Podcast: Duncan Robinson is the real most improved player. And Heat-Pacers playoff primer
With every passing Miami Heat game in Lake Buena Vista, the legend of Duncan Robinson seems to grow.
The swingman has staked his claim as the NBA’s best shooter in the seeding games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and somehow seems to keep getting even better. The league announced the finalists for the NBA Most Improved Player Award on Saturday and we all messed up: Robinson is the league’s real Most Improved Player.
Playoff time is nearly here, but the first half of this episode of the Heat Check podcast is largely dedicated to the continued exploits of Robinson, who now ranks second in NBA history behind only Stephen Curry in three-pointers per game. It’s a mea culpa for Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, and Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, who both admit they left Robinson off their ballots. Mark one in the win column for David Wilson, who doesn’t have an awards ballot and therefore couldn’t snub the 26-year-old sharpshooter.
To be fair to Chiang, he does sort of compare Robinson to Golden State Warriors wing Klay Thompson, which is higher praise for the dangerous three-point shooter than any Most Improved Player Award would be. Inside the Walt Disney World bubble, Robinson is shooting 45.0 percent from three-point range and making nearly four per game.
In the second half of the episode, we finally get to the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Miami’s first-round matchup is set and it’s a rematch with the Indiana Pacers, who have once again become a rival to the Heat because of All-Star wing Jimmy Butler’s ongoing feud with Pacers forward T.J. Warren.
This series will be much more than just being a flashback to the Big 3 era or a budding rivalry between the two forwards. It’s also maybe the most favorable matchup Miami could ask for in the first round of the Eastern Conference postseason.
