Trade Deadline Rumors

[ESP47]

I'd like the team to improve, not make the same mistakes we've made for years. What we need are skilled players that have multiple skills. Not guys like TRob that have one skill and one skill only. We already have Reggie Evans who does the same thing TRob does. Even in his old age, he's still a better rebounder than TRob. Reggie Evans is not going to be the difference in this team being good or not. We have the best rebounding rate in the league right now. Adding more rebounding is negligible at this point.

Enough of these one trick pony type players. Why do you think we're not only short on talent, but short on even having tradeable pieces? Because teams out there aren't clamoring for guys who can do one thing and one thing only on the court.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Tyreke probably shouldn't count. As you'll recall, the front office that traded him (a sign-and-trade no less, so he wasn't actually allowed to "expire") was not the same front office that didn't trade him at the deadline.

IT also didn't purely expire, though we got nearly nothing (Alex Oriakhi and a trade exception). Again, we've got a bit of extenuating circumstances here, as Thomas was on a league-minimum contract and basically couldn't have been traded for anything good at the deadline because we couldn't take any ral salary back. Perhaps we could have gotten a pick.

But Derrick Williams, on the other hand, fits the criteria perfectly.

imo it was expiration bc we didn't extract any real assets from it. oriakhi and vasquez aren't assets to me. presti seems to be able to maximize his players/picks and stays the course of the plan.

 

[King Baller]

IT takes an experienced GM and Front Office to realize that sometimes you resign your Free Agents only to trade them and extract their value. Of course this only applies to plus players like Reke and IT.

 

[ockingsfan]

A good GM should always be looking for a diamond in the rough.

Look at Pat Riley finding Hassan Whiteside.

The Kings need to find these low risk, high reward type players. Top flight free agents are not going to come to Sacto anytime soon.

I think Thomas Robinson is worth a shot. He was a consensus top 5 pick just two years ago.

He has some rebounding and defensive talent that the Kings should try to harvest on the cheap.

 

[Letsgokings13]

I'm down to get T Rob with a coach like Karl

 

[Iced Espresso]

I'm down to get T Rob with a coach like Karl

He's a good athlete, for the minimum maybe, but I think he wants more time on the court than he would get here.

 

[hrdboild]

I'd like the team to improve, not make the same mistakes we've made for years. What we need are skilled players that have multiple skills. Not guys like TRob that have one skill and one skill only. We already have Reggie Evans who does the same thing TRob does. Even in his old age, he's still a better rebounder than TRob. Reggie Evans is not going to be the difference in this team being good or not. We have the best rebounding rate in the league right now. Adding more rebounding is negligible at this point.

Enough of these one trick pony type players. Why do you think we're not only short on talent, but short on even having tradeable pieces? Because teams out there aren't clamoring for guys who can do one thing and one thing only on the court.

Reggie Evans is a free agent at the end of the season and he's about to turn 35. His growth curve is trending down. Robinson is about to turn 24. His growth curve is trending up. Also, did you even read my post? He's not just a one trick pony. He has one skill which is trending toward elite and a good set of complimentary skills on the defensive end. Only 19 players in the last 10 years have had a season where they had a rebound rate of 17% or higher, a steal rate of 2% or higher, and a block rate of 2% or higher and one of them is Thomas Robinson this season. Also on that list are Andre Drummond, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, Marcus Camby, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace. He actually had similar rates his rookie season as a 21 year old as well (17.1%, 1.9%, 2%) so I don't think it's a fluke. He's that close to making the list twice in his first 3 seasons and he's currently only 23. If he can maintain that level of performance for 20-30 minutes a game he'd be one of the better defensive bigs in the league. I think that's worth a small investment to find out.

Here, check this out: link

Every player who has hit those rates for at least 1000 minutes in a season has been an All-Star or won DPOY or easily put up numbers worthy of being an All-Star.

EDIT: Let's go all the way back to 1990 with it: link

This is a good list to be on.

 

[sdballer]

Reggie Evans is a free agent at the end of the season and he's about to turn 35. His growth curve is trending down. Robinson is about to turn 24. His growth curve is trending up. Also, did you even read my post? He's not just a one trick pony. He has one skill which is trending toward elite and a good set of complimentary skills on the defensive end. Only 19 players in the last 10 years have had a season where they had a rebound rate of 17% or higher, a steal rate of 2% or higher, and a block rate of 2% or higher and one of them is Thomas Robinson this season. Also on that list are Andre Drummond, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, Marcus Camby, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace. He actually had similar rates his rookie season as a 21 year old as well (17.1%, 1.9%, 2%) so I don't think it's a fluke. He's that close to making the list twice in his first 3 seasons and he's currently only 23. If he can maintain that level of performance for 20-30 minutes a game he'd be one of the better defensive bigs in the league. I think that's worth a small investment to find out.

The problem is the way he plays that makes those rebound and defensive stats possible are also why he doesn't play more. He's so out of control that he fouls a ton, gets out is position frequently and turns the ball over way too much. He's fine for 10-15 minutes if you need an athletic guy running around like crazy but he hasn't demonstrated anything close to the iq or discipline to make it worth teams investment of time.

 

[funkykingston]

word. i just can't even fathom the extremes to which their front office is executing their tanking strategy. it seems that they've become so wrapped up in the entire concept of "the tank" that it's become the goal rather than the means with which to achieve an eventual playoff-caliber roster. fans want a team to root for, not a collection of amorphous assets that may never pay off. if i'm a sixers fan, how am i supposed to feel about the development of noel and embiid when the team just shipped out a promising and developing michael carter-williams in service to "the tank" while he's still on an utterly affordable rookie deal?

There have been rumors of Philly dealing MCW for quite a while now. It seemed odd that there were whispers that Hinkie was exploring trades in the offseason following his ROY season. But I think it comes down to the fact that they don't see him as a potential core player and so they want to trade him while his value is at a high point.

Philly is going to have enough draft picks that they are bound to land on a star player and obviously Embiid still has that potential as well. I'll be curious to see how things unfold once they get a guy or guys that they really like.

 

[sdballer]

There have been rumors of Philly dealing MCW for quite a while now. It seemed odd that there were whispers that Hinkie was exploring trades in the offseason following his ROY season. But I think it comes down to the fact that they don't see him as a potential core player and so they want to trade him while his value is at a high point.

Philly is going to have enough draft picks that they are bound to land on a star player and obviously Embiid still has that potential as well. I'll be curious to see how things unfold once they get a guy or guys that they really like.

I agree. It may be an aimless plan but there is a part of me that thinks he's going to be able to turn these assets into a few star acquisitions with rookie/minimum deals filling out the cap. We'll see.

 

[hrdboild]

The problem is the way he plays that makes those rebound and defensive stats possible are also why he doesn't play more. He's
so out of control that he fouls a ton,
.gets out of position frequently and
turns the ball over way too much.

Weren't the same things said about DeMarcus until last year?

 

[ESP47]

Reggie Evans is a free agent at the end of the season and he's about to turn 35. His growth curve is trending down. Robinson is about to turn 24. His growth curve is trending up. Also, did you even read my post? He's not just a one trick pony. He has one skill which is trending toward elite and a good set of complimentary skills on the defensive end. Only 19 players in the last 10 years have had a season where they had a rebound rate of 17% or higher, a steal rate of 2% or higher, and a block rate of 2% or higher and one of them is Thomas Robinson this season. Also on that list are Andre Drummond, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, Marcus Camby, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace. He actually had similar rates his rookie season as a 21 year old as well (17.1%, 1.9%, 2%) so I don't think it's a fluke. He's that close to making the list twice in his first 3 seasons and he's currently only 23. If he can maintain that level of performance for 20-30 minutes a game he'd be one of the better defensive bigs in the league. I think that's worth a small investment to find out.

Here, check this out: link

Every player who has hit those rates for at least 1000 minutes in a season has been an All-Star or won DPOY or easily put up numbers worthy of being an All-Star.

Yes I read your post and it's full of some of the most random stats I've ever heard of. 17%/2%/2%. Since when is this a relevant stat? This is cherry picking stats to the max.

Look at the names on that list and look at their minutes. The legit players with real skills are playing about 1000-2900 minutes. Robinson is at 400 minutes. Chuck Hayes and Joey Dorsey are on that list. Shavlik Radolph is on the list twice in the top 20. Furkan Aldemir (who?) is on the list. These guys are all at about 500 minutes and under. It's called small sample size.

Go look at bench players per 36min stats. There's a ton of guys out there who look like they would be legit All Stars if you just took them by their per 36 stats. The problem lies in the fact that the game goes way beyond just statistics and these guys don't make it on the court for very many minutes for a reason.

Just watch TRob on the court. He's not very good at anything other than hustling and rebounding. He's like a homeless mans Kenneth Faried. Denver traded for him and is buying him out immediately. A bad team is basically saying we will pay you to go away. That's how much this guy is in need.

To me it's not a small investment, it's a waste of time and a waste of a valuable roster spot. The guy isn't what we need. We already have Reggie Evans and he's not a big difference maker so why trade for a similar player in TRob? Neither are going to make much of a difference so lets get someone in here that will and quit fiddling around with these bottom of the barrel players.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Weren't the same things said about DeMarcus until last year?

Did anyone ever describe Cousins as having low basketball IQ? Because I think Robinson is still described like that.

 

[hrdboild]

Yes I read your post and it's full of some of the most random stats I've ever heard of. 17%/2%/2%. Since when is this a relevant stat? This is cherry picking stats to the max.

Look at the names on that list and look at their minutes. The legit players with real skills are playing about 1000-2900 minutes. Robinson is at 400 minutes. Chuck Hayes and Joey Dorsey are on that list. Shavlik Radolph is on the list twice in the top 20. Furkan Aldemir (who?) is on the list. These guys are all at about 500 minutes and under. It's called small sample size.

Go look at bench players per 36min stats. There's a ton of guys out there who look like they would be legit All Stars if you just took them by their per 36 stats. The problem lies in the fact that the game goes way beyond just statistics and these guys don't make it on the court for very many minutes for a reason.

Just watch TRob on the court. He's not very good at anything other than hustling and rebounding. He's like a homeless mans Kenneth Faried. Denver traded for him and is buying him out immediately. A bad team is basically saying we will pay you to go away. That's how much this guy is in need.

To me it's not a small investment, it's a waste of time and a waste of a valuable roster spot. The guy isn't what we need. We already have Reggie Evans and he's not a big difference maker so why trade for a similar player in TRob? Neither are going to make much of a difference so lets get someone in here that will and quit fiddling around with these bottom of the barrel players.

(A) They're not random. (B) If you can't figure out why, that's your problem. I'm done explaining logic to argumentative people.

HINT: If you actually do care, take a look at Hassan Whiteside's advanced stats. That's a clue as to why I think these numbers are important but it won't mean anything to you unless you figure it out for yourself.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Weren't the same things said about DeMarcus until last year?

what? cuz has demonstrated he's a all around bad ass. shooting, driving, post play, passing.. only problem was his conditioning, defense and attitude.

 

[sdballer]

Weren't the same things said about DeMarcus until last year?

Sure but the point is that the other parts of Cuz's game made those acceptable. Right now Trobs best assets are caused by the chaotic way he plays and the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

T-Rob agrees to buyout with Denver.
https://mobile.twitter.com/GoodmanESPN/status/568597792668700673

Any chance we bring him back?

hell no. dude is a bonafied scrub. i can't think of anything trob can do great. shooting? passing? driving? post up? rebound? team player?

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Derrick Williams, Thomas Robinson. Hell, might as well make it a party and invite Michael Beasley and Anthony Bennett. Are there any other underachieving tweeners I'm leaving out?

all those fit the FO vision of position-less.

 

[ESP47]

(A) They're not random. (B) If you can't figure out why, that's your problem. I'm done explaining logic to argumentative people.

HINT: If you actually do care, take a look at Hassan Whiteside's advanced stats. That's a clue as to why I think these numbers are important but it won't mean anything to you unless you figure it out for yourself.

Whiteside is a gigantic exception. For every Whiteside that develops there are 20 Thabeets that burn out. That's like using IT as an example for why undersized players should be given a shot. Every once in a while you get one that is good enough, while the rest never pan out to anything because of their limitations. The chances of TRob being anything more than Reggie Evans are extremely small. We're simply not in the position to be trying to develop guys that have a very low probability of actually becoming something.

 

[ockingsfan]

The chances of TRob being anything more than Reggie Evans are extremely small. We're simply not in the position to be trying to develop guys that have a very low probability of actually becoming something.

What's wrong with having a young athletic rebounder on a cheap contract? If we can get him for the veterans minimum and he became a Reggie Evans type player, that would be fantastic.

Also, why are we not in position to try and develop a young player? NBA stars are not lining up to sign in Sacto right now. We have to try and develop young talent to become relevant again.

 

[ESP47]

What's wrong with having a young athletic rebounder on a cheap contract? If we can get him for the veterans minimum and he became a Reggie Evans type player, that would be fantastic.

Also, why are we not in position to try and develop a young player? NBA stars are not lining up to sign in Sacto right now. We have to try and develop young talent to become relevant again.

Because we need more than just a young athletic rebounder to get back into contention. Like I said, Reggie Evans isn't going to be the difference here so why do we need to pick up Reggie Evans 2.0?

We need to win now before we waste Cousins' prime. We're not in position to develop a guy like TRob because he's going to land on his 5th team and it's just his 3rd year. The guy doesn't have a high ceiling or anything. He's not Hassan Whiteside. There are tons and tons of athletic players out there that can't actually play basketball and he is one of them. Maybe some day he'll be like Kenneth Faried but the chances of that are slim.

I'm shocked that so many of you want this guy on the team when we have gigantic glaring needs that need to be addressed. The #1 rebounding team in the league does not need another rebounder that can't do much of anything else. We need guys who can shoot, pass and defend....and we need guys that can do at least 2 of those 3 things. Not a bunch of one trick ponies.

 

[hrdboild]

Whiteside is a gigantic exception. For every Whiteside that develops there are 20 Thabeets that burn out. That's like using IT as an example for why undersized players should be given a shot. Every once in a while you get one that is good enough, while the rest never pan out to anything because of their limitations. The chances of TRob being anything more than Reggie Evans are extremely small. We're simply not in the position to be trying to develop guys that have a very low probability of actually becoming something.

...like I said, it won't mean anything to you unless you figure it out yourself. And no, that's not what I was referring to.

 

[hrdboild]

Because we need more than just a young athletic rebounder to get back into contention. Like I said, Reggie Evans isn't going to be the difference here so why do we need to pick up Reggie Evans 2.0?

We need to win now before we waste Cousins' prime. We're not in position to develop a guy like TRob because he's going to land on his 5th team and it's just his 3rd year. The guy doesn't have a high ceiling or anything. He's not Hassan Whiteside. There are tons and tons of athletic players out there that can't actually play basketball and he is one of them. Maybe some day he'll be like Kenneth Faried but the chances of that are slim.

I'm shocked that so many of you want this guy on the team when we have gigantic glaring needs that need to be addressed. The #1 rebounding team in the league does not need another rebounder that can't do much of anything else. We need guys who can shoot, pass and defend....and we need guys that can do at least 2 of those 3 things. Not a bunch of one trick ponies.

Contending is a continual process of developing and reloading. San Antonio didn't just draft 3 players and dominate the league for 15 years. Every year they're taking little known prospects and turning them into NBA players. Look what OKC just did at the trade deadline. They traded a guy they drafted in the late first round for a backup PG, backup SF, and backup C. They completely retooled their bench because they were able to develop a guy that not a lot of teams believed in (24th overall pick) and turn him into an asset. He was blocked by Westbrook so they turned him into something useful to them.

It's unrealistic to think we're just going to go out and buy perfect players for our team. One of the big advantages of paying an experienced coach like George Karl is that he can develop young players and turn some of those cheap acquisitions into legitimate assets. If they're not a perfect fit for your team, you can trade them to one of the other 29 teams who is looking for that type of player and didn't have the patience to develop them themselves. Every team in the league is in the business of getting better and buying low and selling high on players is a good way to do that. If you're not working on locating overlooked talent and developing them and making them better at all times, you're simply falling behind.

I don't think Thomas Robinson needs to be a key player on a DeMarcus Cousins playoff team to have considerable value to this franchise down the line.

 

[bajaden]

I guess I'm not sure what's to be gained by signing Robinson. I get that he's a terrific athlete, and yes, he does rebound well, but beyond that, does the defensive energy he brings to the floor balance out his overall lack of skills. For starters, lets take what the Kings organization said their looking for at the PF position. And they used an either/or description, but I'm sure they wouldn't complain if they found a player that could do both. But first they said they were looking for a player that could help spread the floor. Can Robinson do that? I think not! Hell, he shoots less than 50% from the freethrow line. His entire offensive game is alley oops, dunks on breakaways, and putbacks. So he's not going to spread the floor. If anything, he'll do the opposite.

The other prerequisite was a player that's a rim protector. Is Robinson a rim protector? Once again, I think not! He's not a shotblocker. Never has been, and probably never will be. Some of it may have to do with his height and length, but mostly he's just not instinctive in that area. Right now I would call him a very poor man's Kenneth Faried. And make no mistake, Faried is far more skilled than Robinson, and has a far superior basketball IQ. Would I be OK with signing him to a minimum salary contract. Yeah, I guess so. I mean it wouldn't hurt to have him sitting on the bench to throw in as an energizer bunny when needed. My question is, would he be happy sitting there? He seems to have a higher opinion of himself than most of the league does, and I'm not sure I want a player on my team that suffers from narcissistic illusions.

A final note. When Uncia03 and I discussed Robinson while at Kansas, we both came to the conclusion that while he was a terrific athlete, who seemed at times to have the ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket, he would need to become a decent to good shooter in order to have any value in the NBA. I've always thought that his best position might be at SF, but once again, if you can't shoot the ball, you can't play that position. The question I would ask, is where is his skill improvement? He's playing a little smarter, and on nights when the refs give him some leeway, his pesky defense is effective. But other times he's a foul magnet. His handles haven't improved significantly. He still can't shoot. Other than hustle, where is the improvement? I just don't see much, and this is his 4th year in the NBA.

 

[hrdboild]

It's only his third year, Baja. Next year will be his fourth. I guess I don't think skill level is as important for a 15-20 minute bench enforcer. We have Cousins in the paint beasting the boards and then he goes to the bench and we have inconsistent rebounders like Landry and Thompson coming in. Both of them could be gone in a couple years anyway. Robinson has the foundation for a reliable 15-20 foot jumper. I've seen him make them consistently in shootarounds. I think he just needs to build confidence and learn when it's the right time to take them.

No he's not a shotblocker but often times the player you get who is a great goal keeper and weakside shotblocker isn't a great defensive rebounder because they're more focused on bothering the shot than boxing out. That's fine when Cousins is on the floor, but when he's not you'll want a guy like Robinson coming in cause the defensive possession isn't actually over until you secure the rebound.

 

[andjel]

Robinson has potential, if Karl thinks he can develop him, we might have a winner there.

So nice to finally have someone with Kings to trust regarding bball knowledge.

 

[ESP47]

Contending is a continual process of developing and reloading. San Antonio didn't just draft 3 players and dominate the league for 15 years. Every year they're taking little known prospects and turning them into NBA players. Look what OKC just did at the trade deadline. They traded a guy they drafted in the late first round for a backup PG, backup SF, and backup C. They completely retooled their bench because they were able to develop a guy that not a lot of teams believed in (24th overall pick) and turn him into an asset. He was blocked by Westbrook so they turned him into something useful to them.

It's unrealistic to think we're just going to go out and buy perfect players for our team. One of the big advantages of paying an experienced coach like George Karl is that he can develop young players and turn some of those cheap acquisitions into legitimate assets. If they're not a perfect fit for your team, you can trade them to one of the other 29 teams who is looking for that type of player and didn't have the patience to develop them themselves. Every team in the league is in the business of getting better and buying low and selling high on players is a good way to do that. If you're not working on locating overlooked talent and developing them and making them better at all times, you're simply falling behind.

I don't think Thomas Robinson needs to be a key player on a DeMarcus Cousins playoff team to have considerable value to this franchise down the line.

Teams like San Antonio can take flyers on players and stash them on the bench for developing. They have more talent in their top 6 players than we do on our entire team combined. We just simply aren't in a position to be taking on players who have a medium ceiling with a low percentage of ever getting there. The team is hopefully on the up and up compared to where we were 5 years ago. We have 2 rock solid players under contract for the first time in years. We need to build the rest of the team around them and win while we still have them here.

Each and every roster spot on this team is vital. Robinson's skills are not needed here. We're already a monster rebounding team. We already have Reggie Evans. Yeah he's old but he's basically the same player as far as what he accomplishes. Reggie Evans doesn't even suit up half the time. There is just absolutely no reason why we should go sign a guy who has the same skills as a guy who doesn't even suit up.

Robinson may very well develop into a fine player some day but at this point we need to get guys who can shoot, play D and move the ball....and we need them now. We don't need to be stocking our bench up with prospects (Williams, McCallum, Stauskas....and Robinson?). We're about dead last in assists and 3 point shooting. Lets start there when it comes to acquiring new players.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Teams like San Antonio can take flyers on players and stash them on the bench for developing. They have more talent in their top 6 players than we do on our entire team combined. We just simply aren't in a position to be taking on players who have a medium ceiling with a low percentage of ever getting there. The team is hopefully on the up and up compared to where we were 5 years ago. We have 2 rock solid players under contract for the first time in years. We need to build the rest of the team around them and win while we still have them here.

Each and every roster spot on this team is vital. Robinson's skills are not needed here. We're already a monster rebounding team. We already have Reggie Evans. Yeah he's old but he's basically the same player as far as what he accomplishes. Reggie Evans doesn't even suit up half the time. There is just absolutely no reason why we should go sign a guy who has the same skills as a guy who doesn't even suit up.

Robinson may very well develop into a fine player some day but at this point we need to get guys who can shoot, play D and move the ball....and we need them now. We don't need to be stocking our bench up with prospects (Williams, McCallum, Stauskas....and Robinson?). We're about dead last in assists and 3 point shooting. Lets start there when it comes to acquiring new players.

From my point of view San Antonio has this kind of talent, cause they took calculated risks and developed players, who were overlooked by a lot of teams. You are advocating, that we should aquire already developed players, that fill needs. I'm not so sure, where we should find those players. Veterans will almost always sign with contending teams. We aren't in the position to get these guys unless we overpay them or we trade for them and convince them to actually play in SAC.
Dragic, Terry, Rondo.....no seasoned veterans with a certain reputation want to play for our team, cause we are in a bad spot in a cruel western conference.
We can aim at the second to third tier veterans aka guys like Rasual Butler, Ryan Hollins, Andre Miller and hope we can turn them into something useful, or we can try to take a chance with developing players, that are dumped by other teams.
Robinson in my eyes is a completely different player than Reggie Evans. Evans is a tad undersized, pretty slow and strong like a bull. He is one of the best rebounders in the league, but a poor defender, cause he lacks the footspeed to rotate properly. I don't care if Robinson is a shotblocker yet. Shotblocking is something for stats guys. If we can teach Robinson how to rotate and how to bother shots, by going straight up, I don't care if he actually blocks the shot. Robinson has footspeed, lift and is a very quick jumper. The guy has unique athleticism, is still young, will most likely sign a cheap, short contract, cause he has no leverage and unlike Evans has all the tools to develop into a solid defensive player.
If we sign him on a short term deal, there is almost nothing to lose. If he doesn't get it, he is gone and out of the league. But if he does get it and turns his athleticism into something useful, we have a young asset with some value, which we could trade for a solid veteran or keep on our team.
Low risk with a potential mediocre to high reward.

 

[ESP47]

From my point of view San Antonio has this kind of talent, cause they took calculated risks and developed players, who were overlooked by a lot of teams. You are advocating, that we should aquire already developed players, that fill needs. I'm not so sure, where we should find those players. Veterans will almost always sign with contending teams. We aren't in the position to get these guys unless we overpay them or we trade for them and convince them to actually play in SAC.
Dragic, Terry, Rondo.....no seasoned veterans with a certain reputation want to play for our team, cause we are in a bad spot in a cruel western conference.
We can aim at the second to third tier veterans aka guys like Rasual Butler, Ryan Hollins, Andre Miller and hope we can turn them into something useful, or we can try to take a chance with developing players, that are dumped by other teams.
Robinson in my eyes is a completely different player than Reggie Evans. Evans is a tad undersized, pretty slow and strong like a bull. He is one of the best rebounders in the league, but a poor defender, cause he lacks the footspeed to rotate properly. I don't care if Robinson is a shotblocker yet. Shotblocking is something for stats guys. If we can teach Robinson how to rotate and how to bother shots, by going straight up, I don't care if he actually blocks the shot. Robinson has footspeed, lift and is a very quick jumper. The guy has unique athleticism, is still young, will most likely sign a cheap, short contract, cause he has no leverage and unlike Evans has all the tools to develop into a solid defensive player.
If we sign him on a short term deal, there is almost nothing to lose. If he doesn't get it, he is gone and out of the league. But if he does get it and turns his athleticism into something useful, we have a young asset with some value, which we could trade for a solid veteran or keep on our team.
Low risk with a potential mediocre to high reward.

To me, they're the same player because at the end of the night, they're going to get you a few points, a lot of rebounds and not much of anything else. Yeah so TRob is athletic. There are TONS of athletic borderline NBA players out there. Athleticism means nothing if you cant play the game of basketball. This guy had 3 years at a top ranked college and is in his 2nd and a half year in the league. The same drawbacks he had years ago are the same drawbacks he has now. He simply isn't improving on the things he needs to improve on to become a 20+ minute a night player.

He's been traded 3 times and bought out 1 time and hasn't even been in the league a full 3 seasons yet. There's a reason for that. It's because he's not a good basketball player and he doesn't have a high ceiling. He's a SF/PF tweener with zero offensive game. No most moves. Can't shoot. Can't handle the ball. His FT % is beyond atrocious. He's just not a good player and doesn't have a high ceiling due to his body size. Don't let the "stats" on his size fool you. He's undersized when you see him on the court with other PF's. What we have is an undersized PF who has 1 basketball skill and is athletic. Players like him are a dime a dozen. I'm shocked at the fact that you people are even remotely interested in going back in time and getting this guy who is just as bad now as he was the first time we got rid of him.

 

[KingsFanGER]

To me, they're the same player because at the end of the night, they're going to get you a few points, a lot of rebounds and not much of anything else. Yeah so TRob is athletic. There are TONS of athletic borderline NBA players out there. Athleticism means nothing if you cant play the game of basketball. This guy had 3 years at a top ranked college and is in his 2nd and a half year in the league. The same drawbacks he had years ago are the same drawbacks he has now. He simply isn't improving on the things he needs to improve on to become a 20+ minute a night player.

He's been traded 3 times and bought out 1 time and hasn't even been in the league a full 3 seasons yet. There's a reason for that. It's because he's not a good basketball player and he doesn't have a high ceiling. He's a SF/PF tweener with zero offensive game. No most moves. Can't shoot. Can't handle the ball. His FT % is beyond atrocious. He's just not a good player and doesn't have a high ceiling due to his body size. Don't let the "stats" on his size fool you. He's undersized when you see him on the court with other PF's. What we have is an undersized PF who has 1 basketball skill and is athletic. Players like him are a dime a dozen. I'm shocked at the fact that you people are even remotely interested in going back in time and getting this guy who is just as bad now as he was the first time we got rid of him.

Evans can't run the floor, can't roll to the basket, can't chase down people to contest shots, can't play solid transition D and is slow on rotations and therefore a bad pick&roll defender. Robinson could do those things, but needs to learn how to do it.

TRob has improved a lot during his stint in Portland. He settled down, did reduce the amount of stupid plays and sticked to what he can do at an elite level - use his physical gifts and play with energy. He is not there yet, but he has shown, that he most likely deserves to be in the league. I doubt that there are a dime and a dozen players out there, that are equally athletic as TRob - but hey, I always admitted, that I don't follow college ball closely, so I may be wrong.
Problem is, that we need to be able to get those players to SAC on cheap contracts. Because that's the reason, why I support giving TRob another chance - there is almost no risk involved.

Regarding the whole tweener and undersized thing. I know people around here are in love with size and players, that have a defined role and position. But to me it looks like the league is getting smaller and quickness and the ability to guard the pick&roll are getting way more important than size and length. There is a reason that JT, who is a solid 1vs1 defender and rebounder, has no value around the league.
But that's the way I see the contemporary NBA and I know, that loads of people around here, tend to disagree and come up with historic evidence, that you need dominant players with size at all cost, to be successful in the NBA.