First, unrelated to the title, but I wanted to mention that I got a really negative vibe from the report that Kobe “wants to have the last word with Dwight.” I know it’s completely innocuous and intended to ensure full weight to his pitch, but given Kobe’s personality, it just came off initially like another case of bullying. You get the fear that again, like with the proverbial opt-in with Orlando, Dwight will be guilt-tripped into staying in a bad situation. He is a mental midget, after all. He says he “has a right to be happy” but we’ll see.
Woj reported some days ago that the Rockets have put Thomas Robinson on the market in an effort to clear room for Howard. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as his salary is the only one out of our dispensable players that can offer aid. I had said during the season that I thought there was a greater chance of Robinson being on a different team at the start of training camp than ever being a consistent contributor for Houston – that prediction seems likely to come true. This report isn’t really an affirmation in a charge against Robinson’s abilities nor is it an indictment against his worth. I think he has very little potential, but as explained above, this is mainly about clearing space.
On that point though, I’m bewildered as to how Robinson was so highly regarded coming out. I don’t watch college basketball, as you all know, so I hadn’t seen him before this. Obviously, I have the benefit of hindsight but I really see nothing to make me think he’ll ever become anything more than Darvin Ham. Robinson is basically a 6’6 power forward who can’t shoot, has one move (a spin move), will never be able to post up, and is athletic but not exactly freakish in that regard. He’s a good rebounder, I suppose (in viewing his per-minute averages), but I don’t see that ever being enough to cover up for his other flaws and warrant playing time, especially on this Rockets team.
Many of you would often take exception when I’d remark last season that I saw nothing of promise from Robinson, saying “he’s just a rookie, give him time.” I said I’d explain my stance and got busy and never did. Here it is: when I say/said I saw nothing, I didn’t mean he was bad. Donatas Motiejunas and Terrence Jones were also pretty bad (overall) and neither were contributors during the postseason. But they showed promise. They showed glimpses. They were bad but I saw proof that they can help some day. I saw Motiejunas’ brilliance post skills, his shooting touch and his ability as a 7 footer to put the ball on the floor. I saw Jones’ freakish explosion, his shot-blocking prowess and nose for the ball. Yes, these players were overall bad, but these players are just rookies who will grow and make those glimpses consistent production. Robinson showed no glimpses. He’s a limited undersized player with overrated athletic ability. Unless he suddenly develops an unexpected shooting touch, I don’t see him lasting in this league.
What can Houston get for Robinson? I think he’s worthless at that salary but it’s not out of the question that a GM would want to take a flier. But what complicates matters is the fact the cap will remain around $58million and not rise to $60million as had been expected. This means that in addition to Robinson, the Rockets will have to clear out even more cap to fit Dwight Howard into a max.
Houston could look to attach Royce White in a package with T-Rob, but in a package that toxic, they’d almost surely have to attach a future first to get someone to bite. Incoming, they’d probably be looking at a nominal conditional pick, though a first rounder this year selected with the written guarantee of remaining abroad would not count against this year’s cap – that could be an option.
Morey put word out about T-Rob so soon because it’s what any economist/businessman would recommend: avoid sale under duress. If he gets a commitment from Howard later in the summer, it will cost even more to unload salary when other teams know of that situation.
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