I actually agree with you. It seems Sac was a joke last season and a few seasons before. They aren't good with utilizing talents of good players. I suspect we may see another Hickson diamond in the rough situation.
"Perhaps Portland can help Thomas Robinson as much as Thomas Robinson can help Portland" Cites this article about all that Robinson went through.
In my perfect world he becomes Hickson with great defense. That's a damned good power forward. Since I'm dreaming, Aldridge realizes what a great player Robinson is and agrees that LMA is actually a natural center. Leonard becomes the next Brad Miller and Whithey the next Theo Ratliff, and we have the most awesome forward/center rotation the league has seen in years. Yeah, I'm dreaming.
I wish Aldridge just gave in and became a center. We have so many other options if he just sucked it up and said "Okay I will play center!"
Um no. He's still not a rim protector. You can label him whatever you want but the reality is Portland needs someone that is good at guarding the basket.
Can we put him at center and re-structure LMA's contract for a mega bonus on shot blocks and rebounds???
You can still have a shot blocking PF. I'm curious if Aldridge would be happy with JSmooth? I mean he would most definitely have to play center; but JSmooth would be a serious "Rim Protector"
I think with Smith at PF and LMA at center we would have to become a serious serious running team to take advantage properly and have enough shooters to make up for the lack of an inside game.
Well the good thing is Aldridge is a good run and gun big. I don't think Lillard or CJ have a problem either. And it's pretty obvious Batum is one of our best finishers on the break. It could be really exciting!
Robinson's a very good per-minute rebounder. He's 20th in the league. Of course, JJ's 4th. And Asik is 2nd.
Just realized I hadn't posted in this thread, and I know it will be bumped up in a year and people will gloat or blame or just laugh at old opinions. I want to be laughed at too, so here's my thinking Hell ya, I love this selection. It really sucks that it had to cut into our cap room, but getting Thomas (just cant call him TRob) is going to be a great move. He has super long arms, so even though he is shortish, he has the wingspan of a 7footer.. In fact, his wingspan is slightly better than Withey. Also, Thomas is a great athlete, Some time, coaching and actually getting to play will do him wonders. In a couple years this will be looked at as a hugely one-sided trade.
There have been some pretty good centers in this league who weren't rim protectors. Brad Miller, Rik Smits, Ilgauskas. Chris Bosh was the center for the current two-time champs. Besides, Aldridge was the conference defensive player of the year on the Longhorns. He realized defense may win championships, but offense wins contracts, and so adjusted his game at the NBA to get paid. But I think he could go back to being a good defender if he just wanted it. I think if we got an outright stud defensive guy who happened to be 6'9 with a 7'1 wingspan and a hardhat rebounding mentality, he could easily start next to Aldridge.
Robinson needs to develop that 15ft jumper. He could have a deadly face-up game with it. His first step is really quick and he's explosive and athletic as hell. It's Amare-esque. Just needs to get that jumper to keep them honest.
I wonder how much of Robinson's rebounding numbers were impacted by playing next to Asik and Cousins. Only so many boards to go around. I think it's a lot easier to look like a great rebounder when Aldridge isn't taking many away from you (and you are playing for a contract). Hickson's TRB% this last year was a whopping 20.7%, but before that was around 15%. Robinson's as a rookie and playing on two different teams was 17.1%. Purely in terms of rebounding, if Robinson takes over all of Hickson's minutes it might not be much of a downgrade.
