Miami Heat: Duncan Robinson’s dip from greatness much overstated

All is well in Miami Heat Land right now. They just got a very good win over a Portland Trail Blazers team and before that, took down a Lakers team that though, was without Anthony Davis and LeBron James, beat a Brooklyn Nets team to a pulp shortly after and also without LeBron or AD.

Needless to say, it’s some good stuff going on right now. While in hindsight the proximity or final score of the Lakers game isn’t all that bad now, only being a six point win and as mentioned, without two of their top guys, they won that game the same way they beat Portland.

While Portland was about complete domination, defensively, they made big and crucial stops when they needed to against the Lakers. Though it didn’t look the same, it was the same thing that led to the same result, the defense.

Speaking of looking the same though, there is someone who doesn’t quite look the same as he did before the trade deadline. While Tyler Herro would fit this bill too, the guy in question here is the Miami Heat’s resident sniper, one Duncan Robinson.

The Miami Heat are built on the long-ball now and few, the smallest few, are ‘better’ than Duncan Robinson.

Prior to the NBA’s trade deadline, everyone could see that Duncan wasn’t himself. However, for an absolutely elite shooter like Duncan, that doesn’t mean that he was bad.

While he wasn’t shooting the insane over-40 percent that had become accustomed to in his time in Miami, he was still shooting in the very highest of the 30’s. To be frank and specific, he shot something like 38 or 39 percent for the most part and still on his, typical, over eight attempts per contest, something like 8.5 per game to be, sort of, precise.

So, while his resurgence may look like him getting back to being himself, the fact of it all is this. He never left.

He was still an elite shooter. The rest of the team, such as Tyler Herro, have gotten better and started to shoot the ball better for themselves, which literally makes him better and makes him look better.

All of that is spacing and what the defense is able to do, as far as helping, cheating, and whatnot. Also, consider this.

Though Victor Oladipo is out now, his presence, along with Trevor Ariza’s and Nemanja Bjelica’s, when he plays, are big. These are other guys that absolutely have to be accounted for when they are on the floor, wherever they are.

That is another aspect that isn’t being considered. Duncan Robinson, along with the entire team, has more space to work with now on their drives, isolations, cuts, slashes, shots, or in whatever they choose to do than this Heat team has been able to generate in the last two seasons, it seems.

So again, yes, Duncan is shooting better than he was. However, where he was, is still a ton better than a lot of people’s best.

This was just so we don’t confuse things or forget that. This also isn’t the first time that this, specifically, has been said by someone (this guy), but don’t sweat that either.