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

He might commit to basketball as long as it doesn't take time away from his writing, after all he is a writer by craft and he just happens to play basketball for the time being.

 

I believe the painted area article made extremely good points, however the problem with the OP is he's looking at it from the King's perspective.

From the King's perspective, the author is arguing that while the trade was bad, it wasn't the catastrophic mistake other people are saying because PP is a decent player who would fit better with Cousins and T-rob might be a bust. For him, it's probably the equivalent of selling a 2nd rounder for cash: not a good thing, but not necessarily a franchise breaking mistake.

The thing is, if you flip it and look at it from the Rox's perspective, it's basically that opinion reversed. This move is AT WORST, the equivalent of getting a 2nd rounder for cash, and at best a franchise defining move.

I mean, suppose T-rob becomes a bust. Then at least we moved PP and MM to make way for Tjones and Dmo. However, T-rob becoming a complete bust seems to be a long shot, for one thing if you assume he doesn't improve at all he'll still give you 8 pts and 10 rebs in 36 mins. That's not exactly a large dropoff from what PPat gave you (16 and 6.5). Considering that Ppat woudl have to be extended in 1 year's time anyway, trading him for someone on a 3 year rookie contract was a pretty slick a$$et move.

I'm not the slickest talent evaluator on the board, but from what I've observed the guys who succeed in the NBA are usually those who can already do something at the NBA level from day 1, whether it's shooting, defending, passing or blocking shots. In T-rob's case, he's not just an NBA rebounder, he's an ELITE rebounder, getting 10 rebs per 36 is not that easy when you're paired with another good rebounder in Cousins. I think he also has potential to be a good defender as passer, he has good bball IQ and work ethic/effort so I think he'll develop those skills as well with time and practice.

To be honest, I dunno how high his value will be but I see him developing as a PF version of Tyson Chandler(defender+rebounder+garbage shots guy), which would be actually be pretty good.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Kevin McHale is spending extra time after practice working with Thomas Robinson on his post moves. Pretty cool to watch. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23RedNation">#RedNation</a></p>&mdash; Howard Chen (@ho_chenCSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/ho_chenCSN/status/306131753075109890">February 25, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Being traded to a team coached by McHale is probably one of the best things to happen to TRob in terms of career and development.

 

You don't need to be super familiar, T-rob's been one of the top consensus prospects last year (no mock had him going lower than 5) so his game's pretty well known. If you want more analysis on his game pre-NBA (which was like last year lol), check out Mike Schmitdz's NBA draft profile:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dpzna9UZazQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Basically if you want the cliff notes version Greg Smith is like Eddy Curry (elite post scorer) while T-rob is like Ben Wallace (elite rebounder/effor guy).

 

The worst case is not Robinson busts, but time is freed up for DMo and Jones. The worst case is all of them are busts and we have nothing. Nobody wants to admit that, but so far it's a reasonable question whether any of these guys will ever be as good as Patterson.

 

Good points.

 

D-Mo and Robinson are better prospects than Patterson for sure. Not similar players but definitely better overall impact.

 

Iv literally watched all of trobs games in college,summer league and a few with the kings. Now first thing I must make clear he's alot better right now then tjones. This is fact I watched tjones all his college career also and dude has talent but is either dumb or just can't get it from a basketball perspective. Coach cal said it plenty of times that jones just can't grap the game and gets lost alot. With that said in college playing with Davis and a handful of other NBA talents it didnt matter. I really don't see this changing in the NBA were everything is bigger faster stronger 10x.

Robinson is an elite rebounder period. In the nation title game he pulled down 17 rebounds over Anthony Davis and our own tjones. The guy is relentless on the boards and that will translate in the pros.

His energy is through the roof. He plays with passion and heart and is a good teammate. I have a friend who grew up with josh Henson and after the KU vs UNC game last yr all josh was saying was Robinson is just too big and too strong and too fast he literally hated Trob. He's a team first player and will do whatever the coaches ask. For those saying he has an attitude problem you should prob quite reading kings forums they don't have a clue on what there talking about.

His defense has potential to be one of the better defenders at the pf positions. With his hops and 7'3 wingspan he should be a great weak side help defender who should be able to play great on ball defense right now. He has some of the quickest feet you will see in a 6'9 player and can really shuffle his feet and get back to his man while helping out on the pick and roll.

Now his offense needs refinement but all the tools are there. He really understands the game of basketball and has a very high bbiq. This is very underrated in a round big man. He has very good handles for a pf and can lead the break like Blake griffin. I will say this him and Blake are prob the two fastest big men in the NBA right now. He has a nice hook shot with his left hand and has extreamly good form on his jumpshot. He should improve greatly working with the coaching staff in that area over the summer. Repetition is all he needs. Another thing he's really good at is drawing fouls which should help harden and Lin get to the ft line quicker. Trob has very good hands and will be able to catch the ball in traffic for strong finishes he also is a great leaper with very good body control.

Him and dmo have Allstar potential and I'm very excited about that. Both these guys expect to not only be great but be the best big men in the league. It's the confidence these guys have that will separate themselfs from the rest. Both will put in the work before during and after practice.

Remember guys dmo looked like garbage in his blow out mins early in the yr give Trob the same time with a good coached and run team. There's no doubt that if u through Trob out to the wolves and let him play 36 min a night he would avg. 12/11 with 1.5 blks.

His potential is a rebounding defending amare. Remember when amare came into the league he had no mid range jumper and got all his buckets off running up and down the court and doing pick and roll with Nash. Now look at out team with harden and Lin and we also run and gun. Trob will have similar production in this offense. Don't sleep on my boy iv seen all his game and his development over the yrs. guys a winner good teammate an really cares about the team and being great. You guys will end up loving this kid. He's a beast and quite calling him small he's a big 6'9 and plays big. Look at him next to Anthony Davis in the title game last yr they look damn near the same height.

Hope this long post helped some who are hating on the guy even though they have never seen him play.

Also look at his box score when giving 20 min this yr he's put up quite a few double doubles and 7 pt 12 rebound efforts. The kings were littlerlly dumb too get rid of him and were clearly trying to cut costs and save money. He had a game were he had 9 rebounds in 7 min. This guy oozes with poteniel and morey wasn't acting with his big grin at the press conference. He truly believes Robinson can be an elite level player and so should you guys. He didnt go top 5 for nothing and many thought would be the 2nd pick in the draft.

 

This is the right team for Robinson and exactly what the Rockets is looking for. He's not a very good fit with the Kings since Cousins and Robinson are pretty similiar style of player in a way......We'll find out soon enough.

 

I see you've been lurking in the game threads. I have to hand it to you for adapting quickly to the new alternative way to enjoy Rockets games.

 

I can see he has a quick first step which is important to the current Rockets offense. This is the type of player the Rockets need, a big fast guy. We need someone who fills up the inside lane, not another players who can shoot 3 pointers like Morris and Patterson. There is no way we are going to re-sign P.Patterson, or T.Douglas. Low risk, high reward for TRob!!!

 

Nice input. Repped.

 

thanks for sharing and clearing those issues about TRob. Very exciting times for Rockets basketball

 

Thanks for taking the time for this. I'm excited to see this guy play and develop with the team.

 

T-Rob will be a complementary piece to DMo. Dmo is the future for the organization at the 4. T-Rob will be an incredible spark off the bench, and in situational rotations.

DMo/TRob combo = well rounded 4 spot with untold upside.