Less than a year after signing a five-year, $90MM contract with the Heat, Duncan Robinson was replaced in the starting lineup by minimum-salary wing Max Strus and then fell out of the rotation completely in the second round of the postseason. As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald relays, Robinson admitted this week that it wasn’t easy to take that role reduction in stride.
“It does not matter if you’re playing JV basketball, if you’re playing middle school basketball, if you’re playing college basketball, if you’re playing in the NBA at the highest level. Not playing, it sucks in a lot of ways,” Robinson said in the latest episode of his podcast. “Especially when you feel that you’re capable and you feel that you can help win. It’s a really, really challenging feeling to combat, especially when you’re on the cusp and in the midst of a run where your team is playing really well.”
Robinson is the Heat’s most prolific three-point shooter, making 232 threes and converting them at a 37.2% rate during the 2021/22 season. However, he’s not an especially strong defender, so if his shot isn’t falling, he sometimes struggles to have an impact on the game. Heat president of basketball operations Pat Riley believes there’s room for Robinson to raise his level on the defensive end of the court.
“Defensively as a young player, even though he’s not as young as some of the other guys, he’s got to get better,” Riley said on Monday, per Chiang. “Look, we hang our hat on that. … To me, yes Duncan can improve. That message has been delivered to him many times.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- While the Heat will make an effort to upgrade their roster in free agency and on the trade market this summer, they’ll also be counting on internal improvement from players like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Chiang writes in another story for The Miami Herald. Riley suggested this week that he feels both Adebayo and Herro, who are just 24 and 22 respectively, still have room to grow.
- After missing much of the 2021/22 season while recovering from quad surgery and then being incorporated slowly into the rotation, Victor Oladipo was starting to look a little more like his old self by the end of the Heat’s season. With Oladipo’s contract set to expire, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel wonders what sort of role – and how much money – Miami will feel comfortable offering the two-time All-Star in free agency.
- In another Sun Sentinel article, Winderman looks at the decision facing Udonis Haslem, who has no interest in becoming a coach and is weighing whether or not to play a 20th NBA season.
Reporter trade propose
Harden for Lowry and Duncan Robinson
Harden is terrible drama queen
There is injury risk with Oladipo
Only playoffs teams need him. Many of them pay luxury tax.
Market value 1 year deal $6.4 million
Heat, Mavs, Jazz, Lakers, 76ers, Bucks …..
Doesn’t matter if Haslem wants to be a coach or not. That’s pretty much what he’s been for the better part of the last decade. 58 total games played in the last 6 years combined.
He’s a Heat legend no doubt, but his voice as a player is getting old for many of the veteran stars on the team. Time to turn the page and not waste a roster spot.
It’s not time for UD to leave yet. He played more this year, and would have played a lot more if he didnt get covid at the worst possible time
Wouldn’t mind Knicks looking into Oladipo. For some depth.
Depth? Ha. He’d be the top scoring option on that runaway dumpster fire of a team.
Duncan hasn’t really REGRESSED defensively from last year. He’s pretty much the same guy. Why sign him to a lucrative 5/$90 mill if you were so down on his defense? So down that they benched him during the playoffs when they needed offense the most as the team shot 30%from the 3 in the Boston series?
Because while both Struts and Olidipo both struggled with their three point shooting during the post season they actually shot better from deep than Robinson during the regular season during regular season. .410 for Strus and .417 for Olidipo compared to .372 for Robinson.
They also played much better defense than Robinson did in the 1st round when Robinson did play.
I think Spoelstra’s thoughts were along the line of while both were slumping from deep they should snap out of it while there’s no way to fix Robinson’s defense.
They signed him at 5/$90 because he shot much better in years past at .446 and .408 and which helped negate his inabilities on Defense. He seems to have either regressed offensively or opponents have him somewhat figured out.
Disagree completely. To place him at the end of the bench against a “lesser team” that had a few tough defensive match ups was one thing, but to keep him there in the Sixers and especially Celtics series was abject stupidity and stubbornness. Other than Butler, inconsistent scoring doomed the Heat. Herro was off and then hurt, Lowry is hot and cold (I’m not a fan) and Strus, Oladipo and PJ were even more inconsistent. So you bury the kid who can catch fire in a flash because you don’t like his defensive abilities?
Look, we keep hearing Spoelstra is a genius, but just as his past penchant for falling asleep on guys on the bench is pretty well known, this is an example of extreme shortsightedness
I don’t know if Duncan would have changed the outcome of games or the Celtics series or not, but jeez, give your team a chance by exhausting all possibilities
Strus and Olidipo are just as capable of catching fire as Robinson though just without the defensive liability.
The only thing I can see that made of made a difference is to give Robinson some of Lowry’s minute as Olidipo and Butler were doing most of the play making anyway. Even then Lowry’s a seasoned vet with a ton of postseason experience.
Spoelstra’s rotations and gamelan got them within one open 3 of going to the finals. Butler just missed.
We must be watching different players. I saw just as many bad misses from Strus as I did three’s, and Oladipo showed flashes, nothing more. Another guy with some poor shot selections. To say they’re just as capable of catching fire as Robinson doesn’t mean much. So is the ballboy. Just not over a protracted period
And yeah, the classic Spoelstra defense, but let’s be reasonable. Jimmy got them within one game of the finals. He could have used some consistent help
Robinson got flat outplayed by Strus. That’s why Robinson lost his starting spot back in March. Olidipo has more well rounded game.
Robinson is a poor man’s Kyle Korver and there’s nothing wrong with that. He should have a long and productive career. I don’t think he’s overpaid it’s just that Miami had no idea at the time of what they had in Strus or if Olidipo would be even be available when they signed resigned Robinson.
Heat will have to attach an asset/ draft picks to move Robinson. I thought at times during ECF Duncan Robinson would have been a spark plug in games when Strus went 0 for 2 GAMES… He still needs to be covered and would have spread the floor for Jimmy & Bam… He’ll get moved and will fit in nicely with another team…. Don’t you think Lebron is starving for a 3 point shooter after playing with Westbrook for a year….
It’s a 5 year/$80 million deal, and his numbers were in his normal range if you take away the small sample size at the beginning of the regular season when he struggled with the shot, but was way stronger in every other area, including defensively. Those other numbers came down a bit throughout the season, as his offense was where it normally is, but there was still improvement in those other areas as well
The Atlanta series made sense to switch them, b/c of the matchup, and I would have said the same if they played Milwaukee, but he should have played/started against Philly and Boston