Time for me to overreact

JT and T-Rob are not small forwards

Yesterday I blogged about the tendency for media to overreact at this time of the NBA calendar. There are no scores to report, or real games to cover - so every nuance is accentuated and exaggerated. That written, it is time for me to overreact to a small bit of Twitter information I read today from Jason Jones who covers the Sacramento Kings for the Sacramento Bee. Jones tweeted, "At #nbakings practice. Lineups are interesting. One had JT, Robinson and Cuz up front. Smart plans to experiment with matchups in preseason". 

This sounds like an experiment that will not work. There is no way that Jason Thompson can effectively play small forward in the NBA. So why experiment with it? Robinson, the Kings draft pick from Kansas, can guard opposing "threes" but offensively - Robinson is not a good enough deep shooter, ball-handler, or play-maker. Robinson did make 7 of his 14 three point attempts last season at Kansas - so I do not want to write him off as a potential perimeter threat. But Robinson historically has more turnovers than assists, and his 68% free throw shooting - to me is a better indication of his true shooting touch. In short, I don't think Robinson is small forward.  

Jason Thompson has no small forward in his game at all. Zero. His feet are too heavy to guard opposing SF's and offensively - Thompson lacks all skills needed in a SF. 

If you were really reaching you could say - Cousins, given his three-point shooting ability, could act as a perimeter player in certain offensive sets - moving J.T. to center, and keeping Robinson at power forward. But if you did that - you are taking your best rebounder and moving him 20-plus feet from the hoop. 

So I do not get it. Why waste valuable repetitions in practice with a lineup that will always prevent you from presenting your best spacing? Why waste time with a lineup that will allow teams to simply "pack the paint" against you - given Thompson and Robinson's lack of perimeter shooting? Is it because you are just not familiar enough with Robinson's game? Is it a "someone said I couldn't play this lineup" - pride kind of thing?