Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.

In case you missed previous threads, here are Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs.

Intro:
Next up is the senior 2-year starting power forward Nasir Robinson, who no doubt more than any other Panther, is looking forward to the start of the 2011-12 season.

What he gave us last year:
Let’s put aside the final moments of Nasir Robinson’s junior season and look at everything that happened up until that fateful point in time. He started off on the DL with a torn meniscus and missed the first three games of the year, made his first appearance in the Maryland game, and then continued to come off the bench for another month before starting the UConn game in late December. By that time though, he was playing starter minutes over Talib Zanna and was contributing consistent, though not particularly impressive, offensive numbers. His season averages came to just under 10 points and 5 rebounds per game. He actually averaged more rebounds in his sophomore campaign (just under 6 per game). So what to make of this undersized power forward on one of the (statistically) top rebounding teams in the country?

Nasir has several things going for him. First, Pitt’s system. The defense is tightly packed, usually well-coordinated on help switching, and therefore rarely results in low-post players being totally isolated. On the offensive end, plays are often very deliberately run and suit good rebounding positioning as much as raw athletic talent and size. Let’s also face facts about the Big East these days- it’s smaller and more guard-dominated than in the past. The only All-Big East Conference 1st or 2nd team player taller than Nasir Robinson was Rick Jackson, Syracuse. It’s not to say that there is no competition on the Big East front lines, but the list of talented, let alone tall frontcourt power players in our conference is not long. Teaming up with Gary McGhee and Gilbert Brown, along with support from the guards, gave Pitt a rebounding by committee approach. This allowed Nasir’s other talents to come through.

For one thing, well, this guy is not afraid of contact. I’m not sure he’s afraid of anything. He plays the gritty, tough style of play Pitt has made its’ name on. So we get that out of him. The upside of his 6’5″ stature is his versatility- defensively by doing his rugged post-up down low or hands-out, feet shifting perimeter protection. He was given a team award for Defensive Player of the Year. Offensively, his size often means the ability to take a larger, slower opponent to the basket. He is still listed at 220 lbs, but junior Nasir Robinson looked leaner, more athletic and bouncier than sophomore Nasir Robinson. Last year, he definitely looked more agile around the basket. He first step seemed quicker, he finished with dunks occasionally, and seemed to wiggle his way in traffic, if not smoothly and with grace, than with a bullying dexterity. In fact, Nasir Robinson’s ability to finish in the lane was at times, part bull–in-a-China-shop, part streetball savant, and part complex algorithm of the spin properties of spherical objects. In short, he wasn’t pretty, but he was sometimes devastatingly effective. In some ways, a shorter player just learns better how to score in traffic. It’s an uncanny aspect of basketball for sure.

Most of Nasir’s higher scoring games came down the stretch in conference play, including 16 important ones in the Butler defeat. He became a critical part of the offense when Gibbs was blanketed in coverage. He is an excellent interior passer, with good court vision, and a good sense of when to take it to the basket. There were certainly a few moments of questionable judgement when he forced the ball, but he was a reliable 55% from the field, which is not too shabby for an undersized PF who can’t shoot. A key game that highlighted Nasir’s value as a heady player, capable scorer, and man of the moment was the January game against Syracuse at The Pete. For those first 10-15 minutes, when Nasir played in the high post in the middle of the Orange’s 2-3 zone, he seemed to be a quick few steps from a layup or a moment away from delivering nifty bounce pass to a teammate.

Summer School:
Only Brad Wanamaker went to the line more often than Nasir did during the 2010-2011 season. Had he not been injured, he may have led the team in free throw attempts. He shot just under 53%. Half of life is just showing up, so I guess the other 3% of his average were lucky bounces. He has got to shoot better than that from the charity stripe. We know free throw shooting practice is not part of Coach Dixon’s team regiment so hopefully he is taking it upon himself to work on this independently. Unless he’s developing a short jumper, he will continue to depend on those dynamic street moves around the basket and his physical style will continue to get him opportunities for free throws. He shot 42% from the line as a sophomore, so is it too much to ask for another 10% increase?

Conclusion:
Despite the arrival of highly touted recruit Khem Birch, who has thus far been evaluated as a power forward prospect, we can very likely expect Nasir to be back in the starting lineup for his senior year. He is a respected defensive player, a heady and dependable offensive player, and is along with Ashton Gibbs, the most experienced player on the team. At times last year, Talib Zanna seemed to offer a more compelling alternative. Zanna appears a better athlete, seems a more natural rebounder, and has a much more fluid (and proven?) jump shot. Nevertheless, it was Robinson who by the second month of the season, had returned from his injury and received the lion’s share of playing time at power forward. In Pitt’s offensive system, the power forward moves between the high and low posts, sets screens, and is perhaps the most integrated component of the operation.

It’s much too early to tell now just how the power forward minutes will be doled out, but if we are to draw general conclusions from the recent past, Nasir Robinson will still play more than 20 minutes a game as the 4. Although not an apples to apples comparison, there is an example of Levon Kendall starting consistently over a more athletic underclassman in Sam Young because he was a strong defender and heady player. That’s probably the case here with Nasir Robinson. Talib Zanna could certainly do a lot worse than being understudy to a player like Nasir.

SPinNYC