Coming off a frustrating year, followed by a summer of hearing his name in trade rumors, Heat swingman Duncan Robinson is approaching this season with a “big chip” on his shoulder, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Robinson put together two straight outstanding shooting seasons that earned him a five-year, $90MM contract last summer. The expectations that came with the new deal seemed to affect him, and Robinson was pulled from the starting lineup in March.
“You go through something like I went through last year, you definitely grow from that between the ears for sure,” Robinson said, adding that he became “hardened” by the adversity.
He’s off to a much better start this season, though his playing time is about half of what it used to be. Coming into tonight’s game, Robinson has made 6-of-12 three-point shots and hasn’t committed a turnover in 47 minutes of action.
There’s more on the Heat:
- Caleb Martin may consider an appeal of his one-game suspension for fighting with Toronto’s Christian Koloko, Jackson adds in a separate story. Martin sat out Monday’s game, but he could still potentially recover the roughly $45K in salary that it cost him. “It’s tough watching knowing you can contribute to a win,” he said. “Overall I’m feeling like I definitely could have contributed for sure. Especially when you lose, you are going to think that loss is on you. That’s how you learn. I learned from that, make sure I don’t do it again.”
- Omer Yurtseven is traveling with the team, but he’s not expected to play during the three-game road trip, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The back-up center has been sidelined with a left ankle impingement, and the coaching staff wants to be with him while he does rehab work. “I think I’m going to be back in less than a week, hopefully,” Yurtseven said. “But I’ve got to sacrifice and I’ve just got to take the pain that comes with it, and that’s what I’m going to do. But hopefully sooner rather than later. But less than a week is my hope.”
- Kyle Lowry talks about the team’s early-season frustrations in another Winderman story. Lowry suggests there’s an adjustment period to having Tyler Herro in the starting lineup and trying to get more offense from Bam Adebayo, and says the players need time to get comfortable with the changes. In a mailbag, Winderman notes that last year’s Lowry trade didn’t look good for the Heat on Monday, with Precious Achiuwa grabbing 22 rebounds for the Raptors.
I dont get why his contract is still being reported at that number, when we know what is guaranteed, and what incentives he is extremely unlikely to reach.
Also the narratives about how his season went, which I’ve exhausted enough times to mention again. He should be starting too
I still cant fathom how Ira still has a job. The things Lowry is apparently saying are things I’ve mentioned, and arent much of a revelation. When you have 4 other guys that need the ball in their hands in the same lineup, what numbers is he necessarily supposed to put up? Herro crying like a baby to be a starter really hurts this roster, which also needs to either fill the hole they have at the 4/smallball 5, or at least use the options they do have at the 4 for now.
Duncan Robonson and Highsmith should start, with Strus and Highsmith switching off depending on matchup, and Caleb should be the wing defender/playmaker off the bench, with Herro as the 6th man/primary option off the bench, where he already took the most shots on the team anyway
In the POR game, see how Duncan is still playing defense with his arms. It’s bad enough that he’s slow of foot, but his arms dangle on defense don’t do him any favors with the refs, who are already biased against him.
On the flipside, Herro seems to be making that extra effort on defense – he’s banging back when he’s posted on, he’s going for the occasional weak-side blocks.
Until such time that Duncan builds up his defensive chops some more and the refs perception of him change even a bit – then, he might get his starter spot back.
The way the rotation currently works hurts several players in being in their best position to succeed, including Butler, Lowry, Bam, Herro, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, Dedmon
I think Herro does a better job of guarding certain wings, but he needs the ball in his hands, and should be taking the primary option off the bench, as he takes touches away from everyone else, while Duncan complements them, and I also feel like he isnt as useful off the bench, around different players in the lineups he is in. That being said, they have been a lot better with him on the floor, regardless, and he has looked more than fine, but I still think he and the Heat are better off with him starting. He had 1 or 2 plays late where he got called for a couple of fouls, but that doesnt matter, and doesnt matter as much when he is around elite defenders like Butler, Bam, Lowry, and a good defender like Highsmith, if he starts in my scenario as well.
The Heat have been a lot worse with Herro on the floor this year so far, and there is a significant reason for that, and it’s the things in outlining. The spacing is bad, and the rhythm is poor. The lineup works ok against certain matchups, and I thought last night was one of them, since Simons shouldnt be starting for Portland either, and the Heat had Lowry to make things difficult for their guards…the other thing is just the fact that the 2nd unit doesmt have its primary option, which is an area they could use Herro in, as he took the most shots on the team last year. You could say part of that is lack of Oladipo, but he is a different type of a player, and I still dont think the Heat need him to necessarily be as much of a scorer on this team
I also think they need Caleb’s defense/playmaking on the wing off the bench, as when he starts, he is another guy that is better with the ball in his hands than as a spacer, and I would only potentially want him guarding 4s in certain matchups, for small stretches, and only behind Highsmith, Strus, Butler, Cain as options at the 4 ahead of him
The Heat have also been terrible at closing out to shooters, in my opinion, and 1 of the worst culprits of that has been Herro
Now Heat talents are not top 4 in the east but they are 1 seed last season
Bucks
Celtics
76ers
Nets
Lowry finally stepped it up tonight, and he along with Martin back, and Strus and Vincent off the bench were the difference in their route over the Blazers tonight.
If the Heat can keep up this kind of balanced attack, they should be very difficult to take down.