Kings trade Thomas Robinson for Patterson, Douglas

The Kings have traded Thomas Robinson to Houston for Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas and Cole Aldrich, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, who constantly finds ways to win me over after posting dumb trade rumors.

THE TALE OF THE TAPE

Houston gets:
Robinson – The rookie forward averages just south of 5 points and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes per game on an absolutely horrible team. He was a great player in college and is still an above-average rebounder as forwards go. He’s a hard worker and by all accounts popular among league execs, so it’s no wonder he doesn’t fit in with DeMarcus Cousins. He’s just a rookie, so Houston will have him under control until the end of 2016 at the earliest. At this point it seems like Houston might have given up too much for Robinson, especially because the cap-savvy Rockets aren’t saving money by making this deal. Something else might be up in Houston, although the Rockets have said otherwise.

Sacramento gets:
Patterson - He’s emerged as a nice young forward, scoring nearly 12 points per game and shooting well for a perimeter-oriented 4. (He takes well over half his shots from beyond 10 feet.) Patterson’s problem, however, is he can’t rebound the ball well enough to play huge minutes. His DRR this season is a career-low 13.6, 3 points below the league average. The good news for Sacramento, however, is Cousins and Jason Thompson (much like Houston’s current center Omer Asik) are both good rebounders, so Patterson won’t necessarily have to crash the boards too often. The Kings prefer offense to defense anyway (or at least that’s the vibe you get from watching them) and Robinson was worth negative Win Shares, which in large part could be due to the way they used him, but time will tell.

Douglas – He’s literally the average point guard. He’s an okay shooter and he doesn’t turn the ball over, but he also doesn’t rack up assists. Sacramento already uses Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas and Jimmer Fredette (for now, at least) to handle point guard duties, so unless they make another deal, the Kings will probably use Douglas as a point and/or shooting guard to play alongside the young trio. He’s not a bad guy to have on the floor for 15-18 minutes per game, which is how Houston used him as he played behind Jeremy Lin. (Aldrich is a throw-in as far as I’m concerned, but both he and Robinson were All-Americans at Kansas. Funny.)

AND THE WINNER IS…

Honestly, this deal isn’t going to make or break anyone’s seasons (or careers), but it’s interesting that Houston pulled the trigger. The Rockets aren’t necessarily a title contender, but they’ve made a nice run and are in position to make the playoffs. Ever cap-conscious, it’s also worth noting that Houston took on additional money in the deal, and Robinson is under control for three more seasons after this one (though he will make less next season than Patterson would command on the open market). Robinson, at least at this point, is sort of a project player, not unlike Marcus Morris (who also went to Kansas). Robinson will easily be the better of the two, but Patterson is more reliable offensively and considering the Rockets don’t have many shooting options other than James Harden and Jeremy Lin, it’ll be interesting to see how they use Robinson down low. But you can count on one thing: He and Asik will gobble up every rebound in sight.

I’m guessing Houston has something else up its sleeve, but stay tuned.

Edit: The Rockets traded away Marcus Morris to Phoenix, reuniting him with brother Markieff (also from Kansas), meaning Robinson is the only true power forward on Houston’s roster, unless we count Donatas Motiejunas and Terrence Jones, who both have been sent to the D League multiple times this year. The Rockets also receive Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt, both of whom are relatively insignificant.