I think he's actually one of the few guys who has found a role.
In the summer league/preseason/first few games he was falling victim to lack of roles, and lack of non-roleplayer skills. Once he settled back into a role he's been solid enough. In the preseason he shot 16-42 .381 trying to do too much. Trying to create on his own. Over the last 6 games as he has settled back to run' n jump roleplayer taking catches and trying to finish them around the rim, he's shot 16-29 .552. We're not getting consistent rebounding or defense from him yet, but offensively he has quit hurting us and is sticking to the things his athleticism allows him to do. i..e he's doing a pretty good imiation of a roleplayer.
Really I think that's why our frontcourt is a lot closer to being solid than our little guys. Up front we have one Cousisn, and now 3 guys who are playing their roles pretty well in JT, Hayes and TRob. Put that together and its solid. We need to swap one of those guys for a shotblocker, but at least it makes sense basketballwise. The problem is at the little people spots where Petrie has accumualted, and Smart has coached at least 7 different guys who fight the roleplayer designation, and only 2 largely scrubs at this point who fit it (Cisco and Outlaw).
Whether someone likes or dislikes T. Robb, he's hardly the reason the team is struggling, and I agree with you, he along with JT and Hayes has settled into a role. One of his problems at Kansas is that for his first two years he played behind the Morris twins. I think that lack of playing time hurt his development to some extent. As a result, his post game was comprised of using his athleticism to out quick other players. That can work to some degree in the NBA if your 6'10" and weight 250, but not if your 6'8.75" and weigh 235. Because your trying to out quick the 6'10" 250 player that, in some cases, is just as quick as your are,
He does have some attributes that in the future should help him. He's a very good ballhandler for a player his size. He also has a good feel for the passing game. Unfortunately, right now both those attributes are at times his worse enemy. But once he learns how to use them properly, along with his outstanding athleticism, he could end up being a very good player. I've said from the beginning that I saw a lot of SF in him, and I still think that it could be his destination. He has decent form on his jumpshot, and good range as well. If he can become a good jumpshooter, I can see him being one of the better two way SF's in the league,.
Lest anyone forget, Kahwai Leonard played PF at San Diego St. James Johnson played PF in college as well. So its not that big a reach to project T. Robb to that position. If so, he would go from being an average sized/undersized PF, to being one of the bigger SF's in the league. However, none of this is going to happen overnight. The way it looks right now, were going to add yet more youth in the lottery next offseason. What this team needs is some veteran help. Not just the John Salmons kind of veteran help, but the Chris Webber kind of veteran help.
How much better do you think this team would be if you suddenly added Tim Duncan to the mix. No, I'm not suggesting we trade for Tim Duncan. I'm sure he'll retire with the Spurs. But we need someone like that, who even the Cousins and the Evans of the world will look up to and listen to.
