Duncan Robinson has proven himself in these playoffs enough times that I think the time has come for another nickname reassignment ritual. I say that like the nickname reassignment ritual hasn’t already happened, but it totally has. I just performed it last night.
For the ignoramuses out there, basically what I do for this ritual is kidnap both players, strap them onto the nickname slabs in my nickname dungeon, light some candles, put on a spooky black robe (gotta make sure the aesthetics are on point, what kind of ritual would it be without candles and robes?), and say the magic words in a language not spoken on Earth since the ante-Pangaean epoch.
Obviously, this all takes quite a bit of work to set up, which is why I don’t do it all too often. Only when it’s really important, like earlier this season when I had to transfer the “Bazed God” nickname from Kent Bazemore to Darius Bazley. Normally I just make a new nickname for the player and deal with the fact that it’s not quite as good as the nickname that is already possessed by another player.
For the record, different nicknames have different colors when their essence is being transported into another mortal vessel. “Bazed God” is green. “Big Shot Drob” (Robinson’s new nickname, spoiler alert) is mauve. I know, right? Mauve? But I don’t choose these things.
Anyway, yeah, I’ve been calling Robinson “Big Shot Drob” for pretty much the whole season, knowing full well that the rightful owner of the nickname is Predrag “Peja” Drobnjak. Don’t believe me? I uploaded some Drobnjak highlights back in 2016 (now deleted, maybe if you go to my Patreon and donate I’ll reupload it) where I use it. It’s right there for all to see. “Big Shot Drob”. If it seems like “Big Shot Rob” would be a more appropriate nickname for Robinson, you’re right, but there’s literally NO WAY that I’m going to kidnap Robert Horry, his fingers encrusted by championship rings, and forcefully remove his well-earned nickname just so that some random three-point-shooting role-player can have it. Drobnjak doesn’t care that he’s not “Big Shot Drob” anymore. He just cares that I was a little rough while strapping him to the nickname slab.