Miami Heat: How Duncan Robinson went from D-III to 97th best player in league

Miami Heat sharpshooting flamethrower, Duncan Robinson, went from a Division III school to the 97th best player in the league. How’d he do it?

The Miami Heat are good at what they do. Let’s just leave that there, for starters.

In case you are confused about exactly what it is they do, here a little reminder. They have a knack for being able to consistently do the unthinkable. You know it’s legit, because this same phenomenon manifests itself in a varying amount of ways.

If you take a look at how the Big 3 era came together, it should have been impossible, but Pat Riley and the Miami Heat got it done. While it hasn’t translated to a championship over the last few seasons, the teams in question shouldn’t have even been in the conversation and some of them weren’t.

However, there were some of those teams that played two times above their head. They didn’t have a real superstar, but they managed to compete at the highest level, overachieving the whole way. That’s a Miami Heat thing and something else that speaks to how good they are at what they do.

Lastly here, the Miami Heat find talent anywhere. Whether it be under a rock, at the end of another team’s bench, or on the undrafted free agent market, they simply know how to find players and help them become their best selves, or better.

Enter Duncan Robinson.

The Miami Heat are one of the best at finding talent in the places that no one else looks. They did it again, sort of, when they landed three-point savant, Duncan Robinson.

A guy not good enough to even initially land at a Division II college, the Miami Heat’s resident sniper started his college career off at a Division III college, Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He then would find his way to Michigan, before finding himself undrafted and on the back burner, once again.

To keep with the hot language though, the flamethrower would then be welcomed with a warm embrace by the Miami Heat and proceed to light the league on fire with his three-point stroke. That is basically how he landed on Bleacher Report‘s recently released Top 100 Player Rankings from the 2019-20 NBA Season.

There is the question though, how did he manage to go from Division III player to top 100 in the best basketball league in the world? The answer is simple, the man can shoot the cover off the ball and that will do it every time. Here is a piece of evidence from FanSided’s very own Duncan Smith that tells some of the tale.

While these stats can be misleading if you don’t know what you’re looking at, what it says is that he always makes the most of his time with the ball in his hands. It also speaks to the fact that no matter what position he’s in or that the defense forces him into, there is never a moment where he can’t get off a shot that will most likely turn into a score.

While these are one set of numbers that tell the story, you can also look at another set of numbers that jive well with what your eyes tell you. The man is shooting nearly 45 percent on nearly nine attempts from deep per game. You really can’t make this stuff up.

So, to answer the question of how he went from D-III to the 97th best NBA player in the game right now, at least, you have to start with his jump shooting ability. You then take a look at the hard work he has put in to be able to take that natural elite ability and make it one that is still elite in the most elite basketball league there is.

Lastly, you give a ton of credit to the Miami Heat and Coach Spo. You first give them credit for finding him, before then applauding their development and patience. Lastly, you give them credit for deploying him the way that they have and their willingness to allow him to sink or swim. He’s doing the butterfly, the backstroke, and an Olympic level freestyle, in case you needed a live update.

Three-point shots can make or break a team and their chances. With Duncan Robinson shooting them, it can only make for winning.

You can’t say we haven’t tried to tell you way before now though, but that’s neither here nor there. That, however, is how Duncan Robinson went from D-III to 97th best player in the league.