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04-06-2005, 05:16 AM
Hoopsworld (http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_12342.shtml)
Spurs Sign Big Dog
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Apr 5, 2005, 00:37 Email this article
Printer friendly page
Yesterday the San Antonio Spurs signed FA forward Big Dog Robinson, who was waived out of the NBA in early March by New Orleans. The Hornets had aquired him from Philadelphia near the trade deadline earlier this year for Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn.
Glenn Robinson, at 32, is on the downside of his career, but he's been an All-Star twice after becoming the first pick in the 1994 NBA Draft out of Purdue. Sixers coach Jim O'Brien wanted to go with a more active ball-hawk than the defensively-challenged Big Dog.
The 6-7 Robinson has been a star all his life (career over 20 points per game), and coming off the bench was not to be in Philly. So the 76ers, seeking to trade him, placed Robinson on the IL from the start of the season with left ankle tendonitis.
Robinson had ankle surgery back in 2001. Earlier that year, he helped get Milwaukee to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Big Dog, who hails from Gregg Popovich country -- Gary, Indiana -- played a big part in taking the Bucks up to that level coming all the way from a 20-win season just before he arrived in Brewtown.
The addition by the Spurs has at least something to do with Devin Brown's recent debilitating lower back injury. Brown's playing status is uncertain and San Antonio had been heavily relying on Brown to relieve both Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili for several weeks.
Yet Big Dog, at 240, can step in more at PF adding some scoring punch to smaller lineups the way Robert Horry sometimes can -- but sometimes cannot. Lamond Murray, who is about the same size and same age as Robinson, has done so impressively at times for Toronto this season.
Robinson is a career 46% FG shooter, 34% from downtown, and 39% from the arc in his 26 playoff games. Players like him often resort to becoming outside shooting aces as their athletic ability declines if they expect to stick around in the league into their mid-thirties.
The Spurs' acquisition is a bit unusual for a team with such a squeaky clean image. Robinson was arrested in the summer of 2002 for a domestic assault and possession of an illegal firearm. He was eventually convicted of misdemeanor assault, given one year of probation, and ordered into anger-management treatment.
He was found innocent of the gun charge. Testimony revealed that he was intoxicated the night of the domestic abuse in which he not only pushed his ex-fiance, but told her they were "both going to die." Robinson had also been arrested for disorderly intoxication in the summer of 1999 outside a Miami nightclub.
Plain and simply, Big Dog hasn't been the same beginning with the ankle problems. Subsequent to the ankle surgery came the Bucks' stunning meltdown from Conference Finalists to .500 lottery team in the space of just ten months. There was friction with the sensitive Ray Allen and Robinson also chafed under coach George Karl's criticism to the media.
Soon afterwards came Robinson's altercation with the mother of his daughter in suburban Chicago, triggering the ugly and embarrassing legal mess. Less than two weeks after the arrest, Milwaukee sent him to Atlanta for Toni Kukoc. Then in one more summer, Big Dog and his lucrative contract were shipped to the 76ers to give Allen Iverson some starring help.
Typical of the Sixers' past attempts to do that, it didn't pan out. At some point, Allen has to share some of the blame for that. Or perhaps the big thing was injuries, as neither Iverson nor Robinson made it into 50 games in 2003-04. Allen averaged 26.1 points in 42 minutes per night and Glenn posted career lows by far -- 16.6 PPG in 32 MPG.
How healthy is a guy who has been on the injured list all season? Robinson's agent Charles Tucker told the Northwest Indiana Times after the trade to New Orleans that, "In principle, he's OK." Tucker implied that Big Dog's time on the IL was more because his client didn't have the right role on the right team than his being physically unable to perform. Tucker pleaded for Robinson's release from the Hornets so he could hook up with a "championship team."
Perhaps yesterday he got his wish. Nice kid Dion Glover was waived to bring in nasty Big Dog. It makes for more juice for the Spurs' increasingly possible opening round showdown with Denver. Karl was careful not to come down on Robinson too hard when GM Ernie Grunfeld sent Big Dog to Atlanta. But the damage to the coach-player relationship had been done over the months in which the Bucks fell into the tank in 2002.
The Spurs' latest signing is a relatively surprising move in a league where nothing really should surprise anyone. But there are danger signs when you look at the impressive talent level of the Nuggets and how well they keep playing. At any rate, the signing takes an available shooter away from some other team who may have picked Robinson up and pointed him at San Antonio in one series or another.
Everything is trends in the NBA. Teams fall in love with the three-pointer sometimes, like Phoenix has. And when a team like that is so successful with it, other teams tend to mimic them. But the best way to deal with the Suns' success is to become very balanced, and to actually shoot less 3s and step in to take more 2s for better shooting percentages. The medium jumper is at the core of Big Dog's arsenal. He's killed the Spurs many times with it.
The prospective first round match with little Earl Boykins of Denver mitigates that Mike Wilks stay on the active list. If Devin Brown can't make it back, below is a look at the possible 12-man roster for the Playoffs. If he can, then Tony Massenburg and Big Dog are on the bubble. So Robinson needs to come in and show some serious game in the two weeks remaining in the regular season. We are talking about a guy rated as the twelfth best fantasy SF in the NBA less than a year ago in CBS Sportsline's 2004-05 recommendations.
Spurs Sign Big Dog
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Apr 5, 2005, 00:37 Email this article
Printer friendly page
Yesterday the San Antonio Spurs signed FA forward Big Dog Robinson, who was waived out of the NBA in early March by New Orleans. The Hornets had aquired him from Philadelphia near the trade deadline earlier this year for Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn.
Glenn Robinson, at 32, is on the downside of his career, but he's been an All-Star twice after becoming the first pick in the 1994 NBA Draft out of Purdue. Sixers coach Jim O'Brien wanted to go with a more active ball-hawk than the defensively-challenged Big Dog.
The 6-7 Robinson has been a star all his life (career over 20 points per game), and coming off the bench was not to be in Philly. So the 76ers, seeking to trade him, placed Robinson on the IL from the start of the season with left ankle tendonitis.
Robinson had ankle surgery back in 2001. Earlier that year, he helped get Milwaukee to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Big Dog, who hails from Gregg Popovich country -- Gary, Indiana -- played a big part in taking the Bucks up to that level coming all the way from a 20-win season just before he arrived in Brewtown.
The addition by the Spurs has at least something to do with Devin Brown's recent debilitating lower back injury. Brown's playing status is uncertain and San Antonio had been heavily relying on Brown to relieve both Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili for several weeks.
Yet Big Dog, at 240, can step in more at PF adding some scoring punch to smaller lineups the way Robert Horry sometimes can -- but sometimes cannot. Lamond Murray, who is about the same size and same age as Robinson, has done so impressively at times for Toronto this season.
Robinson is a career 46% FG shooter, 34% from downtown, and 39% from the arc in his 26 playoff games. Players like him often resort to becoming outside shooting aces as their athletic ability declines if they expect to stick around in the league into their mid-thirties.
The Spurs' acquisition is a bit unusual for a team with such a squeaky clean image. Robinson was arrested in the summer of 2002 for a domestic assault and possession of an illegal firearm. He was eventually convicted of misdemeanor assault, given one year of probation, and ordered into anger-management treatment.
He was found innocent of the gun charge. Testimony revealed that he was intoxicated the night of the domestic abuse in which he not only pushed his ex-fiance, but told her they were "both going to die." Robinson had also been arrested for disorderly intoxication in the summer of 1999 outside a Miami nightclub.
Plain and simply, Big Dog hasn't been the same beginning with the ankle problems. Subsequent to the ankle surgery came the Bucks' stunning meltdown from Conference Finalists to .500 lottery team in the space of just ten months. There was friction with the sensitive Ray Allen and Robinson also chafed under coach George Karl's criticism to the media.
Soon afterwards came Robinson's altercation with the mother of his daughter in suburban Chicago, triggering the ugly and embarrassing legal mess. Less than two weeks after the arrest, Milwaukee sent him to Atlanta for Toni Kukoc. Then in one more summer, Big Dog and his lucrative contract were shipped to the 76ers to give Allen Iverson some starring help.
Typical of the Sixers' past attempts to do that, it didn't pan out. At some point, Allen has to share some of the blame for that. Or perhaps the big thing was injuries, as neither Iverson nor Robinson made it into 50 games in 2003-04. Allen averaged 26.1 points in 42 minutes per night and Glenn posted career lows by far -- 16.6 PPG in 32 MPG.
How healthy is a guy who has been on the injured list all season? Robinson's agent Charles Tucker told the Northwest Indiana Times after the trade to New Orleans that, "In principle, he's OK." Tucker implied that Big Dog's time on the IL was more because his client didn't have the right role on the right team than his being physically unable to perform. Tucker pleaded for Robinson's release from the Hornets so he could hook up with a "championship team."
Perhaps yesterday he got his wish. Nice kid Dion Glover was waived to bring in nasty Big Dog. It makes for more juice for the Spurs' increasingly possible opening round showdown with Denver. Karl was careful not to come down on Robinson too hard when GM Ernie Grunfeld sent Big Dog to Atlanta. But the damage to the coach-player relationship had been done over the months in which the Bucks fell into the tank in 2002.
The Spurs' latest signing is a relatively surprising move in a league where nothing really should surprise anyone. But there are danger signs when you look at the impressive talent level of the Nuggets and how well they keep playing. At any rate, the signing takes an available shooter away from some other team who may have picked Robinson up and pointed him at San Antonio in one series or another.
Everything is trends in the NBA. Teams fall in love with the three-pointer sometimes, like Phoenix has. And when a team like that is so successful with it, other teams tend to mimic them. But the best way to deal with the Suns' success is to become very balanced, and to actually shoot less 3s and step in to take more 2s for better shooting percentages. The medium jumper is at the core of Big Dog's arsenal. He's killed the Spurs many times with it.
The prospective first round match with little Earl Boykins of Denver mitigates that Mike Wilks stay on the active list. If Devin Brown can't make it back, below is a look at the possible 12-man roster for the Playoffs. If he can, then Tony Massenburg and Big Dog are on the bubble. So Robinson needs to come in and show some serious game in the two weeks remaining in the regular season. We are talking about a guy rated as the twelfth best fantasy SF in the NBA less than a year ago in CBS Sportsline's 2004-05 recommendations.