Thats one thing that really stood out to me. Not only was Nic listening but he waived off someone else trying to talk to him so he could really pay attention.
Depends on your definition of BBIQ. Robinson is pretty erratic and either fundamentally unsound or undisciplined a lot of the time (failing to box out against the Pistons, trying to dribble the ball up the court like he's a guard, lack of focus on free throws, etc.) which is one way of looking at it. But I don't think he's stupid by any means, I just think he forgets that he's not at KU anymore and doesn't have to try and do it all at once and all by himself. If he ever learns how to harness all of that freak athleticism, strength and midrange shot and distill it into something reliable I think he could end up a very good power forward.
He has good vision too. I've seen him make some really nice passes. I just think it all comes down to slowing down, taking his time, and letting the game come to him. I think he will get better with more PT and more coaching.
I hope he can be more of a team player than Ruben Patterson was. Patterson was the original "black hole" on offense. Balls went in, they never came out. Obviously, I wouldn't want T-Rob to have any of Patterson's off-court penchant for assaults of various kinds. But if Robinson can have the hustle, defense, and fearlessness around the basket that Patterson had without the downside I'm all for a bigger, more athletic RP, by the name of Thomas Robinson.
I still think the best case for him is a smaller PF like Faried or Hickson. A guy who can give you great hustle and rebounding, but is always going to have the size issue, as well as the skill issue. Still, getting a Faried or a Hickson and bringing him off of the bench is what championship teams have, in some cases.
Absolutely agree. He was rushing everything on offense. Tonight it seemed like the game slowed down for him. He is only going to get better. But I am sure we will see a lot of bad games too.
I think it will change for him once he starts installing some actual post moves into his arsenal. I've seen him get the ball, in good position, but he isn't sure what to do with it. He even has the quickness to get by his man, but he doesn't have a fadeaway or a hook or anything that he can go to. Giving him some actual moves will help give him confidence, help him calm down a bit, and hopefully rein him in a bit.
On the strength of last night's game, his PER jumped up to 16.9 for the season. Got to love those early season statistical swings.
Here's a quick look at Robinson's night . . . [video=youtube;1veY1K8_R5Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1veY1K8_R5Y[/video]
Two things that give me hope that he will continue get better: How quickly he has already improved, and how we have now heard several times (Lillard last night) about how much time he puts in trying to get better. We know the draft is a crap shoot and that teams are often gambling on choosing the player who they think will work hard to get better, because they all need to get better to play consistent minutes. TRob seems to be that type of guy.
Agreed. I just hope that Robinson's performance last night was a result of all that hard work--and not the fact that he wanted to show up his two former college teammates.
If T Rob can give us 10-15 quality minutes, we are stacked! We will have quality reserves at pg, sg, sf, pf, and center. We would be able to play 10 deep with confidence!
In the highlight video, Lopez makes a nice subtle vet move after Robinson was a little too exuberant after a "and one" lay in. He puts his arm around him and quickly corrals him away from the crowd. Just in case......
The way I look at Robinson is as a longterm investment, which we gave up very little to obtain, but could pay big dividends in the long run. I'm just hoping that the Blazers don't fuck it up, and actually invest some time and money in developing him properly.
To date, he and Meyers have probably proven about the same. Yet I'm a lot more inclined to give PT to TRob to develop, whereas I don't wanna see Meyers on the floor. TRob has a little bit of that nasty in his game that we have desperately lacked.
I don't think Kersey had much of a shot his first few years. Cliff either. They could at least shoot FT's though. There is still time for Robinson.
