What do the Philadelphia 76ers get from a Glenn Robinson III reunion?
I think we all sort of felt this trade coming, or I least I did. Elton Brand went and got two notable bench shooters for basically no cost at all (three second-round draft picks). That seems already like a win to me. But we’ll have to wait and see both Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks hit the court with their new Philadelphia 76ers teammates before we can make any solid judgments.
Overall I think the pickup of Robinson, alongside Burks, was a smart move by Brand, and not just because Robinson is *technically* a former Sixer. Robinson played just 10 games with Philadelphia in 2015 after he was waived by the Minnesota Timberwolves. From there he signed a free-agent deal with the Indiana Pacers. He is having a career season with the Golden State Warriors and meets the criteria of what the Sixers need a little boost of.
1. Solid perimeter shooter
Robinson relies heavily on his mid-range jumper, but that’s not the only trick he has in his book. Over the 48 games he has played with the Warriors this season, he has shot 40 percent from beyond. Over his six years in the NBA he has shot 37.6 percent from behind the arc. This will be a nice help off the bench since the Sixers’ three-point shooting lately has been nonexistent.
I think it goes without saying that one of the Sixers’ main struggle during this insufferable stretch of games has been their three-point shooting. I don’t think that Robinson jumping into the rotation will instantly improve their shooting significantly, but at this point, anything will help the Sixers in this area.
2. Floor spacing
Since we’re going to need to use Robinson (and Burks) heavily on the perimeter, that gives way to more space offensively. Players like Embiid and Simmons have more room to play in and around the paint. Lately, Embiid has felt that “spacing is an issue” and that it has been a struggle to get into the paint. Hopefully, this addition of an impressive perimeter shooter will helpt to restore the spacing on offense.
Having Robinson on the roster gives Brett Brown some more viable options when coming up with different rotations. If Raul Neto, or say Furkan Korkmaz, aren’t knocking down shots as needed, at least now Brown has a reputable option to throw into the rotation.
3. Good locker room presence
If you’ve been on Twitter recently (which I’m not sure how you haven’t) you’ve more than likely seen people talking about the Sixers are having locker room issues. Whether these issues are legitimately the reason for the Sixers on-court issues, Robinson seems to be a great addition to Brown’s culture, if you will.
Both Robinson and Burks were described as “high-character players, high character men — they’re low maintenance”. These are exactly the types of players that the Sixers want to bring into their organization and locker room. Hopefully, with the addition of these two, it can mend whatever issues were going on in the locker room before.