@drgnslayr yeah, junebug got a flag 1. Kid stuck his face in a place it didn't belong!
Crimsonorblue22
42577 posts
@GBHawk46 those are 3 great Jayhawks on your avi!
@DoubleDD 👀👨🍻
@DoubleDD just don't fall down either!
@wissoxfan83 he just needs someone to believe in him! Give him a chance.
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: 
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.
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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 ↗
@wissoxfan83 saw that! Lookin good!
Couple of things: Texas tech and Baylor playing a close game on espn2. Kstate is not taking niño Williams and Thomas to Texas. No reason.
@brooksmd not sure! He's headed to the league and that's all he cares about. He could use strength and toughness, for sure would be better if he went here 2 years. I think he wanted to follow in kd's footsteps and play close to home. No bucket hats at ku!
@drgnslayr don't think this has anything to do w/coach Self!
Guess who's announcing game and has a senior son on the team?
@DCHawker maybe oubre at 4? I think he'll try some different things.
@DCHawker OU likes to zone it up too, maybe that will get our 3 game going!! They aren't deep either, if we do attack, fouls will hurt them. They do shoot the ball really well. They also can't seem to put 2 halfs together, see ISU and our game. It will be an interesting game, didn't coach say something about having some fun w/our lineup?
@KJD I think "the mayor" has a man crush on Self!👬❤️💙
@JayhawkRock78 did you see the sanctions against Syracuse? Really bad!
RealGM Analysis
How Picking The Wrong Coach Hurts Draft Stock
BY JONATHAN TJARKS
MAR 5, 2015 1:10 PM
Before they started their college careers, Jahlil Okafor, Karl-Anthony Towns and Myles Turner were widely seen as the three best freshmen big men in the country. All three were near 7’0 and all three were blessed with a rare combination of size, skill and athletic ability. In the week of practices leading up to the McDonald’s All-American Game, the 1-on-1 showdowns between the future NBA big men were the talk of the camp. But while Okafor (Duke) and Towns (Kentucky) went to two of the marquee programs in the country, Turner wound up staying close to home and playing for an embattled coach at Texas.
Before he signed Turner, Rick Barnes was fighting for his job in Austin. He made his name by bringing in a wave of high-profile recruits in the mid 00’s - TJ Ford, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant - but he had never been able to get past Bill Self and win an undisputed conference championship in the Big 12. Things began to go south in 2010, when a team that started the season 17-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the country wound up collapsing down the stretch and losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The program bottomed out in 2013, when they finished below .500 and missed the Tourney for the first time under Barnes.
Barnes was able to save his job in 2014, squeezing Texas back into the field of 68 on the backs of an unheralded freshman class led by Isaiah Taylor, who emerged from obscurity as a three-star recruit to become an NBA prospect after being given the keys to the offense by Barnes. With Taylor leading a strong core of returning talent that would be augmented by Turner, the Longhorns entered the season as a preseason Top 10 team, with many predicting they would finally end Self’s decade-long streak of Big 12 titles.
Instead, just about everything that could have went wrong did for Texas, who are now on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble with less than a week left in the regular season. With an 18-12 overall record and a 7-10 mark in conference play, the Longhorns will probably need to win at least two games in the Big 12 Tournament to be a play-in team, a humbling fall for a program with as much as NBA talent as anyone in the conference, including Kansas.
Myles Turner was in the wrong place at the wrong time, an unwitting victim of the slow-motion collapse of Rick Barnes program, one that has been years in the making. For as much success as the Longhorns have had in Barnes' 18-year tenure in Austin, he has had trouble adjusting to the modern game and the growing importance of spread offenses, which you can see in his far more talented team losing two games to Fred Hoiberg’s Iowa State program this season.
Barnes philosophy has always been to recruit as many elite athletes as possible, yell at them within an inch of their lives to get them to play high-level defense and then score going from defense to offense. Spacing the floor and running crisp offensive sets has never been a huge part of his identity as a coach. But while he has one of the biggest and most athletic teams in the country this season, their inability to generate consistent offense in the half-court has been their downfall in conference season, when opposing coaches intimately know all of your strengths and weaknesses.
The Longhorns never really recovered from the wrist injury Taylor suffered in the first few weeks of the season, which kept him out for most of non-conference play and forced them to create a new offensive identity without their main shot creator. He was a shell of himself when he returned and he wasn’t a great jump-shooter even before breaking his wrist. Despite having the ball in his hands for most of the game, Taylor takes only 1.8 3’s a game and shoots them at a 30.6% clip.
It’s the same story with the rest of the Texas guards. DeMarcus Holland takes only 1.4 3’s a game. Javan Felix takes 4.4 a game, but he’s coming off a season where he shot 37% from the field on 11.4 FGA’s a game, so no one really respects him from the perimeter. Kendal Yancy, a sophomore guard who could barely get off the bench to start the season, has found his stroke in recent weeks, but he’s still shooting only 32.4% from 3 on the season.
Compounding the problem of a bunch of small guards who can’t shoot 3’s on the perimeter is a group of 5 big men who get in each other’s way around the rim. Texas has too many talented big men for their own good, as Barnes has tried to start three at a time for most of the season, even though the sport on the whole is moving towards a world where only one big man plays at a time. The Longhorns have almost zero floor spacing for the vast majority of the game, which makes it fairly easy for the other team to defend them.
Turner could not be in a worst position to succeed. He doesn’t start because he is playing behind three 6’8+ upperclassmen - Cam Ridley, Connor Lammert and Jonathan Holmes - who all have an outside shot at the NBA. When he gets in the game, he is generally sharing the floor with two big men who can’t stretch the floor and clog up the lane and two guards who can’t shoot 3’s and who have no idea how to control tempo, run half-court sets and get the ball into the paint.
The amazing thing isn’t that he has been relatively unproductive for such a highly-touted big man but that he has managed to do anything at all at Texas. Unlike Towns and Okafor, Turner almost never gets the space to go 1-on-1 on smaller players on the block. He has been forced to play all the way out to the three-point line to get any shots at all and while his range shows potential (16-56 for the season) it’s not something you necessarily want your 7’0 freshman All-American to be doing.
In an ideal world, Turner would be the only big man on the floor, in a role similar to Jameel McKay at Iowa State. Turner is an stupendously large 18-year old who can anchor a defense, score out of the post and stretch the floor. A coach running a program with a coherent offensive identity would have been able to get more out of Turner than what Barnes has done this season. It’s hard to say what he would have done in Towns and Okafor’s shoes, but an 18-year old LeBron James might not have been able to fix what is ailing the Longhorns. Barring an unlikely run in the NCAA Tournament, it’s looking increasingly that Barnes will be fired at the season.
So what does this mean for Turner? According to the latest mock drafts, he is a fringe lottery prospect, a steep fall from the Top 5 selection he looked like he would be after facing off with Okafor and Towns in Chicago. He’s still a young player with a lot of holes in his game, but it’s important to remember that someone playing for Rick Barnes is going to put up far worse numbers than someone playing for John Calipari or Coach K. The latter two are future Hall of Famers. Barnes is not.
If you were to draw up a situation where you wanted to bury a young big man and depress his statistics, you couldn’t do much worse than what Barnes has done to Turner in his one season in Austin. It’s not the end of the world, as Barnes would literally have to put Turner in a wheelchair to seriously jeopardize his financial future. The point is that a savvy NBA team at the end of the lottery may be able to squeeze a lot of value out of their pick because of the incompetence of Myles Turner’s college coach.
@wissoxfan83 that's a great one!
Just maybe, crazy thought, Cliff turned his dad or mom info in to self?? Maybe that's what was weighing on him(his hs coach)
@JayHawkFanToo didn't the article say Cliff wasn't talking?
@brooksmd good one! Soooo, if Cliff is not talking, why are we even bothering w/him?
@HighEliteMajor driving, shooting throws
@JayHawkFanToo can't anything be done about the sleaze ball agents? No rules they have to live by?
@Shanghai_RCJH we didn't move very far w/out Embiid!
@JayHawkFanToo maybe it was before we figured he needed more time? His parents could have returned stuff, or money, backed out knowing he wasn't ready. Then agent could have turned them in? Just guessing!
@brooksmd this Cliff thing is not sounding good!!!
Kansas forward Cliff Alexander remains sidelined because of an NCAA inquiry into possible impermissible benefits received by one or more of his family members from an NBA agent, multiple sources have told Yahoo Sports.
Alexander has not yet been interviewed by the NCAA, sources said, though not because of a reluctance by either the school or NCAA investigators. Sources said legal counsel has been retained by the Alexander family and that may be slowing the investigative process.
.
Cliff Alexander has missed the Jayhawks' past two games. (USA Today)
Alexander will not be reinstated until after an NCAA interview occurs and a decision is made on whether benefits received by his family are impermissible. If it is ruled that a violation occurred, Alexander's eligibility for the remainder of the season could be affected.
Mike Oliver, who coached the five-star recruit in Chicago at Curie High School, told Yahoo Sports Thursday that he visited Alexander Feb. 21 when the Jayhawks played TCU and was concerned.
"I knew something wasn't right," Oliver said. "He just wasn't Cliff."
A week later, Alexander was sidelined with what the school termed an "NCAA issue." Kansas has not commented on the nature of the issue, but sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports that it is agent-related.
Alexander has missed the No. 9 Jayhawks' past two games, victories over Texas and West Virginia. That hasn't prevented Kansas (24-6, 13-4) from winning yet another Big 12 championship. But Saturday Kansas goes to Oklahoma and is expected to be without Alexander, fellow forward Perry Ellis (sprained knee) and possibly guard Wayne Selden (ankle).
Before he was sidelined by the NCAA issue, Alexander's playing time had plummeted in recent weeks. He played fewer than 20 minutes in seven of his last nine games, bottoming out a total of 27 minutes played in three games against West Virginia, TCU and Kansas State Feb. 16-23. Alexander scored just 28 points in the month of February.
@brooksmd doing well too!
@brooksmd thx!!!
I just wish we play like we are capable!! Hitting 3's, playing d, rebounding, hitting Perry, Cliff playing to his ceiling, Mari hustling! Selden finishing and him, Mason and BG, throw in Svi and Dg shooting everywhere! Ll and Hunter subbing in. Oubre turning heads in more than one way! Ha ha!
@JayhawkRock78 I thought he was critical?
@JayHawkFanToo did jay b ever say anything about Barnes ratting him out? So unprofessional, if true!
@KUSTEVE jethro should have gone home w/hillbillies!
@KUSTEVE sweetness!👬❤️💙
@drgnslayr heart pounder, again?
Is there a mrs huggie? Can't imagine!
@wissoxfan83 you guys!👬❤️💙
@JayHawkFanToo great news! I love that guy!
@JayHawkFanToo I think it's our turn again! If we're going to play, might as well win it! Need Perry full strength and what's his name on the court!
@wissoxfan83 and much better rebounding!
@JhawkAlum just info, UNI's coach is mvc coach of year. Sorry Gregg!!!
@wissoxfan83 stop worrying, it's all gravy!
Don't forget!!
Kansas Team USA for World Games
Updated: June 17, 2014, 5:07 PM ET
Associated Press
2K343COMMENTS253EMAILPRINT
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Everyone figures to become a fan of Kansas basketball next summer.
Even the folks who follow bitter rival Missouri.
The Jayhawks have been chosen to represent the U.S. at the World University Games in Gwangju, Korea. The event in July 2015 will match the Jayhawks -- ahem, Team USA -- against nations from around the world, most of which will be putting together All-Star teams for the tournament.
That was the practice of the U.S. in the past. But after a disappointing showing last year and with some unique scheduling issues for next year's event, the U.S. International University Sports Federation decided it would choose a single program to represent the country.
Kansas was chosen over a list of undisclosed candidates.
Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press
@bskeet I love dr Seuss!
@Blown do you think that would change due to head coach experience?
From ku sports
On Twitter: KU’s 11th-straight Big 12 title has been a popular topic on Twitter.
“Talk about DOMINANCE/what about the job Bill Self has done in Big 12 play/Rock Chalk Jayhawk faithful help them come back v. WVU,” wrote ESPN’s Dick Vitale.
“KU’s 11th-straight Big 12 crown is one of the most remarkable streaks in all of sports,” wrote Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated.
“I value league championships more than the randomness of NCAA results — to win 11 in a row, never having a down year is spectacular #kubball,” wrote Doug Gottlieb of CBS sports.
“One for the toe: Kansas clinches at least a share of its 11th-straight Big 12 title. That’s Wooden-esque,” wrote Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com.
“Congrats to Bill Self and Jayhawks on 11th Big12Conference title. Coaching, players and fans all play big part!” wrote ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla.
“That’s 11 in a row for the Jayhawks. And that’s also ridiculous,” wrote Myron Medcalf of ESPN.
“ELEVEN, congrats to them KU boys,” wrote former KU guard Tyshawn Taylor, who is playing pro ball in Puerto Rico.
“Congrats to @KUHoops on yet another Big 12 title. #MoreRingsThanFingers,” wrote Cole Aldrich of the New York Knicks.
“If you are persistent you will get it ... if you are consistent you will keep it #11 Straight #Big12champs #MoreRingsThanFingers,” Tweeted former KU guard Tyrel Reed.
“Yup. Yup. Only people getting hurt are the other 9 teams in the conference and their fans,” wrote former KU forward Mark Randall, including a picture of the 11 trophies sitting on a table at center court of Allen Fieldhouse following the KU-WVU game.
@VailHawk like places like this
@truehawk93 maybe we do? Does anyone know? I'm guessing there is a program in place.
@drgnslayr I'm not sure what I think about the conference tourney. It's definitely good bb, but I worry, especially w/our league, that it's a huge strain on the beat up bodies. So undecided.
@wrwlumpy svi too!
@HawksWin I say, play that kid! Hunter that is. Rest Mason, Selden if his ankles bad, get Svi and BG going!