Posted by I was watching a pretty relaxed game between the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks when I noticed a familiar face— Thomas Robinson. My initial thoughts were, “what is he doing in the summer league?!” I didn’t even know that players like him—who have had years of experience in the NBA—were even allowed to play in the summer league. I thought this was for rookie, sophomore, and sometimes third-year players.
Robinson was a former lottery pick coming out of Kansas, but could never transfer his dominant college game to the NBA level. He had his moments—his best highlight being a monster block during his time with the Trailblazers—but never was able to handle the competition in the big league. Robinson played overseas last year for Beijing in the Chinese Basketball Association where he put up 21.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game.
Now, Robinson is playing with players much less experienced than him in the summer league in attempt to make it back to the biggest stage in basketball. In my time watching him, the 6’10” big man seemed pretty impressive, given he was playing against much younger guys. Robinson showed off an array of fancy footwork including a few spin moves and even a thunderous put-back dunk. It’ll be interesting to see if Robinson gets another shot at playing in the NBA.