Rockets acquire Thomas Robinson; Morris traded to Phoenix; Patterson, Douglas, Aldrich to Kings

No one should have to make excuses for a rookie, and no one should blame him for not getting minutes in the playoffs. I think we gave him undeserved minutes to get him ready for the playoffs, but he needed more time.

Everyone knew TRob was raw coming into the draft and that he would need a couple of years do develop his game. He was drafted solely on his potential. His size and athleticism can't be taught. He's an excellent ball handler, and rebounds and passes well too. Once he adds that mid range jumper to his game, you will see him breeze by opponents easily. I think he will be an excellent role player next season after training during the off-season with the Rockets. He could turn out to be the rockets starting PF for the next decade.

 

You think so? Considering contractual situations, maybe...

I'm not sure that is saying much though. Patterson may have been impossible to trade, given his production level (or lack thereof) mixed with his impending free agency. I mean, you could have moved him this offseason, but you would have gotten almost nothing for him.

But what can we seriously get for Robinson? Could we get a protected future 1st rounder? If we wanted to, could we trade him to get into this draft (not to say they would want to, but, if they did)? If so, around how high?

If we can fleece someone for a protected future 1st rounder the way the sixers got us on that Terrence Williams trade, then all criticism of that Patterson deal would be squashed -- but is that possible?

 

Even though I agree with you, on the fact of T-Rob being extremely raw at the time, I believe he was deemed one of the most "NBA ready guys" at the top of the draft order by most scouts, draft experts, and GMs.

Goes to show you how hard it is to determine player quality from measurables, film, and a few pick up games here and there. Damian Lillard came out to be the most NBA ready guy out of all.

But I do believe Robinson has immense potential and should come back a different player under the tutelage of McHale after a full offseason together, so long as he works the whole offseason on his game.

 

Actually, Thomas Robinson, being a 21-year-old junior, was supposed to be more NBA ready than his fellow draftees and was drafted high on that basis.

http://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/2012_draftcentral_trobinson.html

Turns out he had one of the least efficient rookie seasons ever for a 21-year-old rookie, and struggles with everything from making layups to turnovers and free throws.

This is part of the reason why SAC gave up on him-- the guy was supposed to be prepared for the NBA, but was not. It's one thing for an underclassman that one expects to be a project in the first place to struggle, it's another when a supposedly NBA-ready upperclassman to do the same. Also was reported to not listen to his coaches very well as a rookie in SAC (a trait he shared with his good friend, and the guy for whom he used to serve as back-up, Marcus Morris).

 

Yeah, I remember picking him as my sleeper ROY pick because I thought he was the most NBA ready. Lol.

 

We won't be trading for Dwight. He either comes as a free agent or not at all. The Rockets could dump Robinson for the extra couple of million they'd need to give Dwight the max, but they could just as easily dump Jones/White if they wanted.

 

What you said is true, but Trob's finishing rate and measurements are known facts before the draft. It's not like those informed people suddenly realized something unexpected(Kevin Pelton pretty much nailed his translated stats in his rookie NBA year).

What makes him a top5 pick is his combination of speed, vertical and strength, and those things are still there as well. He has a decent handle for PF, but doesn't have a consistent jumper. If he can improve in those two departments, opponents would have to close out on him facing up. It'll open up his lane to attack the rim and increase the finishing/foul drawing percentage.

He may not be able to get to that level, but the potential is there and the work ethic is obvious in Kansas.

Balir doesn't have ACL but he's been healthy. I'm a big fan of Ppat in his rookie season, but his repeated foot injury scared me and the reported mid-season foot surgery(postponed after multiple meetings with different doctors) really cast some doubts on his long term health.

 

DMo is a back to the basket type 4 that was asked to play like a stretch 4 because we needed to keep the lanes open for Lin and Harden. When he couldn't hit the 3, they tried him out at the 5, but he didn't have the muscle to control the paint....thus he went to the bench.

TRob is a face up stretch 4 that doesnt have a consistent jumper yet. His ability to drive the basket was limited because teams would back off of him and let him take the open J. His form is good (much better than TJones)....but the ball just wasn't going in the hoop. Once he gets that down, his drives will look much more effective. If I were him, I'd shoot as many corner 3s and mid-range Js as possible this summer. On the defensive end, he has the ability to be an elite player.

They all just need time.....and unless we can get Howard, Paul, or Josh Smith this summer, that is exactly what they will get.

 

There is little chance that HOU can "fleece" anyone for Thomas Robinson. He has not produced on court and is owed substantial money. Moreover, every one knows that the Rockets are trying to dump $3M in salary in order to chase Dwight Howard, which means teams are going to try to look to take advantage of the Rockets.

Take the example of Michael Beasley: a 2nd overall pick that Miami was trying to dump in order to land Lebron and Bosh, plus offer money for supporting guys like Mike Miller and Haslem. Everyone knew where Miami stood salary-wise. They ended up trading him for two 2nd round picks.

And Beasley was easily much more productive in each of his 2 years in Miami after playing only 1 year of college ball than Robinson was in SAC/HOU after playing 3 years of college ball.

 

I was for the trade and still am today. It improves the "perceived assets." But that said, I don't have huge high hopes for Thomas Robinson. In fact I feel the same way about DMO and Terence Jones. I think they could be "Carl Landry" type rotational role players (nothing wrong with that), but I don't see them as solid starters which is what we are hoping for.

 

Somebody said it before (i think BeatLA) that I totally agree with:
I'm a big time Robinson supporter and I think hell show up with a J which will open up EVERYTHING for him. Next year he will be a great role player and after that I believe he will be our PF of the future.

This year was not a good year for him but I believe he's got the tools to be special and he, in fact, will become special. Pulling for you TROB!

 

My mistake. I remember reading reports about him being NBA ready, but that he could not shoot the ball well and his offensive game needed improvement. I assumed he had some post moves since they said he was the most nba ready big man in the draft.

I guess the experts thought all he needed was a jumper to make it through his first season given his ball handling skills for a big man.

 

TROB already has a 15 foot jumper. He's just been too nervous and trying to play too fast to use it effectively. He needs to slow down, because even the slowed down version of TRob is faster than every legit PF you can think of outside of Faried. And he needs to extend his range on his jumper out to the 3-point line.

 

My, my - - let's shoot the sunuvagun because he wuzznt star material Day 1. When do rooks make their big leap? Between years 1 and 2; or is it 2 and 3? And bigs later than smalls.

Jordan Hill was missed by the Lakes. Jordan. Hill. was. missed. by. the. LAKERS. D'antoni ran him outta NY; Hill ran himself out of Houston. Now Jordan Hill is a rotation-worthy big for the greatest franchise of all time, the Los Angeles Lake-rs.

I, for one, am ready to see TRob and DoMo and TJ spend the summer developing and becoming relevant. And you know what, Royce White is, or could be, ok should be, better than any of them (sigh)!

 

I don't understand the whole "all Robinson needs is to develop a jumper" line of argument.

For Robinson, what is more important than developing a jumper is developing a lay up first. You can have an effective big on offense who can't hit a jump shot consistently, but inability to convert around the rim is what can severely limit a player's usefulness. A team needs somebody, most likely its bigs, to convert a decent percentage of layups and dunks off passes and offensive rebounds.

Robinson shoots 53% at the rim. The average NBA PF shoots 65% at the rim. Robinson shoots 78% on dunks. The NBA overall shoots roughly 90% on dunks.

Omer Asik, who has had his own well-chronicled issues finishing around the rim, hits 60% of his shots at the rim and 95% of his dunks-- he tends to blow more than his share of layups and tips. The Rockets offense also tend to really hurt when Omer gets into a bad stretch of blowing at-rim opportunities.

The troublesome part of this is that being unable to finish around the rim against NBA defenders seems to be a hard problem to fix-- harder than, say, improving an below-average 3 point shooter into an above-average one like Kyle Lowry did. I don't recall many players who made a dramatic turnaround in this respect.

 

I would more so place his lack of production on the fault of his footwork and ball handling in the paint more so than his "developed" or "undeveloped" jump shot.

Which McHale even stated he would work with T-Rob in the offseason to improve. So we should see a more polished Thomas Robinson if he in fact sticks with the team throughout the entire offseason period.

 

I think Douglas and Patterson combined would have helped us more than Garcia and Robinson combined.

I also think we get a higher seed without that trade and face someone we would have had a better chance of beating.

I think he meant Patterson and Parsons is simply bigger than Parsons and Garcia.

 

Patterson can defend the post. Garcia, Parsons, and Delfino cannot. When Asik sat, McHale was forced to play Smith and we all saw the result. We could have used Patterson instead of Smith as Asik's backup.

BTW, I don't think Morey traded Patterson for Garcia. I am pretty sure even he was surprised about Garcia's contribution in the playoffs.

 

Parsons is a SF who was forced to play PF because it was our only hope due to the serious suckage of our remaining PFs leaving us to small ball a playoff series. All this for a 2nd round pick as TRob has 0 trade or player value until HE proves otherwise.

 

I can't believe some people are still dwelling on Patterson. He wasn't the answer then and he's not the answer for the short-term and sure as hell isn't for the long-term.

I was hoping to see some more from TRob as well but the trade for Robinson is a gamble you make 10/10 times.