Duncan Robinson is playing arguably the best ball of his career, but is it enough?
Duncan Robinson is a nice player.
He was a cheap addition this offseason for a Detroit Pistons team that saw it’s 3-point shooting evaporate in free agency as Tim Hardaway Jr. left for the Denver Nuggets and, of course, Malik Beasley had the whole Malik Beasley situation arise out of nowhere.
It left the Pistons, coming off their best season in years, desperate for shooting and spacing.
Enter, Robinson.
The longtime Miami
Heat shooter was signed to a modest deal and he’s more than earned his keep as a starter with the Pistons. Robinson is averaging 12.1 points with 2.9 threes per game while shooting 44% from the field and 41% from downtown. He’s opened up the floor for Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren to operate with space and they’ve both put together career years and has been a neutral defender for the second-best defense in the NBA.
There’s not much more you could ask for from Robinson. And there’s not much more you can expect.
This is Robinson’s ceiling. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s the reality. Detroit is on its way to a top seed in the East and a legitimate chance to win the title. This isn’t a post telling you they need to put their chips in for a Trey Murphy III or some of them for a Michael Porter Jr., though both would be worth looking at.
It’s a moment to realize that the Pistons need more shooting, and maybe another Duncan Robinson, if they want to take this regular season success into the postseason.
Teams have found ways to mitigate a stand-still shooter like Robinson in the playoffs in spurts during his career — mainly, the last two seasons with Miami. I really would worry about the Pistons scoring in a playoff series if he wasn’t giving them anything.
The Pistons shot 27% from 3 in the two games he missed this season, which is putrid, and when he has a bad game, the Pistons lose. That’s basically the pattern. It wasn’t *as* bad last year with THJ and Beasley because you had two high-level shooters. Now, it’s just Duncan.
The Pistons need Robinson to hit his 3s to be at their best. When you reach a first-to-four wins situation come April, that’s a lot of weight on your only shooter’s shoulders. It’s an unfair burden, really, because Robinson’s limitations aren’t exposed in a regular season setting as much as they will in the playoffs.
That’s true of every player and every archetype, but unless you’re an otherworldly defensive juggernaut like the Oklahoma City Thunder last season — and let me be clear, these Pistons are not that — you need shooting. They don’t have to be the run-and-gun Warriors of year’s past, but they need another guy.
They need a shooter who is a shooter, not a guy who can make shots. That’s an important point to make. Jaden Ivey is shooting the three well, rounding back into the form he showed last season. But he’s not a big off-ball threat who comes off screens and finds space to get his shot.
The Robinson-types are more than just guys who can hit threes, they’re guys who thrive without the ball in their hands and can find pockets to create spacing. Sam Hauser in Boston. AJ Green in Milwaukee. Sam Merrill in Cleveland. The Pistons, at minimum, need more guys in that mold for the games where Robinson isn’t a factor.
Just some food for thought as the trade deadline approaches. Curious what you all think!
