Having a hater like CH join you two might help to prevent constant agreements. Just saying. Good stuff as always.
great job guys. worth mentioning that although Robinson is not a stretch 4, and not likely to shoot 3's, he does have a little range. He is capable of slightly stretching the floor though his mid-range game.
If you want a real hater...errr a more pragmatic POV, you guys should invite leebigez to your podcast, and then just have a good ole time discussing Jeremy Lin. :grin: I too, am grounding myself with this trade and maybe thinking worst case scenario. All these trades were about were going for a higher ceiling at our 4 position, both in seeing what D-Mo has and whether the Rockets scouting report on T-Rob's is justified. Plus also giving TJones, Smith, and down on the line Royce more evaluation minutes to see what they can do in expanded roles. Morey is reaching for the fences on this one but not in the traditional homerun sense, because PPatt and Mook were for the most part solid steady eddy types while T-Rob is still a work in progress. Morey knows how to bunt, single, double, and triple. And with the Harden trade, he knows how to hit a homerun. These trades are the trickiest, almost like a suicide squeeze to get the runner home (to complete the baseball analogy).
I guess that's not in the podcast, which makes me mad, but I did talk to Bima about that -- you're spot on about Robinson and the Summer League. In fact, I remember talking about that, that he did not impress me in the SL. He was supposed to be one of the more NBA-ready players. I did not want him because I felt his size made him more of the same in Houston and I valued John Henson more for this team. My view of it though is that at the cost of Patrick Patterson, he's worth the risk. With Patterson, you know what you have... and the contract is up before too long and he's going to want $$ and a commitment. With T-Rob, you have a different kind of player and one under a rookie contract for a long while, at the team option for two more beyond 2013-14. He also, I would think, has more trade value this offseason than either of Patterson and Morris, and that could prove very useful when seeking a star-caliber player via trade.
One of the reasons Trob performs so bad in SL is: Kings coach intentionally let him play SF who handles and passes the ball a lot like a PG. Failed experiment. We have a good philosophy when coaching young players: Prove you can do what you do best in NBA and earn minutes from there. If Trob can concentrate on rebounding, defense and running the break, he's actually one of few top picks who has a high flooring(good rotation player or quality starter at least).
Ha... Not sure if I am a "hater" of this deal. Maybe came across more negative than I intended. I am perhaps as much a "hater" of the TRob trade as I am an "apologist" of the earlier lotto-bust acquisitions. To me, all of them are instances where Morey pays a relatively modest price (sometimes close to nothing) for a guy with high(ish) upside. They are all bets that have a relatively low probability of complete success but a relatively high pay off if you do succeed. For the Rockets, they were reasonable bets to make. Overall, I just think that a lot of NBA decisions are probabilistic-- the decision maker goes in knowing more or less that there is a decent probability of failure. The draft being the most obvious example-- there are very few "sure fire" bets and even mid-to-late 1st rd picks have a rather low chance of becoming stars-- but the same goes with trades as well. We judge teams by the end results of these decisions but often correct decisions end up as failures simply as a matter of chance. So, my thoughts about Morey is that he's doing a good job not just because (or even primarily because) a number of his bets turned out well. He's doing a good job because he takes reasonable bets with positive expected returns. People feel much better about the Morey after the Harden trade and because the team has a winning record with a young cast. However, Morey is really the same guy with the same quality of work back as he was a year ago, when people are calling for his head.
We haven't had a double digit rebounder from the 4 position since Charles Barkley and it's long overdue.
Robbed the Kings of Hasheem Thabeet?! (Is that really robbing? More like the Kings robbed us.) Meh, would rather have Pat, Aldrich, & Douglas.
Even with his motor? I don't know, Hill was a throw-in in the McGrady deal. Robinson seems to be a centerpiece in the trade.
Yeah, I could tell they wuz sleep-deprived. Can't shoot the jumper? Not a stretch 4? Huh? How can we know that at this stage? This trade was about what Thomas Robinson could possibly become. Below impedded is Mike Schmitz's analysis with some video of Robinson. I think it's pretty accurate. One thing you should notice. Robinson does have a jump shot. It does need some work. But he does have a semblance of a jumper there. Needs to learn to let it go, needs to learn how to let it roll off his finger tips, needs to learn how to remove off hand pressure, but boy has a jumper. Now, what do you think we are going to do with this kid all summer? We already know what he can do on the PnR. Done deal there. No need to really work on that aspect of his game. Does anyone here really think we aren't going to help him work on his jump shot all summer to add range and accuracy? If you don't think we're gonna do that, better think again. This organization is gonna work this kid like a dawg all summer to get his jumper going good. We are totally committed to the spread the floor/spacing game. We're gonna do him just like we did Patrick. Back it up and start chucking them 3's son. Load up the truck. Start firing. He may get minutes this year being Mr. Hustle but we don't have designs on making him just another Faried. We want a bigger, longer, stronger, quicker, more athletic Paul Millsap with even more shooting range. Will he get there? Anybody's guess. I don't know. But I do know this. We didn't trade for this kid just to be Johnny Hustle. We traded for this kid to develop him and see if we can make him another superstar. At the very least, we'll make him better and flip him in a couple years. Or trade him for a true superstar(Love) next year. Or perchance...he does develop that jumper and he keeps those quick feet, all that speed, all that hustle, and he becomes a bigger, stronger, faster, quicker Paul Millsap or perchance he becomes Kevin Love with better defense? Watch this vid. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dpzna9UZazQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He gets a lot of his points off the ball, a high flyer/mid range with a motor. Their wasn't anyone in the summer league to set him up. The Kings starters play selfish ball, imagine how bad the d leaguers play. He has two of the better guards in the league who are willing passers to reward him when he cuts. Being able to work off of a scrappy Asik will also benefit him too. I agree he may not be ready yet but comparing him to Jordan Hill and Thabet is kind of low.
We were specifically referring to what Thomas Robinson could bring to the table RIGHT NOW. I explicitly said that he could progress beyond just being a hustle guy in future seasons. But yes, . . . very, very sleep-deprived. :grin:
Yeah it was easy to tell you weren't completely there. Around the first few minutes there was one point where you took like an entire minute or two to finish a sentence. It picked up quick though and was another GREAT listen, love getting to know your perspectives even if you guys agree on a lot of things (which I actually don't view as a bad thing). Can't wait till the next one Bima/Clutch.