MIAMI – Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson opened up about the adjustments that he had to make during the past season.
On his podcast called “The Long Shot,” Robinson talked about moving from a starting role to the bench.
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Robinson said, “It does not if you’re playing JV basketball, if you’re playing middle school, if you’re playing college basketball, if you in the NBA, the highest level, not playing, it sucks in a lot of ways. "
He said it was made worse by the fact that, “especially if you’re capable and you can help win. It’s a really really challenging feeling to combat. Especially when you’re on the cusp of and in the midst of a run where your team is playing really well. It’s this really challenging mix of emotions of excitement because you’ve sacrificed so much to the team and in your personal life to be in this situation, but you also understand with that sacrifice comes an expectation to feel like you have a role where you’re contributing.”
Robinson signed a $90 million contract extension before last season.
He said that he’s proud of how he handled the adversity.
Robinson also made a point to make a distinction between basketball adversity and real life adversity.
Robinson added, “Some of what’s happening to me is outside of my control. What I can control is how I respond to it. How I choose to embrace these challenges... in a team setting, not necessarily to the masses.”
Robinson said being a consummate professional internally helped prevent him from becoming a distraction to the team.
Robinson said, “If this is the new reality of my role, as corny as it sounds, I have to do whatever it takes to excel in it.”