Stay Ready so You Don't Got to Get Ready!

        Duncan Robinson was quite the story in this year's NBA playoffs. Before we talk about Duncan's huge bounce back during the playoffs lets look back a few years ago. To begin with, Duncan Robinson went undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft but would find himself an opportunity with the Miami Heat. The Heat have been known for their amazing developing program when finding overlooked players and forming them into solid role players. As Robinson was beginning his NBA career he was quickly becoming one of the top three-point shooters in the league. The 2019-20 season was when Robinson truly broke out in the NBA as he would become a starter for the Miami Heat. In a game against the Atlanta Hawks Duncan scored a career-high 34 points and making a career-high 10 threes. Robinson averaged 14 PPG, 3 RPG and 1 APG while shooting over 40% from three. While Robinson was deadly from three-point range he had his troubles on the defensive end but when you can shoot the lights out like Duncan you were not just going to sit on the bench. 

        In the month of March, in 2020, the NBA announced that the league was shutting down due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Four months later the NBA would go to Orlando and continue business in a "bubble". After some scrimmages, regular season "seeding" games and play-in tournament (not the one we know today) the NBA playoffs were back but in much different conditions. Duncan Robinson and the Miami Heat finished the season as the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference and would go all the way to the NBA Finals. Sadly Robinson and the Heat fell short and lost in the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Duncan Robinson was still showing how much of a solid three-point shooter he was in the NBA Bubble playoffs averaging 12 PPG, 3 RPG and 2 APG while shooting 40% from three. After the Finals the Heat and Lakers had the shortest offseason in sports history so the 2020-21 season was just odd for the Heat and Duncan Robinson even though he was still shooting 40% from three. The Heat had an early summer as they were swept in the first-round of the 2021 playoffs and Duncan Robinson was heading into Free Agency. 

        In the summer of 2021 Duncan Robinson was a Restricted Free Agent which meant Miami could match any offer Robinson received from any other team in the league. Later Duncan Robinson would sign a 5-year, $90 Million contract to return to Miami which was the biggest contract signed by an undrafted player at the time. Which is where things started to get weird for Duncan. In the 2021-22 season Duncan was very inconsistent with this three-point shooting and his defense did not help him show why he should stay on the court. At first we all thought it was just a slump because even the best shooters in the NBA go through a bad shooting stretch but the inconsistency went on for nearly the entire season. Eventually throughout the season Duncan Robinson would lose his starting role to Max Strus. Duncan still found some minutes coming off the bench and kept things professionally but his production reduced. Now the Miami Heat did finish the season as the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and would face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. In game 1 Duncan Robinson had an explosive game going for 27 points (playoff career-high), 9-10 (90%) from the field and 8-9 (89%) from three-point range. However from there, things went downhill as Robinson showed signs of inconsistency again and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra made the tough adjustment by sitting Duncan Robinson and playing Victor Oladipo ahead of him. The Miami Heat made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals but would lose the series in Game 7 thus ending their playoff run and throughout the run Robinson went through a lot of ups and downs such as playing little minutes and stacking up DNPs. Throughout the summer Duncan's name was in many trade rumors however he would still begin the following season on the Miami Heat roster.

        I will applaud Duncan Robinson for his professionalism because throughout the 2022-23 regular season Duncan's role was inconsistent. Duncan Robinson played in just 42 games of the 2022-23 regular season however he might have appeared in more games but missed 20 games due to a hand injury that required surgery. Robinson managed the survive all trade rumors as he remained on the Heat past the trade deadline. Duncan Robinson averaged 16 MPG, 6 PPG, 2 RPG and 1 APG while shooting 33% from three during the regular season. Despite all the ups and downs Duncan Robinson has experienced these past couple seasons he still kept things professional and he never let the challenges impact his effort. The Miami Heat entered the NBA playoffs as the 8th seed and in their first-round match up against the Milwaukee Bucks the Heat had a couple players sidelined with injuries such as Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo. Despite the big losses this was a big opportunity for Duncan Robinson and he made the best of it. While Robinson was playing in a back up role he was back to the Duncan Heat Nation knew and loved. The Miami Heat went all the way to the NBA Finals and throughout the run Robinson shot 44% from three-point range. Now the Heat did fall short losing to the Denver Nuggets in the Finals but Duncan Robinson showed that he can still hit some shots from long range.