TRob signs with Sixers...
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TRob has signed with Sixers for the rest of the season. Hopefully he gets the opportunity he deserves. To all of us familiar with the personal tragedies he endured, nothing would please us more than to see him succeed in the NBA.
Now, I need to catch up on the 20+ threads I am behind due to travel and other work engagements.
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@JayHawkFanToo great news! I love that guy!
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I love him too. So much want him to have a great career in the NBA. Go TROB.
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He has been productive in limited time so far. I hope he really takes off and silences his critics once and for all.
http://instagram.com/jayhawks_inkd
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@JayHawkFanToo So the 76ers have Beed and Nerlens And TRob? Plus however other many bigs. Im glad TRob signed with the team, I just hope he sticks. He has been tossed around like Drew Gooden.
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The Sixers are hard to figure out. They just traded Michael Carter-Williams, their best players and reigning rookie of the year. TRob should do well there.
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Wait until Embiid and him are in the lineup together. That will be sweet…
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@KUSTEVE sweetness!
️
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@Crimsonorblue22 That, too…Hey, if Cliff gets reinstated for Saturday’s game, I’m having a one day “Cliffie” logo to honor his return. Jethro will get the day off…
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@KUSTEVE jethro should have gone home w/hillbillies!
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Ouch
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TRob is working on a double double right now in only 15 minutes of play. He’s averaging 9 points and 7 boards since coming over to Philly
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Speaking of TRob, look what his teammate did in warmups. You might recognize him. https://vine.co/v/OEKxv2pHlmj
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@wissoxfan83 saw that! Lookin good!
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Robinson finding a home with Sixers?
Philadelphia 76ers’ Thomas Robinson in action during an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, in Philadelphia. (Matt Slocum/AP)
Marcus Hayes, Daily News Sports Columnist POSTED: Wednesday, March 4, 2015, 3:01 AM image: http://media.philly.com/designimages/partnerIcon-DailyNews-2014.jpg
THE NUMBERS just don’t add up.
That could profit the Sixers.
Thomas Robinson finished second in Wooden Award voting, then went fifth in the 2012 draft, but he didn’t get his first NBA start until he’d been in the league more than 200 games. Only 23, he is with his fifth team in three seasons.
That’s a lot of numbers, but none of them are the type that excite the Sixers, the most number-centric franchise in all of pro sports. What Robinson is, and what he could become, transcends numbers.
MORE COVERAGE BOX SCORE: Jazz 89, Sixers 83 VOTE: Which traded player will be missed the most? POLL: Will the Sixers make the playoffs next season? Forum: Does Hinkie have 76ers on right track? Sixers 2014-15 regular season schedule Buy 76ers jerseys, memorabilia, and other gear Latest Sixers videos Sixers coach Brett Brown calls him “a bull,” and Robinson the hungriest bull in the barn.
“I’m tired of getting treated like a rag doll in this league,” Robinson said after his second game with the Sixers. “I just want to prove that I belong here. I’m tired of being treated like I’ve been treated in this league.”
Nothing in his pedigree and nothing in his career profile suggested that he would be low-hanging, waiver-wire fruit 3 years after he was college basketball’s most compelling star.
His personal tragedies as a college sophomore, when he was a teammate of Philly twins Marcus and Markieff Morris at Kansas, thrust him into a national spotlight. While he toiled on the Midwest Plains in the middle of winter, his grandparents and mother back in Washington, D.C., died within weeks of each other, leaving Robinson and his sister, Jayla, then 7, essentially alone in the world.
Buoyed by the support of the national college basketball audience and maniacally driven by the desire to secure the best life for his sister, in only months, Robinson transformed from a sophomore bench player with the Morris twins to a bona-fide star as a junior.
Robinson finished second to Anthony Davis in the 2012 Wooden Award voting, and the Kansas forward went just four picks after the Kentucky star in the ensuing draft.
Shipped out of Sacramento during his rookie season to Houston (where a clever young man named Sam Hinkie was assistant general manager), Robinson was seen as a minor money-saving move for the Kings. That summer, Houston needed to clear cap space to sign Dwight Howard in a trade, so Robinson was traded to Portland. The Blazers didn’t need him, so last month he was thrown in as part of a deal with the Nuggets to make that trade meet NBA salary rules. The Nuggets never wanted him and quickly waived him.
The Sixers, now run by Hinkie, snatched him up - and, by satisfying payroll-usage rules, reportedly saved themselves almost $2 million.
Spin it any way you want, but Robinson is right: He has been treated like a rag doll.
He’s been playing like He-Man.
Robinson has averaged 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16.4 minutes of bench play in his four games with the Sixers, a significant increase from his career averages of 4.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in just over 13 minutes of play - but then, his minutes are deceptive, since he has been a healthy scratch for about 20 percent of his NBA games.
Why is he producing now?
“Nobody’s given me a chance,” Robinson said. “That’s pretty much it.”
Well, yes and no.
Robinson lists at 6-9 and 240 pounds, and he certainly is a strong, athletic player. However, despite the presence of a viable midrange set shot, he never developed a definable offensive game in college. Also, he’s a little too short and 10 pounds too light to warrant the minutes to develop an offensive game on teams that featured DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento) and LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland). His effort has not been consistent enough to establish a reputation as a tireless hustle player in the vein of Kenneth “Manimal” Faried or Chris “Birdman” Andersen.
Maybe the Bull can find a suitable pasture in South Philly. He would fit the city’s mold.
His two buckets at the end of the first quarter Monday kept the Raptors from pulling away. He found Ish Smith early in the second quarter, then tied the game with his second putback. That gave him six points and three rebounds in 6 minutes of play; plus, he policed Raptors cheap-shot artist Tyler Hansbrough, who cowed under Robinson’s glare.
Robinson next entered late in the third period and scored five points in his first 70 seconds. He was floored by an elbow to the jaw early in the fourth and was replaced, despite his protests.
“I was fine,” he insisted afterward.
“He was a bull,” said Brown.
You get the idea Brown wants to hide his bull. Robinson is a free agent after the season, and the Nets were on the verge of signing him when Hinkie made the waiver claim.
Bill Self, a coaching genius at Kansas, turned Robinson into a lottery pick in one season. Robinson is a coach’s dream; the sort of player Brown can develop into an invaluable asset.
“I feel sure about the path I want for him,” Brown said. “It’s a refinement of his game. He has this incredible bounce and passion and energy. Sometimes maybe he tries to do too much or play too fast, or takes that ‘reckless abandon’ mentality and gets himself in trouble. We just have to tame it and help him grow it. Not handcuff him, just try to refine it.”
Even with his pedigree, Robinson has yet to find a spot in the NBA where he can be nurtured the way he was nurtured at Kansas. Then again, it wasn’t exactly touchy-feely in Lawrence; especially after the sadness of his sophomore season.
“I love the hell out of coach Self. He loves the hell out of me. He always gave me tough love. I needed that. I always need that,” Robinson said. “And I know I always get the credit, but he helped me get through that situation I went through in school. He made me who I am.”
Self helped.
Brown can take it a few steps further.
“He’s trying to find a home,” Brown said. “I feel like I have answers.”
Thomas figures his unassuming offensive needs and his commitment to defense and rebounding fit any team’s requirements, but then, four other teams didn’t value those assets enough.
He’s happy Brown believes in him and will let him shoot, but he’s not banking on staying: “I thought [Portland and Houston] were good fits, too.”
He says it without malice as he pulls on a sheer T-shirt with a life-sized picture of Claudia Schiffer’s fetching face. He does not know who Schiffer is. “Just liked the shirt,” he said.
He is not an angry young man. Just hungry.
And, for the moment, happy.
The twins’ mother, “Miss Angel,” has served as a surrogate mother for Robinson since before his own mother died and continues to do so today. His sister is close geographically, but since he battled for custody of her after their mother died (her father’s family also sought custody) he has, for the past couple of years, declined to elaborate on her situation.
All of that makes Philadelphia a comfortable place for Robinson . . . who is ready to move along whenever the phone rings. The pain Robinson endured gave him an impenetrable armor.
“All of what I’ve been through makes me laugh at stuff like that,” Robinson said. “Nothing’s going to faze me. I’ve pretty much seen it all. I’m not going to let this league or anyone’s opinions break me. I know what I can do. I know who I am. The moment I get the chance, it’s going to show.”
It’s showing.
Look at the numbers.
Email: hayesm@phillynews.com
On Twitter: @inkstainedretch
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20150304_Robinson_finding_a_home_with_Sixers_.html#1AQYoFyBZPRIPpGO.99
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Maybe it’ll take going to one of the worst teams in the league for him to find his niche. I certainly hope so.
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@wissoxfan83 he just needs someone to believe in him! Give him a chance.
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TROB. I believe in you, and I believe you can have a good career in the NBA. Hang in there and RCJH.
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TRob good night! 18 mins,7 pts, 15 reb, 2asst, 1steal and 1 block
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One less point and the same amt of rebounds as the starter Noel…
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Philadelphia 76ers @Sixers · 9h9 hours ago
##@Trobinson0 is just the 2nd player since '85-'86 to notch at least 15 rebounds in 18 or fewer minutes of play.
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… TROB continuing to play well in limited minutes.
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SUPER NEWS for one of my favorites. You go get-em TROB.
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I still try to read all of the box scores of former Jayhawks.
The Morrises are getting better seemingly every game, and most encouraging is that Marcus seems to be catching up to 'Kieff in minutes played and production.
Wiggins is ROY I think,
Aldrich gets some PT with the woeful knicks.
Withey is playing infrequently.
Arthur gets some decent minutes with the playoff bound Nuggets.
Hinrich is the old man of the bulls and still gives some good minutes.
Rush is on a playoff team watching from the bench.
Chalmers is at career highs last I checked for scoring since the King left.
Tarik is getting inconsistent minutes with the Fakers.
BMac is consistently good, not great.
Pierce fading into the hall with the Bullets…er Wizards. Gooden gets decent minutes one game and good production and then nothing the next.
Collison gets 10-20 minutes every game and gets few points or boards since Westbrook is hoarding all of those in his incredible run of triple doubles.
I think I got them all. I wish the names of Simien, Langford, Miles, Collins and Jackson were included in my report.
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@wissoxfan83 Withey played about 15 minutes against the Warriors the other night. Did reasonably well with rebounds. Blocked one shot I think. Hit a 12 footer from the baseline.
I have been unable to understand the Brandon Rush situation with the Warriors. He has a 2 ;year deal but hasn’t played in 90% of their games. He hit a three last night against the Wizards and the crowd and announcers went slightly less than wild. It was like Christian Garrett scoring. Everybody on the team really likes him. According to the announcers coach Kerr would like to get him more minutes. He has been playing very well in practice (where have we heard that) but seems to lack confidence in the games. He is still a top 10% 3 pt shooter among active players. After his 3 he went hard to the basket and once again the announcers were quite happy about it.
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TRob had one of his best games last night - 16 puts (7-12) and 8 RBs in 21 minutes (believe his most with the Sixers. His per minutes slash line in March has been really strong. Not sure why he isn’t starting - subs behind zero time all star Luc Mbah a Moute…
