Heat’s Duncan Robinson details his productive offseason and how he improved this summer
A $90 million contract can alter expectations, especially from those on the outside.
Miami Heat sharpshooting forward Duncan Robinson, who played on a $1.7 million salary last season, is dealing with that reality after signing a deal in free agency this summer that made him the fourth-highest paid player on the roster behind stars Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry. Robinson, 27, is due $15.6 million this season as part of the five-year, $90 million contract he committed to in August.
“I think externally it does,” Robinson said when asked this week if his new contract comes with a new level of responsibility, as the Heat opened training camp at FTX Arena. “I think that the external perception kind of starts to shift. I have high expectations, and I put a lot of responsibility on myself. So I think, of course, once you kind of have a moment like that, things kind of shift a little bit. But I don’t anticipate it changing my approach or how I handle anything. My whole goal is to keep that the exact same.”
That’s good news for the Heat because Robinson’s approach has been effective.
Robinson, who has become a fixture in Miami’s starting lineup, has quickly earned the reputation as one of the NBA’s top shooters during the past two seasons after spending most of his rookie season in 2018-19 in the G League. In the past two regular seasons combined, only Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (553) and Portland’s Damian Lillard (545) have totaled more made three-pointers than Robinson (520).
During the past two seasons — his first two full NBA seasons — Robinson has shot 42.7 percent from three-point range on 8.4 attempts per game. Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is the only player in NBA history who has shot 42 percent or better from deep on eight or more three-point attempts per game during his career.
But just because Robinson is focused on maintaining his approach doesn’t mean that he’s content with where he’s at.
“It was big,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Robinson’s offseason. “He worked very diligently in the weight room. He made some significant gains in terms of his weight and strength. But he’s continuing to develop his skill set, putting the ball on the floor, making some plays, working on his finishing. It will be a constant commitment to working defensively, as well.”
Robinson, who spent most of the summer training in Los Angeles and Miami, noted to the Miami Herald that he added about 10 pounds to his 6-7 frame. He joins guard Tyler Herro (added “10-plus pounds of muscle” this summer) and center Bam Adebayo (added 15 pounds this summer) as Heat players who worked to put on weight this past offseason.
Robinson said he “wasn’t trying to bulk up or anything crazy” because he “wanted to still be able to move, and I feel like my conditioning level is always my advantage” when he’s relentlessly running off screens to generate quality three-point looks.
“Definitely an emphasis I had, just working on my body,” Robinson added, with the Heat set to open its six-game preseason schedule Monday against the Atlanta Hawks at FTX Arena. “Just to provide a little bit more defensive versatility. If I have to guard bigger players, then I can. But yeah, I’ve got my weight up a little bit, for sure, which is good. I also just feel a lot stronger. I feel like I’m moving better. I did a lot of work just with my mobility, particularly through my hips so I can just kind of slide and move a little better.”
Robinson was the only Heat player to appear in all 72 games last regular season. He closed the regular season with the fourth most made threes in the NBA at 250 behind Lillard (275), Hield (282) and Curry (337).
This comes after Robinson set a Heat record for threes made (270) in a single season in 2019-20, while also joining Curry as the only players in league history to finish a season with 270 or more made threes while shooting better than 44 percent from deep.
Most of the work this past offseason, aside from adding weight, was designed to round out other areas of his game to go along with his elite three-point shooting. That means developing a go-to two-point shot, finding ways to earn more trips to the free-throw line and improving on the defensive end.
“What I do on the court is create space for others and fly off of stuff,” Robinson said. “But just continuing to be more of a threat in other areas. So much of that I think also is skill development, but also just mentally being more aggressive in other areas than just shooting threes. That’s definitely going to be a focus of mine. I’ll still stick with what has gotten me here, as well. I’m not going to try to reinvent the wheel or anything. But definitely just kind of improving in those other areas and just emphasizing them more going into games.”
As for the skill that earned him a spot in the NBA after going undrafted out of Michigan in 2018, Robinson prides himself on making more than 40 percent of his threes. He shot 44.6 percent from deep in 2019-20 and 40.8 from three-point range last season.
That goal hasn’t changed because of the big contract and Robinson insists his life hasn’t changed because of the big contract.
“I would probably say the biggest difference is just the external experience of it,” he said. “Internally, not much has really changed all that much.”
Did Robinson buy himself anything exciting after signing his new deal?
“I went on a little trip, which was fun,” he said. “But other than that, pretty low key and unexciting.”
Robinson admits, though, he’s still getting used to being a $90 million man. He was playing on a two-way contract just three years ago and began his college career at Division III Williams College.
“It still is a transition of getting comfortable with that and kind of wrapping your mind around that,” he said. “You hear all of the buzz going into free agency. Well, this is what it could look like, this or that. But to still just have it happen was really special. It’s hard to kind of put into words. But at the same time, I’ve just been trying to focus on this year from a competitive standpoint and earn that because that’s now the burden that has been placed on me and I relish that opportunity.”
HASLEM STILL OUT
Forward and team captain Udonis Haslem remained away from the Heat on Thursday in the wake of the recent passing of his father, Johnnie Haslem. He missed Media Day on Monday and has not been at the first three practices of the season.
“It is weird for this head coach not having UD around this week, but we’ll have him back here soon enough,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “I don’t want to get used to that yet.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 1:19 PM.
