Thomas Robinson, somehow, played 102 games for the Portland Trail Blazers. He started four games in Portland despite numerous stints on the disabled list for Robin Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge over that stretch. Robinson received just 12.4 minutes a night; he managed twice as many turnovers as assists.
Portland dealt Robinson, along with Will Barton, Victor Claver and a protected first round pick, to Denver for Arron Afflalo last week. The Nuggets waived he and Claver, and Robinson was eventually claimed by the 76ers. Philadelphia needed his beefy salary to jettison their cap number over the league minimum. At season’s end, Robinson will be an unrestricted free agent looking for his fifth team in four seasons, a far fall from being the No. 5 overall selection in the 2012 NBA draft.
It’s funny what a player’s draft selection can do to the expectations that surround their career. Robinson was a three-year star at Kansas University under coach Bill Self. A double-double factory, Robinson won Big 12 Player of the Year honors in 2012 and was a consensus First-Team All-American. Robinson was selected by the Sacramento Kings, a franchise drowning in mediocrity and questionable decision-making, and by choosing Robinson, the Kings became the fourth team in a row to pass on Damian Lillard. (We’ll let New Orleans off the hook.) Every year, players get drafted to the wrong team, and we learned quickly that Robinson and Sacramento were not meant to be.
In his first 50 games with Sacramento, the Kings were outscored by 9.6 points per 100 possessions when Robinson was on the floor, in large part to an anemic offense that shot a horrid 45.3 true shooting percentage, per NBA.com. The Kings learned quickly that playing Boogie Cousins and Robinson together was a no-go: the tandem posted a 94.8 offensive rating and 118.1 defensive rating in 208 minutes together. Simply unplayable. Robinson, only months removed from being a Top 5 pick in a deep draft, was dealt to Houston for a collection of secondary players, the biggest name being Patrick Patterson.
At the time most of the frustration, and deservedly so, was directed at Sacramento — for passing on soon-to-be ROY Lillard, for failing to show patience with Robinson. He was surely going to benefit from a change of scenery, and Houston, an emerging team in the West behind James Harden’s breakout performance, was a great opportunity to showcase Robinson’s potential. These terms — change of scenery, showcase his potential, etc. — are attached to player’s drafted in the lottery every year. But the paradox is that many of these players never realize their potential, those sky-high expectations that their draft position cursed upon them, and yet they are seemingly always “one great fit” away from being unleashed. Somebody, somewhere on the Internet is probably arguing Jonathon Bender is a 10-day contract with the Spurs away from a comeback.
Robinson was objectively bad in Sacramento, and he wasn’t any better in Houston (19 games, 13 minutes per game) or Portland. Over the past two years, the question surrounding Robinson has changed: it’s no longer what aren’t teams doing for Robinson, but what is Robinson not doing for his teams?
In his first game as a 76er Wednesday night, Robinson hugged his career averages oh-so-tight. He played 13 minutes in the blowout loss to Milwaukee, converting a few offensive rebounds into points, while also committing ghastly turnovers and mental errors. I was somewhat surprised he didn’t play more, as Philadelphia is full-speed-ahead again on being one of the youngest, chewed-to-the-bone raw basketball teams ever assembled. But if Philly keeps Robinson on the bench the next two months before letting him walk away this summer, it will be a painful reminder of how incredibly difficult it is to stick at the highest level, even when you’re as naturally gifted as Robinson.
The dearth of actual playing time Robinson received at his first three stops always perplexed me, and I often wondered what would happen if, say, coach Terry Stotts gave Robinson starter’s minutes for a week during the extended Lopez hiatus. Admittedly, I haven’t watched a ton of tape on Robinson over his nomadic basketball journey the past three years. (Coincidentally, neither have NBA coaches.) But after watching Robinson on Wednesday, it is easy to see why coaches are so weary about letting him play.
Putting it bluntly, this is one of the game’s most inferior defenders. At 6-10, 240 pounds, and with all of that athleticism, Robinson should be a half-way decent rim protector — at the very least the type of power forward that picks up a block each night helping from the weak side. Yeah, about that: Robinson has 57 career blocks. Compare that to 180 career turnovers or 125 career missed foul shots. Those numbers are worse than pedestrian; with his size, Robinson should be mucking it up all over the place. It’s not like he’s ever had to worry about foul trouble! He could be something like a flexible six personal fouls for his coach to use every night; Robinson has never averaged more than two fouls in a season.
Take this play from Wednesday:
Robinson is the lifeless body gazing at the hoop from the elbow after Jerryd Bayless blows by him to the tin. Deathly afraid to leave his man — which, in Robinson’s defense, Jared Dudley is a knock down shooter, a nightmare assignment for a true power forward like Robinson — Robinson doesn’t dare slide into the paint and pick up the blitzing guard. But you have to do that! You have to trust that your teammates will rotate accordingly. By lazily staying glued to his man in an attempt to not do the wrong thing, Robinson does the wrong thing, and it costs his team a lay-up.
This honestly made me laugh out loud when I watched it. Okay, for starters, he lets John Henson get off an unobstructed lay-in underneath the basket off an in-bounds play. Not cool. But when that isn’t the worst thing you do on a single defensive trip, you know it’s bad. Not paying attention, Robinson blocks the line of vision between his team’s in-bounder and point guard, thus allowing Bayless to explode at the ball and make a clean steal. We’re still not even at the worst part! Bayless drives at the hoop, drawing Nerlens Noel. Bayless then correctly hesitates, finding a cutter driving at the basket — a cutter who slices RIGHT BY ROBINSON.
Come on, man! Help yourself out! Use your body; be physical, be active. Robinson is a talented rebounder and in particular a handful on the offensive glass (when properly motivated). But the relationship between rebounding and defense isn’t mutually exclusive; doing one of those things some of the time is not an excuse to do the other none of the time. If Robinson wants to stay on the court, he needs to give a damn defensively.
If there is a word that describes Robinson’s game right now, it is careless. He has shown no noticeable improvement from year to year, a large reason, I presume, he keeps getting bounced from team to team — and why he hasn’t seen an increase in playing time for any noticeable stretch of his career. I really like Robinson — he’s a mega-athlete who can score around the tin, rebound whenever he wants, and could be a decent two-way player with any motivation. He has converted 61.2 percent of his shots in the restricted area this year, an appropriate number. But the guy makes too many problems for himself. He can’t shoot a lick at the foul line, and his turnover ratio is 21.4, the second-worst mark behind Kendrick Perkins among players with at least 30 games under their belt.
Robinson is not a jump-shooter from any distance, which means he can’t ever be a pick-and-pop threat. I think Robinson could turn himself into a Tyson Chandler/Brandon Wright roll man, crashing at the rim and sucking the defense into the lane with him, but there is a selflessness to this skill-set, and big men traditionally are slow to logging hard offensive minutes without any guarantee of post-ups to come. Robinson isn’t serviceable at any one thing; gobbling offensive rebounds for monstrous put backs can earn you trophies in college, but doesn’t promise anything in the NBA.
Here’s to hoping Robinson will make something happen for himself, but I fear that his lack of urgency in a contract year speaks loudly to what his future in the Association will look like. Perhaps he thinks a long-term contract will magically show up this July, a franchise so confident in their ability to showcase his potential that they are willing to ignore what his previous stops say about Robinson. While I certainly do not wish him ill will, I think the best thing for his career would be if all he got was a one-year deal — a “take it or leave it” contract that signifies the end of any more free passes. I want a coach to push him and I want a team to hold him accountable. Robinson could be a really good player in this league, but until it happens, it’s just potential. It’s just a thought.
