Thomas Robinson got the first start of his career tonight in place of the injured Robin Lopez. If the third-year big man keeps making plays like these, he might find himself a staple of Terry Stotts’ rotation even once Lopez returns. Watch the hyper-athletic Portland Trail Blazers reserve get a big chase-down block and impressive and-1 alley-oop in a minute of play versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
At 3:13 in the second quarter:
61 seconds later:
This is what the Sacramento Kings had in mind when they made Robinson the fifth pick of the 2012 draft. The Kansas product played with both the Kings and Houston Rockets his rookie year before being dealt to Portland in summer 2013. He showed flashes of brilliance in 12.5 minutes per game last season, but too often deviated from the offense and missed rotations on the other end.
Robinson was getting even less burn in 2014-2015 before Lopez went down, but stood to benefit immensely from the absence of the Blazers’ starting center – whether Stotts chose him as starter or not. T-Rob needs playing time to find his inevitable niche as a hustling, rebounding, garbage man, and seems primed to get it for the time being. Should he build off a seven-point, six-rebound first half against Milwaukee going forward, Portland could find itself with a hugely valuable reserve come spring.
And selfishly, we’ll be thrilled to have the opportunity to watch Robinson make more plays like these.
What do you think?
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