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Miami Heat's Duncan Robinson A Victim of His Success

Despite overachieving throughout his career, Duncan Robinson has drew much criticism this season
Miami Heat's Duncan Robinson A Victim of His Success
Miami Heat's Duncan Robinson A Victim of His Success

Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson has one of the best NBA stories in recent history. 

From undrafted to two-way contract to the Heat's single-season 3-point record-holder to becoming one of the best shooters in the league. After last night, you'd never know if you based it on social media. 

"retweet if you had the same amount of points as Duncan Robinson tonight."

"Duncan Robinson got a $90 million contract and became a full time podcaster."

"At least Duncan Robinson got his cardio in tonight."

These were just a few of the criticisms directed at Robinson after his performance in Wednesday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He finished 0 for 7 from the field with zero assists and zero rebounds. 

Robinson hasn't been anything near the player he was his first three seasons. In the past eight games, he is shooting just 26 percent from the floor. The numbers are even more glaring when considering Robinson's sometimes shaky defense. 

“I mean, I know Duncan’s a heck of a shooter, right?” guard Kyle Lowry said earlier this week “And we all understood that what he is and what he was doing and how he could get the ball off and how many shots he could make.

“But I think just right now, just got to keep not necessarily stop feeding him and keep pushing him to keep going, but we’ve got to find more opportunities for him to get more standstill threes, and threes where defenders are not as close to him.”

The positive is Robinson's criticisms are similar to what guard Tyler Herro received last year when he slumped. Herro recovered and is now the team's second-leading scorer. 

After 22 games, it's probably too early to write off Robinson. There's plenty time left for a turnaround. It's just hard to ignore his struggles with the big contract. 

“He just has to stay with it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said recently. "I don’t have an answer for why it would be different. It’s probably a little bit too short of a sample size this early in the season.”

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here