Now that the Miami Heat got Duncan Robinson his big new contract, the one for five years and $90 million dollars, everyone should really understand and know how important Robinson is to the Miami Heat’s offense.
But now that Robinson has signed that big deal, it’s time for him to be on the court during crunch time too. If Robinson can be on the court during the last two minutes of games, it would be huge for Miami’s offense.
It’s time for Robinson to become more of a complete player. While that includes more versatility in offense, it’s also about his defense.
Believe it or not, Robinson did get better on defense last season. He’s done a better job at guarding his man, one on one.
The Miami Heat will only go as far as their shooting allows them to. With that in mind, Duncan Robinson can’t allow his defense to take him off the court.
He has gotten stops over guys like Carmelo Anthony ,Jayson Tatum, Ben Simmons and DeMar DeRozan. Those are pretty good stops from someone who is only know as a shooter.
He does, however, get in trouble a lot with his hands on defense. One of the main rules on defense is to not use your hands there.
Time and time again, he plays decent defense and at the last second, he swipes his hands at the ball. Nothing annoys me more on defense than when the defender forces a bad shot, but then rewards the offense by swiping at the ball.
You already got your man to force up a bad shot. If he makes it, then congrats are in order for him, but don’t just give it away.
I am a believer in Robinson on the other end of the floor, but it wont be easy for him. On top of the constant running and moving that he’s always doing on the other side, potentially making it hard for him to give an equal and effective effort on the defensive side, that’s also in accord with the fact that teams are always attacking him.
None of that can be an excuse though. It’s all true, but he has to fight through.
He knows that teams are always going to try to hunt him on defense, so he should take on the challenge. If Miami wants to win crunch time games, then he’ll have to.
He needs to be on the court in the final couple of minutes of the game and it’s really that simple. He provides them with so much spacing, offensively, that they have to have him on the floor, defensively.
Robinson got the contract he deserves, but now he has to be a complete player. That’s the point of it all.