I wonder if Duncan Robinson just walks around The Bubb and feels superior to everybody all the time. Does he stroll by the swimming pool, see some mediocre shooter who’s been in the NBA for a long time, like D.J. Augustin, lounging on a pool chair, and think “I’m way better than your trash ass”? Does he see literal non-shooters like Hassan Whiteside and become filled with primal disgust? Does he talk trash to players on opposing teams without provocation, in a jokey way of course but also with a cutting undertone of pure contempt?
He totally does, right? Somebody who as excelled far beyond most of their colleagues at a particular skill is going to be thinking, “Get on my level you worthless scrubs.” With one off-season of hard work, Robinson became a top five shooter in the NBA (I said it and I’m not apologizing), while you could give a player like Marquis Daniels ten off-seasons and he would still come back shooting 28% from three.
(I’m just a salty Bucks fan who was once promised that Marquis Daniels would be a good shooter because he shot 1,000 threes a day in the off-season)
Similarly, do you think other players are in line at the Bubb Buffet and see Robinson in line with them and get all cowed and scared because Robinson is such a good shooter? If I was an NBA player, and I saw him in person (which would be likely because NBA players see each other all the time), my thoughts would immediately be “why am I such worthless trash” and “my three-point shot is pathetic and meaningless”.
Maybe when all the memoirs come out about the bubble experience in twenty years, some of my questions will be answered.