A pretty good video summary of Thomas Robinson's skills and weaknesses
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I think the issue with JJ was more personality than play style. All the Cleveland fans said that JJ was a diva and numbskull, and we saw that here. He wasnt showcased in our offense, so he decided it wasnt worth the trouble to do anything on the court. T. Rob seems to be a hard worker and a good character guy. If we tell him his role is to bang, get boards, and score in transition/with hustle putbacks to the tune of 14ppg, I think he'll embrace the role.
Im a little worried that he doesnt seem too happy to be here. I havent seen one post draft interview yet where he even mentions sacramento, kings, or being happy to be here. He seems happy to be drafted but not so much where he was drafted to. either that or it didnt really matter to him where he went
You're getting pathetic. I'm VERY sorry the mock draft sites don't support you're sighing and oohing and ahing over your latest crush, but I used them on purpose since if I did not you would have just made the humorous claim that I don't know what I am talking about again. So here, that is what the draft experts were saying. So SO sorry it doesn't support your gushing. Really. Take it up with Givony or the other scouts.
I'd say there were two things that this team needed going into the draft: a legit PF/C to put next to Cousins and a guy who can shoot and hit 3s at a reliable clip. We filled the one need, now we need to fill the other.
Robinson is projected to be a good NBA defender and rebounder. Blocks are nice but its ultimately not necessary to have an Ibaka or Birdman who gets highlight blocks so long as you play decent D and clean up the boards.
Robinson is projected to be a good NBA defender and rebounder. Blocks are nice but its ultimately not necessary to have an Ibaka or Birdman who gets highlight blocks so long as you play decent D and clean up the boards.
I read Jamal and Brick and looked to the gods for enlightenment .........., the answerr? Robinson was easily the BPA and we need every BPA we can get. Did anyone expect we would solve all our problems in the draft? We didn't but we still have Petrie who I am sure will squeeze some needed value out of short Maloof funds. What's next?
When you are the worst defensive team in the league -- guys THE WORST -- there are two routes up. One, get a shotblocker to effectively make every single member of your team a better defender. Two, make virtually every single member of your team a superior defender so that they don't need help from a shotblocker. When you were THE WORST defensive team in basketball last year which route do you think makes more sense/is more likely to work anytime in the near future? Replace everyone? Or fill one slot/replace one guy?
Assuming the death of the smallball, we should be better next year, just on guys growing up etc. Indeed how much worse could we get? And Robinson could help a little with defensive rebounding and solid man D (with the proviso rooks often struggle to play D in the NBA to start). But we were dead bleeping last in PPG, by a ton, in Opp FG%...we just sucked. A little improvement still leaves us comfortably in the bottom 3rd of the league, where we have been for 7 of the last 8 years.
Its by FAR the greatest danger to this entire franchise. It will keep us from winning. It may keep us from retianing players, coaches, gaining reputation, bringing fans back, broke owners making enough money to pay for players, or anything.
P.S. Ph, and yes, greeting him at the airport would be a great gesture. Guy has lost his family. He needs a new one. Get him thinking happy thoughts before he sees the rotting hulk of the arena.
Assuming the death of the smallball, we should be better next year, just on guys growing up etc. Indeed how much worse could we get? And Robinson could help a little with defensive rebounding and solid man D (with the proviso rooks often struggle to play D in the NBA to start). But we were dead bleeping last in PPG, by a ton, in Opp FG%...we just sucked. A little improvement still leaves us comfortably in the bottom 3rd of the league, where we have been for 7 of the last 8 years.
Its by FAR the greatest danger to this entire franchise. It will keep us from winning. It may keep us from retianing players, coaches, gaining reputation, bringing fans back, broke owners making enough money to pay for players, or anything.P.S. Ph, and yes, greeting him at the airport would be a great gesture. Guy has lost his family. He needs a new one. Get him thinking happy thoughts before he sees the rotting hulk of the arena.
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When you are the worst defensive team in the league -- guys THE WORST -- there are two routes up. One, get a shotblocker to effectively make every single member of your team a better defender. Two, make virtually every single member of your team a superior defender so that they don't need help from a shotblocker. When you were THE WORST defensive team in basketball last year which route do you think makes more sense/is more likely to work anytime in the near future? Replace everyone? Or fill one slot/replace one guy?
Assuming the death of the smallball, we should be better next year, just on guys growing up etc. Indeed how much worse could we get? And Robinson could help a little with defensive rebounding and solid man D (with the proviso rooks often struggle to play D in the NBA to start). But we were dead bleeping last in PPG, by a ton, in Opp FG%...we just sucked. A little improvement still leaves us comfortably in the bottom 3rd of the league, where we have been for 7 of the last 8 years. Its by FAR the greatest danger to this entire franchise. It will keep us from winning. It may keep us from retianing players, coaches, gaining reputation, bringing fans back, broke owners making enough money to pay for players, or anything.
P.S. Ph, and yes, greeting him at the airport would be a great gesture. Guy has lost his family. He needs a new one. Get him thinking happy thoughts before he sees the rotting hulk of the arena.
Assuming the death of the smallball, we should be better next year, just on guys growing up etc. Indeed how much worse could we get? And Robinson could help a little with defensive rebounding and solid man D (with the proviso rooks often struggle to play D in the NBA to start). But we were dead bleeping last in PPG, by a ton, in Opp FG%...we just sucked. A little improvement still leaves us comfortably in the bottom 3rd of the league, where we have been for 7 of the last 8 years.
Its by FAR the greatest danger to this entire franchise. It will keep us from winning. It may keep us from retianing players, coaches, gaining reputation, bringing fans back, broke owners making enough money to pay for players, or anything.P.S. Ph, and yes, greeting him at the airport would be a great gesture. Guy has lost his family. He needs a new one. Get him thinking happy thoughts before he sees the rotting hulk of the arena.
If do get Batum or Wallace to play SF that's another block per game and we could easily field a backcourt comprised of Tyreke Evans and Terrence Williams which would be pretty damn good defensively. If Whiteside gives us any meaningful minutes off the bench, we'd have the shot blocking covered. None of these guys are unobtainable. Williams wants to come back, and Wallace is a free agent so as long as our owners don't cheap out and/or Petrie fritters away all our financial flexibility on mediocre players like he always does, this lineup could be ours next year and on paper it looks like one of the better defensive teams in the league: Evans/Williams/Wallace/Robinson/Cousins
I'm happy that they picked Thomas Robinson because he has the highest trade value. Here's what I think of him after watching Kansas vs Ohio and Kansas vs Kentucky: He is not better than Jason Thompson, and he needs to start his career coming off the bench unless Cousins starts playing defense.
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Yeah, I would have loved for their to be a shot blocking player worth drafting at 5, but at the risk of sounding like Jerry Reynolds, shot blocking is a bit over rated as far as defense goes. The best defensive teams are usually full of high IQ players who are great team defenders.
Obviously, if you have a player like D12 or Olajuwon as your anchor, it's a huge boost. I'm not saying shot blocking is unimportant or bad. However, our '02 Kings were one of the best defensive teams in the league (ranked 6th according to Basketball-Reference.com) and neither Webber nor Vlade was a shot blocker. But most of our players were good individual defenders and we played fantastic team D.
Looking at more recent history, the Heat were the 4th ranked defense this year and won the finals with Joel Anthony and Dwayne Wade leading the way with 1.3 bpg. The Celtics had the top defensive rating in the league this year and the leading shot blocker in their starting lineup was KG with 1.0bpg. Stiesma was their leading shot blocker with 1.5 in 13mpg off the bench. On the opposite side of the equation, look at a team like the Wizards who in '11 had Javale Mcgee blocking 2.4 shots per game and were still 24th in defense because they had our team's same low defensive IQ.
So yes, I hope Whiteside develops or we can find another good shot blocker to bring off the bench. It is a great weapon to have in your arsenal. But having TRob next to Cousins isn't going to make us a bad defensive team. We are a bad defensive team because of our players' low defensive IQ. With a good SF we have potential though. If you look at Synergy Sports, a lot of our players rank very high in ISO defense. We are simply terrible at playing any D as a team. This is something Smart needs to focus on this season.
Obviously, if you have a player like D12 or Olajuwon as your anchor, it's a huge boost. I'm not saying shot blocking is unimportant or bad. However, our '02 Kings were one of the best defensive teams in the league (ranked 6th according to Basketball-Reference.com) and neither Webber nor Vlade was a shot blocker. But most of our players were good individual defenders and we played fantastic team D.
Looking at more recent history, the Heat were the 4th ranked defense this year and won the finals with Joel Anthony and Dwayne Wade leading the way with 1.3 bpg. The Celtics had the top defensive rating in the league this year and the leading shot blocker in their starting lineup was KG with 1.0bpg. Stiesma was their leading shot blocker with 1.5 in 13mpg off the bench. On the opposite side of the equation, look at a team like the Wizards who in '11 had Javale Mcgee blocking 2.4 shots per game and were still 24th in defense because they had our team's same low defensive IQ.
So yes, I hope Whiteside develops or we can find another good shot blocker to bring off the bench. It is a great weapon to have in your arsenal. But having TRob next to Cousins isn't going to make us a bad defensive team. We are a bad defensive team because of our players' low defensive IQ. With a good SF we have potential though. If you look at Synergy Sports, a lot of our players rank very high in ISO defense. We are simply terrible at playing any D as a team. This is something Smart needs to focus on this season.
Keep in mind that his frontcourt mate this year was Jeff Withey, one of the best shotblockers in the NCAA. Thus, T-Rob's primary defensive role was strongside defender, not necessarily conducive to high block numbers. Is Robinson going to block two shots a game his entire career? Probably not? Can he get around one and a half a game? I'll say yes.
No matter how many blocks the guys we have get except Whiteside, they will never create a fear factor like Camby or Ibaka. Fear changes how an opponent plays. The guys we have will not change how the opponent plays. Doesn't that make sense? We lack the guy who alters the other team's play. It's not simply a numbers game.
Fair enough, but Chicago doesn't have that guy either and they were still the best defensive team in the league last year. I'd love to have Serge Ibaka on our team, but you don't need to have an intimidating shotblocker to be a good defensive team. And we actually have a pretty clear path to being a good defensive team without that dominant shot blocker. Cousins is not a bad defender. He's not going to fly in and swat everything but he's strong, quick on his feet, and relentless. And that's a pretty good description for Thomas Robinson too. Blocks are fun to watch, but they're a means to an end. The end goal here is to win games and you can do a lot of that with a Cousins/Robinson front line provided you compliment them well at the other positions.
I should add that most shotblocking specialists don't have the strength to hold position in the post. There are a few exceptions, but typically post-defender and weakside shotblocker are two independent skills. We may not have a weakside shotblocker in our lineup right now (Gerald Wallace is an excellent one btw) but we have two post-defenders which is one more than most teams have. Again, you can lament what we don't have or you can work with what we do have. And what we do have has a chance to be special I think.
I should add that most shotblocking specialists don't have the strength to hold position in the post. There are a few exceptions, but typically post-defender and weakside shotblocker are two independent skills. We may not have a weakside shotblocker in our lineup right now (Gerald Wallace is an excellent one btw) but we have two post-defenders which is one more than most teams have. Again, you can lament what we don't have or you can work with what we do have. And what we do have has a chance to be special I think.
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Hassan's the wildcard in much of this. If he starts realizing his potential, then we have he and JT off the bench with little concern and most are happy. He's such a question mark though. Petries comments about needing rim protection are with Hassan on the roster so I don't know how much confidence he has in him filling that role. But if Hassan does, the entire dynamic of our team changes for the better.
Top 10 teams in defensive rating (basically points allowed per 100 possessions)
Celtics
Bulls
76ers
Heat
Knicks
Hawks
Grizzlies
Mavs
Pacers
Thunder
Let's say someone who averages over 1.5 per game (since that's where we think Cous/TRob can get) is a shot blocker. Think we are being generous, but that's 1.6bpg.
Of those top 10 teams, only the 76ers (Brand 1.6), Hawks (Smith 1.7), Grizzlies (Gasol 1.9), Pacers (Hibbert 2.0) and Thunder (Ibaka 3.7) had shot blockers. So even being generous, only 50% of the top defensive teams had used a shot blocker in a major role (some guys may have reached 1.6 if given 30mpg, but were 15mpg role players).
What they all have in common is good team D. Smart players. Well coached teams for the most part.
Celtics
Bulls
76ers
Heat
Knicks
Hawks
Grizzlies
Mavs
Pacers
Thunder
Let's say someone who averages over 1.5 per game (since that's where we think Cous/TRob can get) is a shot blocker. Think we are being generous, but that's 1.6bpg.
Of those top 10 teams, only the 76ers (Brand 1.6), Hawks (Smith 1.7), Grizzlies (Gasol 1.9), Pacers (Hibbert 2.0) and Thunder (Ibaka 3.7) had shot blockers. So even being generous, only 50% of the top defensive teams had used a shot blocker in a major role (some guys may have reached 1.6 if given 30mpg, but were 15mpg role players).
What they all have in common is good team D. Smart players. Well coached teams for the most part.
I'd trade down (for Toronto's #8 since they wanted Lillard) to take Drummond or Leonard (still a bit skeptical on Henson).
But again, I'm not down on Robinson. He's going to be good. I'm sure he'll have a better career from a statistic standpoint than Drummond/Leonard. Just that a shot-blocker is much, much harder to come by than a good rebounder. The same way that Millsap has better stat than DeAndre Jordan but the later is much more useful to this team.
But again, I'm not down on Robinson. He's going to be good. I'm sure he'll have a better career from a statistic standpoint than Drummond/Leonard. Just that a shot-blocker is much, much harder to come by than a good rebounder. The same way that Millsap has better stat than DeAndre Jordan but the later is much more useful to this team.
A team can get away without a swatter if the perimeter defense is stellar. If the Kings intend to play a lineup of Reke + TWill + (defensive SF) then I'll shut the hell up. But if the Kings are going to give Thornton, Jimmer, IT any significant minutes; then a shot-blocker is an absolute must. Especially when any combination of MT, Jimmer and IT are on the floor.
No. DeAndre Jordan is not more useful than Paul Milsap.
I'll never understand this fascination with shotblockers who are average-****ty defenders. Guys like Ibaka-Chandler-Camby-KG-Duncan make such a huge impact on the defensive end because they 1. Are lock-down man defenders 2. Play fantastic help-defense and 3. Can alter shots at the rim. There's a reason you haven't seen the Haywood, Dally, Jordan, McGee's of the world anchoring a contender, they don't play great man/team defense other than swatting shots
Now, I have no problem going and getting an Okafor, Haywood, Dalyl type off the bench in a 15-20 min role. That's where those guys excel. But I absolutely refuse to pass on a far superior talent like Robinson to pick up some average man/team defense, no offensive big, who blocks shots.
We just saw a prime example of how a team CAN win without some shotblocker. Granted, they have 2 top 5 players in the world, but Miami essentially just won with a bunch of perimeter players and a big in Bosh who prefers to jack up jumpers.
I'll never understand this fascination with shotblockers who are average-****ty defenders. Guys like Ibaka-Chandler-Camby-KG-Duncan make such a huge impact on the defensive end because they 1. Are lock-down man defenders 2. Play fantastic help-defense and 3. Can alter shots at the rim. There's a reason you haven't seen the Haywood, Dally, Jordan, McGee's of the world anchoring a contender, they don't play great man/team defense other than swatting shots
Now, I have no problem going and getting an Okafor, Haywood, Dalyl type off the bench in a 15-20 min role. That's where those guys excel. But I absolutely refuse to pass on a far superior talent like Robinson to pick up some average man/team defense, no offensive big, who blocks shots.
We just saw a prime example of how a team CAN win without some shotblocker. Granted, they have 2 top 5 players in the world, but Miami essentially just won with a bunch of perimeter players and a big in Bosh who prefers to jack up jumpers.
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I understand. Part of the problem is our coach. Tyreke, Salmons, and maybe more are supposed to be good defenders but I have my doubts that they will be molded into a cohesive package partially because I don't think we have the personnel but also because we don't have the right coach and finally, finally, we don't have the right owners. Had to throw that in there because I think as we discuss personnel moves, all of us have our ownership's lack of money in the back of our minds.