. He's a project and I hope he doesn't pick 0 for his jersey number like he used in SacTown.

 

T Rob sounds alot like Greg Smith 2. That is not so bad because I had Smith pegged as the starting 4 back in preseason ahead of Morris and PPat. Can someone super familiar with T Rob's game and ability analyze it against Greg Smith?

 

Agreed. White is too out of shape to help the Rockets this year. Hoping he commits himself to basketball this summer - he does exhibit OCD symptoms so if that gets focused on basketball you might be amazed come training camp.