Needing to clear some cap space in order to make a run at free agent Dwight Howard, the Houston Rockets traded Thomas Robinson to the Portland Trail Blazers. For Robinson, the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, it will be his third team in six months.
Blazers Acquire: PF Thomas Robinson
Rockets Acquire: the rights to Kostas Papanikolau and Marko Todorovic, two future 2nd round picks
Why this makes sense for Portland:
Because they give up next to nothing to acquire the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Blazers will be Thomas Robinson’s third team in less than a year and I’m curious as to why teams keep giving up on him. I was very high on Robinson coming out of Kansas and still think he has the potential to be a good NBA player. Portland is likely losing starting center J.J. Hickson to free agency so Robinson should help plug the frontcourt void and also add to what was the worst bench in the league last year.
Why this makes sense for Houston:
The Rockets needed to move Robinson’s contract in order to have enough cap space to offer Dwight Howard a max contract. This deal accomplishes just that. Case closed.
Grade for Blazers: A
Grade for Rockets: A (as long as they sign Howard with the freed cap space)
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Milwaukee to Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.