12
Thursday, August 9, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Before 
signing 
a 
two-way 
contract with the Miami Heat, 
before barraging the NBA Summer 
League with 3s and even before he 
was a key cog in Michigan’s run to 
the NCAA championship game, 
Duncan Robinson met Michigan 
assistant coach Luke Yaklich — 
and went straight to work.
As one of the architects of 
Michigan’s recent run to the 
NCAA 
championship 
game, 
Yaklich picked apart hours of film 
with the fifth-year senior forward. 
He knew that Robinson would be 
vital to the Wolverines’ offense as 
a capable 3-point shooter. At the 
same time, Yaklich recognized 
that the 2017-18 incarnation of 
Michigan 
basketball 
couldn’t 
necessarily just run-and-gun its 
way to success like past Wolverine 
teams under John Beilein.
“He just asked me ‘What do I 
need to do to get better?’,” Yaklich 
said. “I kind of will always 
remember that. We talked about 
things that we could do against 
certain teams and he just had this 

presence of mind about him and a 
understanding of basketball. His 
basketball acumen is really high.”
To 
make 
the 
plan 
work, 
Robinson — and everyone else 
on the roster — had to embrace 
the defensive side of the ball. 
Originally, the plan was to start 
freshman Isaiah Livers at power 
forward over Robinson. While 
Livers showed early flashes of 
defensive 
versatility, 
he 
had 
a hard time initially grasping 
Michigan’s offensive scheme, so 
the Wolverines went ahead and 
started Robinson.
Robinson though, struggled to 
find his shot during the start of 
Big Ten play, ceding the starting 
job back to Livers. Against No. 5 
Michigan State on Jan. 13, Livers 
made his first start, helping the 
Wolverines to an 84-75 win. As 
Michigan marched on, Robinson 
finally faced the reality of playing 
from the bench.
“That 
season 
epitomized 
growth… to the team but also 
to 
myself,” 
Robinson 
said. 
“Specifically 
as 
a 
leader, 
I 
definitely had my ups and my 
downs over the course of the 
year,” Robinson said. “But I 

tried to stay true to my law as an 
adapter and a guy who had been 
through more to help out these 
younger guys.”
And despite his reduced role, 
Robinson kept finding new ways 
to contribute. Sophomore guard 
Zavier Simpson’s dogged man-
to-man 
defense 
and 
redshirt 
sophomore 
wing 
Charles 
Matthews’ lanky-armed steals 
might be easier to see, but it was 
Robinson who was Yaklich’s self-
described defensive “sounding 
board.” Robinson would bounce 
ideas back and forth with the coach 
on how to improve Michigan’s 
defense, then adopt what he had 
gleaned onto the court. Robinson 
and senior guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur Rahkman even called 
out other teams’ offensive plays, 
according to Yaklich.
“I know there was a point, it 
was in the middle to second half 
of the conference season,” Yaklich 
said. “There was just a confidence 
about him that no matter who 
he was guarding, whether it was 
(Ohio State forward) Keita Bates-
Diop or a more physical 4-man 
in our league, Duncan was going 
to be a chameleon and adjust to 

however that particular opponent 
needed to be played.”
In a crucial road game at 
Penn State, Robinson racked up 
a Wolverine career-high three 
blocks. As the primary defender, 
he 
limited 
Bates-Diop, 
the 
eventual Big Ten Player of the 
Year, to 5-17 shooting in a win 
over Ohio State. Michigan held 
its opponents to 62.0 points per 
game during its 14-game win 
streak that led the Wolverines 
to the Final Four. Robinson even 
rediscovered his shooting stroke 
to the tune of 44 percent shooting 
from behind the arc in February 
and March and was named the Big 
Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year. 
Still, Robinson wasn’t done. It 
was time to take his shooting and 
his defensive growth to the NBA, 
even if he wasn’t as heralded as 
some of his peers that declared for 
the draft. All of the teams he had 
official pre-draft workouts with 
— the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden 
State Warriors and Los Angeles 
Lakers — employed schemes that 
rely on spacing, shooting and 
value help defense. So far, so good.
While training in the Los 
Angeles area though, the Heat 
sent one of its scouts to look at 
Robinson. After a solid workout, 
Robinson 
was 
intrigued. 
He 
knew that the Miami had a lot 
of previous success with player 
development 
— 
guard 
Josh 
Richardson was a crucial piece 
for the Heat immediately as 
a second round pick, and the 
coaching staff revived the careers 
of former journeymen like center 
Hassan Whiteside and forward 
James Johnson. Even his former 
Michigan 
teammate, 
guard 
Derrick Walton Jr., was on the 
team.
“It’s not every day that one of 
your good friends has had that 
same experience that, as you are 
about to go through,” Robinson 
said.
Although Robinson ended up 
going undrafted, he knew where 
to go next. When Heat head 
coach Erik Spoelstra first talked 
to Robinson about potentially 
playing 
for 
Miami’s 
Summer 
League team, Robinson was sold.
Spoelstra pitched Robinson as 
a player who could fit the same 
mold as Heat shooting guard 
Wayne Ellington — a player who 
bounced around the league for 
eight years before signing with 
Miami and finishing sixth in the 
NBA in three pointers made last 
season.
“[Spoelstra] really likes guys 
that shoot the ball, and how 

they 
prioritize 
that 
within 
the organization and how my 
combination of size and skill 
could maybe help them in games,” 
Robinson said. “So they used the 
example of Wayne Ellington and 
how he’s always encouraged him 
to shoot and stay invested. And 
it’s not necessarily about how 
many makes, but he’s just always 
encouraging and that to get them 
off in there. That’s what every 
shooter wants to hear.”
Robinson 
won’t 
necessarily 
have as many responsibilities in 
the NBA as he did at Michigan. 
At least in the beginning of his 
career, his success will hinge on 
being in the right place at the 
right time. In his first Summer 
League game Robinson had a 
largely uneventful performance, 
going 1-4 from behind the arc and 
finishing with three points.
Fast forward to the next game, 
though, 
and 
Robinson 
found 
himself channeling his inner 
chameleon in the same way that 
he did at Michigan. On the first 
Heat possession of the game, 
Miami’s Bam Adebayo grabbed 
an offensive rebound and kicked 
the ball out to the top of the arc, 
where it effortlessly fell into 
the waiting hands of Robinson. 
Casually, Robinson pulled up and 
sunk the 3-pointer.
On the ensuing Heat possession, 
Robinson glided up the floor on a 
fastbreak, corralled in an outlet 
pass and, barely touching the ball, 
feathered in another deep 3 — 
two minutes later, another triple, 
from the same spot as the first 
one. Later in the first half, he even 
slipped a screen, and jammed a 
powerful two hand baseline dunk 
off a pass from Walton Jr.
Robinson finished the game 
with 19 points, adapting his game 
like he had at Michigan, this time 
on a more micro level.
It’s easy to mistake Robinson’s 
performance that day — and the 
ensuing ones in Las Vegas — as 
one of many Summer League hot 
shooting streaks that end up dying 
without so much as a whimper 
in 
the 
G-League. 
For 
every 
Manu Ginobili, there are twenty 
Anthony 
Randolphs 
or 
Josh 
Selbys that burn out. Like many 
of the great undrafted players 
before him, however, Robinson 
knows his role and has shown 
a willingness and the ability to 
revamp and add to his game when 
things aren’t going right.
“It was never a question mark 
of what was going to happen,” 
Yaklich said. “We knew we were 
going to get the best out of him.”

Robinson embraces role in NBA

RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY / DAILY
Former Michigan guard Duncan Robinson signed a contract with the Miami Heat and is taking his developed skills to the NBA

