TORONTO — The NBA is basketball’s most exclusive club. This season, the total membership sits at 523 players who have appeared in a game.
One of them is seven-foot centre Orlando Robinson. He currently resides on the periphery, riding out the end of his 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors after going back and forth between the Sacramento Kings and their G-League affiliate in Stockton to start the season. He had appeared in 11 games this season prior to Monday, a bottom-100 mark in the league – also the same number as Zion Williamson.
Monday was potentially Robinson’s last chance to make an impression in his present setting, as the Raptors played the New Orleans Pelicans on the 10th day of his deal. He was candid about his mindset in the locker room before the game.
“Take advantage of the opportunity,” said Robinson. “(I) wanted an opportunity to play, got an opportunity to play today, so just going to go out there, impact winning, show what I can do, compete.”
A 10-day deal can be the first step towards a consistent role in the league for players in this sphere. It allows them to showcase their skills at the NBA level and possibly catch on with a new team on a more permanent basis. It is a considerable improvement from the instability and uncertainty of their next contract or locale.
In the Raptors’ previous game on Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks, Robinson popped. His counting stats didn’t jump off the page – he had four points, six rebounds, and two blocks in 20 minutes of action – but his astute defence and ability to distribute to his teammates out of the high-post stood out.
His first stint on the floor Monday was a different story. Robinson was charged with four fouls in just over seven minutes, three of which came within an 11 second span.
There were some positives. He made a strong help side rotation to nullify a C.J. McCollum drive. Scottie Barnes passed to Robinson in the post, where he backed down his defender and finished with a smooth right-handed hook. The 24-year-old showed poise on a play where he ran delay action from the elbow, made a measured handoff to Davion Mitchell, and rescreened to open up space for his guard to get downhill. Robinson even kept Williamson in front on a drive – a rare feat for the Raptors in this game – and pressured him into a bad pass for a turnover.
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During Robinson’s first two seasons in the league with the Miami Heat, he also showed that he could work in an offensive scheme that utilizes bigs initiating actions from the elbow-extended area in a similar way that the Raptors do.
“No, I got that, I can make plays like that,” said Robinson. “Especially I played a lot like that in college. I got double teamed all the time so I kind of had to develop skills – I mean I had the skills to pass – but I really had to get good at creating for myself and also my teammates.”
But the prevailing moments of Robinson’s first-half appearance were the four fouls and a bad pass for a turnover. He was first called for a loose ball foul while attempting to crash the glass, then was immediately called for another while jockeying for position with Williamson on the next possession, and picked up his third aggressively fighting over a screen three seconds later. The passing read came after Robinson received the ball in the high post and attempted to make a high-low feed to a cutting Barnes. The idea was sound, but Javonte Green was playing him tight and tipped the forced pass for a steal.
Robinson returned to the floor late in the third quarter, and was quietly good. He was in the right spots defensively, set solid screens, boxed out, and drew a foul for two made free throws. Unspectacular, but all things that are expected of a depth centre.
With both Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher reportedly available at the upcoming trade deadline, an opportunity may open up for a young, multifaced frontcourt player like Robinson in Toronto. His feel for help defence could make him a fit for a Raptors team whose ultra-aggressive defensive scheme allows plenty of drives. It isn’t concrete, but Robinson has also shown glimpses of making the kind of passing reads the Raptors expect of their big men.
“I was just really locked in when I got here, wanting to know how to most take advantage of my opportunity, and I didn’t want to have any mistakes,” said Robinson to Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy. “Watching film, getting an understanding, asking questions, is something I really did, just trying to commit to this. That’s why I was able to understand it so quickly.”
from Sportsnet.ca
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