What I meant by that is in the past he's fancied himself to have SF skills, which he likes to showcase. He shouldn't, and I think that's why the Blazers have been giving him the tough love treatment. TRob is fairly famous for not listening to his coaches over the years and wanting to do things his way. He has shown glimpses in interviews he may be learning to listen and follow direction. That would be good for him.
It looked to me that TRob started/played center. At least he was the one who played under the basket. Basically a slightly better version of JJ Hickson IMO. His focus was rebounding and defense....not scoring.
It was t. Rob. He was guarding Sanders and Sanders was on him. Milwaukee used double and triple teams on anyone that played the post.
I suspect Stotts will rotate centers depending on the matchup. You can get away with Robinson when you have a guy like Sanders, who doesn't demand the ball in the post. I suspect we'll see Freeland start against SA, but remember we'll have to go small again against Houston. Remember how Howard destroyed Freeland? We may even see Leonard, in our attempt to pull Howard away from the basket. I don't think Stotts starts Kaman. We need his offensive punch in the second unit. Bottom line, this is a chance for someone to step up. Let's hope one of our bigs rises to the occasion. It's a great opportunity for them.
According to my friend Clipper Rich, Kaman has always been a gunner, whether as a starter or bench guy; better to have him for 20 minutes as your big gun off the bench than 36 minutes huffing and puffing and still shooting when he thinks he's got the shot.
...and that's what most of us have wanted TRob to do. Focus on defense, then rebounding, then garbage points. Sounds like a job well done. Kudos to the coaches for finally getting through to him, and to TRob for focusing on the job at hand.
How many teams is that going to work on? Probably not many. Should we expect Stotts to change up the lineup depending on the matchup? (sorry, couldn't resist.)
Stotts explained it being a match-up decision for T.Rob, and I agree that who starts will be a game to game decision. What t.rob has done is established himself as a player that does well if he's focused. I definitely think he's deserving of minutes.
I think we can get away with it against SA. Their centers are not huge. Make Timmy run the floor with Thomas. Tire him out. NO: I would put TROB on Davis and LA on Asik. With the way Davis runs, TRob may be our best solution Houston: Howard always kills us regardless who guards him. OKC: If Durant and Westbrook want to defer to their center.....fine by me Philly: We will be fine
Kaman apparently has Howard's number defensively (so I've heard) so he might start against Houston. That'd be the best place too, where you have two high post shooters and you can't hide Howard on some low post guy going for an offensive rebound.
It will be interesting to see how LMA's numbers change without Rolo. His rebounding should go down, maybe his shooting percentage? Rolo is a nice big target when the guards get in trouble. More turnovers? Offensive rebounding should go up though
