Where did 2009 Nate Robinson go?

There is still reason to believe that Nate Robinson, despite the silliness, could be a productive member of a quality NBA team. (Alonzo Adams/AP)

Nate Robinson told SLAM’s Tzvi Twersky that he might be interested in trying out for an NFL team, assuming that league gets its lockout business sorted out before the NBA. Robinson, as many of you probably know, played football for a season at the University of Washington and was considered a decent prospect in both sports at the start of his college career. So this is not quite as pie-in-the-sky as it might seem.

Robinson can do whatever he wants, obviously, and he’s probably not all that serious when he talks about the football possibility. In the full interview, he concedes that any NFL team that brings him in for a tryout would be doing so at least in part for the publicity — as if NFL teams need any publicity. And Robinson’s mentioning football does not mean he isn’t taking his basketball offseason seriously, or that he is not properly focused on his game. Only Robinson — and those closest to him — know if those things are true.

But the Robinson/football piece got me thinking about the guard’s NBA mortality, and what a shame it would be if he weren’t focused on getting his NBA game in order. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Robinson just turned 27, so he’s not young anymore by NBA standards, and his contract with the Thunder expires after next season. The Knicks and Celtics grew tired of Robinson, and he could barely get on the floor for a stacked Thunder team. Oklahoma City inserted him out of desperation during Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against Dallas, and he looked unprepared and confused in just over five minutes of getting torched by J.J. Barea. We never saw him again.

Robinson should be so much more than a gimmick, even if he often appears more interested in crafting highlight plays and preening to the crowd than in playing solid team basketball. I’ll never forget a sequence during a 2009 Knicks-Celtics game, when Robinson was still a Knick. He sprinted down the court, caught Boston’s Marquis Daniels from behind on a fast break and executed one of those chase-down swats as if he were a mini-LeBron. It was an astonishing play, and Robinson knew it; he stood on the baseline, chest out, posing for the crowd. Problem: The ball had not gone out of bounds, as Robinson had assumed. It was sitting on the floor, near the baseline, just a few feet from him, and Robinson didn’t realize it. Daniels sneaked in, picked up the ball and laid it in.

Robinson’s legacy should already be beyond this type of selfish goofiness and some dunk contest hoopla. In 2008-09 with the Knicks, Robinson attempted 5.5 shots at the rim per 40 minutes, one of the highest per-minute totals for any guard in the league who played regularly. He got to the free-throw line five times per 36 minutes and posted a career-high assist rate. He was so much more than a jump-shooting chucker, even if he chucked far too many jump shots for Mike D’Antoni’s taste. In the proper context, Robinson should have morphed into a game-changing weapon off the bench, capable of getting into the paint and finding open teammates. Robinson was never a good defender, but the Knicks didn’t perform any worse with him on the floor than they did with him on the bench, and he can be an active pest when motivated.

In other words: Two-plus years ago, there was reason to believe, despite all the silliness, that Robinson could really help a quality NBA team. The Celtics saw that evidence, which is why they dealt Eddie House and Bill Walker to the Knicks for Robinson at the 2010 trade deadline.

Robinson has never been the same since, even though he swung a couple of 2010 playoff games for the Celtics. He has essentially stopped attacking the rim or getting to the foul line, relying almost totally on jump shots for his scoring. His assist numbers, while still decent, have fallen as a result, and Robinson has begun to register in plus/minus terms as a negative on defense. He’s too short to be anything but a neutral defensive presence even at his best, but he’s going to hurt his teams if he plays like the confused, gambling mess we saw in Boston and Oklahoma City last season.

Maybe this is really going to be it for Robinson. He’s such a tantalizing scoring threat that some team will probably sign him to a minimum-level contract next summer, even if he struggles to get off the bench in Oklahoma City (or for whatever team might acquire him in a midseason trade), but that might not be a given.

That 2008-09 version of Robinson was a bit much — a shot-happy dynamo playing with a long leash on a bad team. But you couldn’t help but watch that player, that rim-attacking machine, and wonder what he could provide in a more reasonable role on a good team.

Let’s hope we get to find out.