How do the Miami Heat replace Duncan Robinson’s impact?
What’s going on y’all? Matt here. It’s a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. I apologize for some of the wind. It is a little breezy outside of where I’m at, but it’s a beautiful day out. Um, but something that I wanted to talk about today. So, we’re, you know, roughly one day into free agency at this point. Duncan Robinson, you know, is still a free agent, although reports did come out earlier today that he’s not expected to return to the heat. Um, you know, the the Pistons have been, you know, targeting a shooter. the Malik Beasley situation, you know, is a mess in and it of itself. Um, they were able to get Carris Levert. Obviously, there’s a few other, you know, free agents off the board. Gary Trent Jr. went back to the Bucks on a team friendly contract. Luke Canard, Nquille Alexander Walker, two guys who I’ve also like I’ve said I wanted the Heat to target if Duncan Robinson left. Those guys are both in Atlanta. Um, and so I think the question that I want to talk about is like what do the Heat do after Duncan Robinson? Now, before we get into that, like Duncan Robinson, undeniable impact with the Heat, the franchise’s all-time leader in made threes, had, you know, a few awesome moments with the Heat, whether it was game one of that Atlanta series in 22, the the fourth quarter and game two of the NBA finals against the Nuggets to kind of spark their run, sparked their only win of the series. There was just a ton of awesome moments from Duncan’s tenure with the Heat. But what they now need to figure out is like how to replace him. And if you didn’t want to bring Duncan Robinson back, you know, whether it was because of the back injuries, he’s had multiple back injuries each of the last couple years. I perfectly understand that. If it was also because of, you know, you want to take opportunity away from the young guys, I also understand that, too. If you’ve read or watched any of my stuff, that’s kind of where I want them to lean is to lean into this young core, at least for this upcoming season, just to see what they have. Um, and you know, even though Duncan was only playing, you know, 20 25 minutes a game, he would still eat into that to an extent. But the thing that Duncan does is, you know, he’s an elite movement shooter. He’s one of the best shooters in the entire NBA. Um, you know, an excellent advantage exploer. He was one of their better passers or has been one of their better passers each of the last couple of years. Like, he’s developed his all-around game. Like, he’s, you know, become a decent team defender. Obviously, he’s had struggles there at certain moments, but especially if you want to maximize this young core with, you know, Yakonis now, with Yovic, with Hawis, with Kel Wear alongside Bamabio, like you’re going to need the the gravity, you’re going to need the shooting like something that Duncan did over his time with the Heat. He was, you know, he always made defenses account for him. whether you know whether it was coming off of zoom actions um you know just a simple DHO whether he was you know pin downs staggered screens whatever the case is he was elite at moving he was you know exceptional at cutting he was excellent at creating opportunities for himself in that way and you know with some of these guys off the board you’re dealing with pretty slim pickings on the free agent market in terms of like who can replace him I still think there needs to be an external option like no one can deny what Davon Mitchell his impact that he provided last year he shot 45% from three, but I don’t expect that to happen again. I just don’t think that’s a realistic expectation for him. He’s never been that kind of shooter. Like, you can hope for it. You can hope he gets, you know, above 40, but for a full season, 45% is just an unrealistic benchmark. Alec Burks has been, you know, he was an awesome player for them last year when he was able to play. Played 49 games, averaged roughly 18 minutes a game, but he’ll be entering his age 34 season, and while he did shoot 42% from three, I still expect his role to be fairly limited. Um, Tyler Hero, you know, the just the amount of onball burden that he had last year. I think his percentages went down. He, you know, lived on a pretty tough three-point shot diet. At certain moments, I think he got down to 37 38%. Like, he obviously has gravity in and of itself, but you’re going to need more. And I think there needs to be an external option. And I just wonder what the Heat’s plan is in terms of replacing Duncan Robinson just because his skill set and what he provides is so unique. Um, and I think it helped the heat out a lot at certain moments in certain lineups, in certain contexts. This was the first domino that expected to drop. And I just I’m I’m very curious to see uh what they do and how they plan for this. Like obviously, you know, they’re trying to trade Terry Rosier. Whether the Wiggins thing with the Lakers comes into fruition is a different question. I know Dalton Connect was a part of those rumors. I don’t know if that’s actually going to come to fruition. um if there’s another route whether it’s you know Kyle Anderson or whatever the kid like I don’t I don’t know exactly what it is and obviously we’re not privy to those conversations about you know who who who’s offering what I just think it’s it’s going to be a tall task to replace him and I think it hurts that if you really want to maximize these young guys it’s gonna hurt not having him in that building just because of what he can provide off the ball and even some of the stuff that he can do off on the balls you know being one of their best lot passers um being one of their best, you know, downhill creators. Like he was someone who provided legit rim pressure at times over the last couple of years. And I think the heater are going to be missing that. Not to say it’s it’s impossible to replace. I just I don’t know the route to actually replacing it. And I’m very curious to see because I think it will be a tall task and I kind of wish um he stayed. But I understand the arguments for for not, you know, not bringing him back. You know, there there’s there’s pros and cons to both sides, but what do you think about this?
The Miami Heat no longer have Duncan Robinson on their roster. How do they go about replacing his impact to maximize this new young core? HHH Matt Hanifan wonders.
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