Why is David Robinson so seldom mentioned?

[fandarko]

The guy was a phenomenal big man, a tad below Hakeem skills wise; he had two titles, a 71 pts game, incredible stats, and yet he is seldom revered as one of the greatest players of the 90s. Why is that? Compare him to today's big men and there simply no comparison, yet I sense that he's awfully underrated. Do you agree and if yes, how do you explain it?

D-Rob's peak season was 93-94, when he averaged 10.70 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.74 SPG, 3.31 BPG and 29.8 pts.

Do you realize how insane these numbers were? He basically played like a 7-2 Anthony Davis on steroids. Easily MVP numbers and today's big men poor league...

[JohnnySic]

Because he is overshaddowed by Hakeem, Shaq, and Duncan.

And was not really a #1 banana when you get down to it.

Hakeem eviscerating him in that series in '95 was hard to come back from.

[iamgine]

The guy was a phenomenal big man, a tad below Hakeem skills wise; he had two titles, a 71 pts game, incredible stats, and yet he is seldom revered as one of the greatest players of the 90s. Why is that? Compare him to today's big men and there simply no comparison, yet I sense that he's awfully underrated. Do you agree and if yes, how do you explain it?

D-Rob's peak season was 93-94, when he averaged 10.70 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.74 SPG, 3.31 BPG and 29.8 pts.

Do you realize how insane these numbers were? He basically played like a 7-2 Anthony Davis on steroids. Easily MVP numbers and today's big men poor league...
I don't know what you are talking about. He is OFTEN revered as one of the greatest player in the 90's along with some others.

[fandarko]

Because he is overshaddowed by Hakeem, Shaq, and Duncan.

And was not really a #1 banana when you get down to it.

Hakeem eviscerating him in that series in '95 was hard to come back from.

Yeah, but he still had two titles and he was arguably better than Ewing and certainly not worse than Moses Malone skills wise. His stats are alpha dog stats, his impact on the franchise is undeniable. He practically didn't have a single identifiable weakness other than being humiliated by Hakeem in these finals. But Hakeem also humiliated Shaq in the 1995 finals and yet it seems that people rarely bring that up against Shaq.

Put D-Rob in today's league and he kills everyone. People are salivating at what Anthony Davis is doing, yet D-Rob already did it 20 years ago. D-Rob is interestingly never mentioned as a possible model for Davis (Garnett is). For example, when have you last heard D-Rob mentioned in the same sentence with Barkley, Karl Malone, Nique, Drexler and other greats of the late 80's early 90's?

[jstern]

http://i.imgur.com/PIlR1.gif

[T_L_P]

Because he got punked by Hakeem, bossed around by Rodman, and he only won titles when Tim Duncan showed up.

It's not like he's talked about less than Ewing or Karl Malone. :confusedshrug:

I agree though. D. Rob is madly underrated as a player.

[fandarko]

Because he got punked by Hakeem, bossed around by Rodman, and he only won titles when Tim Duncan showed up.

It's not like he's talked about less than Ewing or Karl Malone. :confusedshrug:

I agree though. D. Rob is madly underrated as a player.

I guess he couldn't grab the titles over Hakeem.

But it's akin to saying LBJ couldn't have won a title without Wade.
Larry couldn't win without McHale.
Shaq couldn't win without Kobe (and vice versa).
Magic couldn't have done without Kareem and later Worthy, etc, etc.
Malone and Stockton had each other, but they didn't win a title anyway.

[tmacattack33]

Probably due to rings.

And Malone doesn't have rings, but he gets talked about a lot because he played against the Bulls in two of the most watched NBA Finals series of all time.

[T_L_P]

I guess he couldn't grab the titles over Hakeem.

But it's akin to saying LBJ couldn't have won a title without Wade.
Larry couldn't win without McHale.
Shaq couldn't win without Kobe (and vice versa).
Magic couldn't have done without Kareem and later Worthy, etc, etc.
Malone and Stockton had each other, but they didn't win a title anyway.

The difference is, they all proved they could win titles as the alpha of their team.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying, that's the reason why D. Rob is rarely talked about.

[miller-time]

I guess he couldn't grab the titles over Hakeem.

But it's akin to saying LBJ couldn't have won a title without Wade.
Larry couldn't win without McHale.
Shaq couldn't win without Kobe (and vice versa).
Magic couldn't have done without Kareem and later Worthy, etc, etc.
Malone and Stockton had each other, but they didn't win a title anyway.

All of those guys won FMVP though. Robinson didn't.

[fpliii]

Probably overrated as a scorer, but his contributions early on with Timmy definitely go under the radar. He was still legitimately a superstar player in 99, and was probably the better defender than Duncan on that first championship team, and close to as important/impactful (I'd still give the edge to Timmy).

[stanlove1111]

All of those guys won FMVP though. Robinson didn't.


What a dumb post. Why are you people so obsessed with FMVP? Can't think of a dumber thing. Its one series..

How about this and its a much more impressive argument. Robinson was never the beat player on a title team.

[fandarko]

What a dumb post. Why are you people so obsessed with FMVP? Can't think of a dumber thing. Its one series..

How about this and its a much more impressive argument. Robinson was never the beat player on a title team.

Imagine how weak the current NBA is big men wise, when Dwight Howard has been a perrenial all star for almost a decade.

[navy]

Hakeem destroyed his soul.
Duncan destroyed his legacy.


He was a great player though.

[navy]

Imagine how weak the current NBA is big men wise, when Dwight Howard has been a perrenial all star for almost a decade.
Dwight Howard in his Prime was a beast. This doesnt mean shit.

[redhonda76]

The guy was a phenomenal big man, a tad below Hakeem skills wise; he had two titles, a 71 pts game, incredible stats, and yet he is seldom revered as one of the greatest players of the 90s. Why is that? Compare him to today's big men and there simply no comparison, yet I sense that he's awfully underrated. Do you agree and if yes, how do you explain it?

D-Rob's peak season was 93-94, when he averaged 10.70 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.74 SPG, 3.31 BPG and 29.8 pts.

Do you realize how insane these numbers were? He basically played like a 7-2 Anthony Davis on steroids. Easily MVP numbers and today's big men poor league...

Robinson without a doubt was one of the best center in the NBA 90s.
The 71 points was controversial because during that time, David and Shaq was on their last game and was neck to neck for the scoring title. David was well respected and many don't like Shaq because he was new comer. Because of that, David got spoon fed to 71 from the Spurs and the Clippers.
However, when the moment mattered the most, he was not there especially in the playoffs. As Walt Clyde Frazier once said, " Regular season makes your name, it's the playoffs makes your fame." David doesn't have the hunger for basketball blood like Hakeem and Ewing does.

[SsKSpurs21]

I always use this analogy

Tim Duncan is to Kevin Garnett as Hakeem is to David Robinson.

What i mean by that is that KG is this generations DRob. He had all of the stats and athleticism but he couldnt get his team over the hump. DRob had the same problem. when it got tough, he differed and settled for jump shots.

Tim and Hakeem elevated their game in the playoffs, but i also feel that in the playoffs when the game got slower, it benefited Tim and Hakeem because they had a better back-to-the-basket game.

with that said, I believe DRob is greatly underrated and his entire career is based off one playoff series against the rockets which is completely UNFAIR. I feel he is a better player overall than he gets recognized for. I also feel that KG will fall into this same category as DRob in the future. basically a guy who had all the stats but was overshadowed by someone greater.

DRob was definitely a beast in his own right and he is the primary reason I became a Spurs fan, other than rooting for the home team of course. :D

[JellyBean]

Great question. He only gets mentioned when folks talk about when Hakeem faked him out of his shorts during the playoffs. But folks forget that DRob was one of a few players to record a quad-double; 34 pts/10 assists/10 boards/10 blocks! But I think that he seldom gets mentioned because of he was not that flashy, he played in San Antonio, there was not that much hype for him, and we, not all of us, view success in terms of playoff and rings. Or we look at a small piece of history and use that as our guide.

[westsideozzie]

Great question. He only gets mentioned when folks talk about when Hakeem faked him out of his shorts during the playoffs. But folks forget that DRob was one of a few players to record a quad-double; 34 pts/10 assists/10 boards/10 blocks! But I think that he seldom gets mentioned because of he was not that flashy, he played in San Antonio, there was not that much hype for him, and we, not all of us, view success in terms of playoff and rings. Or we look at a small piece of history and use that as our guide.


I watched DROB destroy Hakeem for five years.. He outplayed him everytime, until 1993... Hakeem developed some never seen moves and the rest is history. But Robinson was better than Ewing...

[madmax17]

Hakeem destroyed his soul.
Duncan destroyed his legacy.


He was a great player though.Rodman said once Hakeem raped David so bad he was shaking in the locker-room.

[Milbuck]

Weak era. He'd be a glorified Thabeet today.

[BlackVVaves]

Because he choked tremendously and otherwise repeatedly underperformed in terms of advancing in the playoffs before Duncan arrived?

Kind of goes back to that KD/Kobe thread with DMavs vs the world featuring KBlaze.

Is what Robinson did...or failed to do...in the playoffs not part of the living evidence we should use to assess his greatness as a player? :confusedshrug:

[BlackVVaves]

I always use this analogy

Tim Duncan is to Kevin Garnett as Hakeem is to David Robinson.

What i mean by that is that KG is this generations DRob. He had all of the stats and athleticism but he couldnt get his team over the hump. DRob had the same problem. when it got tough, he differed and settled for jump shots.

Tim and Hakeem elevated their game in the playoffs, but i also feel that in the playoffs when the game got slower, it benefited Tim and Hakeem because they had a better back-to-the-basket game.

with that said, I believe DRob is greatly underrated and his entire career is based off one playoff series against the rockets which is completely UNFAIR. I feel he is a better player overall than he gets recognized for. I also feel that KG will fall into this same category as DRob in the future. basically a guy who had all the stats but was overshadowed by someone greater.

DRob was definitely a beast in his own right and he is the primary reason I became a Spurs fan, other than rooting for the home team of course. :D

D-Rob didn't always have much help, but his team was by and large better constructed than the trash the T-Wolves front office generally assembled around KG.

Whereas the supporting casts of Hakeem and D-Rob were at least comparable in some years, comparing Minny KG and Duncan's supporting casts over the 2000s is a laughable task.

Which is to say; put KG on the Spurs from 99-present and some championships undoubtedly follow. Swapping Hakeem and David Robinson doesn't offer that same level of promise.

[Dro]

http://i.imgur.com/PIlR1.gif
WTF:lol

[Genaro]

I didn't watch him play but I guess people always remember this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc02Z4-0wDM) play when they think about D-Rob.

To the people who watched NBA back then, who was better Ewing or D-Rob?

[SHAQisGOAT]

He was a total beast yea but couldn't get it done as the man and his impact dropped considerably, in the Playoffs, more times than it should've.

He was taller than, say, Moses, more athletic and just as skilled but Moses was just relentless, tough as hell (mentally too) and got shit done.. He was leading a not-that-good team, that was even dealing with injuries, into the Finals, he won FMVP in 1983 and had a great Playoff run, he just got it done (against great competition) while D-Rob didn't and played worse than he should've had, many times.. Just an example.
(I'm talking about Moses til 1983 though, because after he won, he just sat back getting paid, still some really good years but his prime should've lasted longer, easily, and there's no reports of injuries)

Anyways, I think he's many times regarded as one of the best players in the 90s and I have him in my top20, at least me here though.

[SCdac]

Judging by the knee-jerk "Robinson-Hakeem" posts on here, definitely an underrated player on ISH. Some of his teams were not really that great, certainly never had a teammate like Kobe, Penny, or Wade to pick up slack, like Shaq did. (until after D-Rob had sustained injuries). He had Avery, not Stockton, Kidd, Payton, Tim Hardaway, or Kevin Johnson (like other great bigs paired up with). Willie Anderson was great, attended his basketball camp when I was younger, but he was a role player through and through. Cummings had a great initial season for SA in 1990 but was on the wrong side of 30 in the 90's. . With Sean Elliott has his best teammate for a few years, and a Dennis Rodman which didn't work out at all (great rebounder but no offense), and other role players, Robinson didn't have it in him to lift them up (whether it was in his nature or the circumstances or both). Hard to blame him, the era was rich in tough competition and physical, Spurs always had trouble with Utah, Phoenix, and it felt like more than Robinson could handle at the time. He had decent to good teams, never great. If he was in the league today no doubt he'd be beasting.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Because of his reputation as a playoff choker. He was a nice guy, probably too nice for his own good ... who was unfortunate to have Hakeem get so pumped that he thoroughly out played him in his own MVP season, taking his soul on national television in the playoffs. Then later went onto win rings as an injured, defensive role player basically. He was one of the best most athletic big men of all-time. Great scorer, fantastic defensively given his size, strength, length, versatility and leaping ability. Shame he didn't come into the league sooner, rather choosing to fulfill his duties to the US military in the Navy.

[Psileas]

He's seldom mentioned because he's not a top 10-15 GOAT (or a current star), and people in the majority of NBA boards only talk about these guys.

His relative mental weakness has unfairly led fans to forget about his extraordinary talent. Someone mentioned he was among the 4 players who have achieved an official QD. I'll add he's the only player who has achieved an official 40/10/10 blocks TD - and he did it twice.
His bad series against Hakeem also distorted the real margin in the value of those 2 players, which, in general, wasn't that big. Robinson outplayed Hakeem lots of times, but not in 1995.
Similarly, losing the gold to the Soviets in 1988 led people to believe he was Sabonis' b****, although this was probably the only time Sabonis played that well against him - for example, Robinson definitely outplayed him in '92, even in 1 on 1 plays (so, the "duh, it was the Dream Team!" argument doesn't really fly), despite those 2 blocks in a row by Sabonis when the game was practically over.

For me, however, Robinson's relatively low position all-time is justified by his relatively short longevity, due to that late 1996 injury and the fact that in the playoffs he underperformed against opponents he had no job underperforming. As a 24/12 rookie, he had a 9/9 playoff game against the practically centerless Blazers (Duckworth didn't even play). In Game 7, he had 7-21 FG's and the Spurs lost. In 1991, he initially dominated the scrubs of the Warriors, only to post 18 points (and 6 TO's) in the crucial Game 4, with the Spurs losing the series to a team whose bigs were Tom Tolbert, Tyrone Hill and Jim Petersen. He had again some poor games in '93 vs the Blazers and the Suns, who boasted Mark West and Oliver Miller...He played poorly against Utah in '94. Then came Hakeem. Then followed another poor show vs Utah and afterwords followed his injury (and Tim Duncan).

[Smoke117]

Basically because of one post season. He's arguably the 2nd greatest defensive player from 70 to now after Olajuwon. People also have this idea that he couldn't post up...watch some games he's in, mix tapes...whatever. His post which people belittle is better than most big men in the league now. The fact of the matter is he was such an athletic freak and great ball handler for a 7 foot man he could just face up and go right by other centers. From 98 to 2002 (2003 his back was just too messed up) he was the best defensive player on that Spurs team. When he took at back seat to Duncan he put all his energy into defense. He had a good case for DP0Y in 99 and 2000. He was actually more effective than Mourning, but Zo just played more minutes.

I also think the fact that he didn't come into the NBA until he was 24 didn't help. He lost a good amount of prime years staying in the Navy. He was drafted 1st in the 87 draft which was the same draft Pippen was drafted, but he didn't join the team till the 89-90 season. He probably has the best rookie season since Kareem...he was dominant right from the start.

[ralph_i_el]

He went to my high school. We had the same guidance councilor (she had been at the school for 50+ years when I was there). He was only about 6'5" when he was a senior I heard

[PsychoBe]

hakeem made him cry on national television and d-rob as the mvp then said hakeem was essentially the best player in the game bar-none.

[T_L_P]

Basically because of one post season. He's arguably the 2nd greatest defensive player from 70 to now after Olajuwon. People also have this idea that he couldn't post up...watch some games he's in, mix tapes...whatever. His post which people belittle is better than most big men in the league now. The fact of the matter is he was such an athletic freak and great ball handler for a 7 foot man he could just face up and go right by other centers. From 98 to 2002 (2003 his back was just too messed up) he was the best defensive player on that Spurs team. When he took at back seat to Duncan he put all his energy into defense. He had a good case for DP0Y in 99 and 2000. He was actually more effective than Mourning, but Zo just played more minutes.

I also think the fact that he didn't come into the NBA until he was 24 didn't help. He lost a good amount of prime years staying in the Navy. He was drafted 1st in the 87 draft which was the same draft Pippen was drafted, but he didn't join the team till the 89-90 season. He probably has the best rookie season since Kareem...he was dominant right from the start.

I don't think Robinson was the best defender on that Spurs after the first title run. Like you, said he just put all of his energy into the defense.

[Legends66NBA7]

Hakeem destroyed his soul.
Duncan destroyed his legacy.


He was a great player though.

How did Duncan destroy his legacy ? If anything, Duncan helped add to Robinson's legacy.

There are still people here who say they would take Robinson over Duncan.

[D.J.]

He's mentioned and acknowledged as a great player and possibly the most agile big man to ever play. But he didn't have the alpha traits the others had and he often disappeared in the playoffs when his team most needed him.

Rodman showed up in '93 and made him look soft under the boards. Then Hakeem ran circles around him in the playoffs the year he won MVP. And what he couldn't do at his absolute peak, Duncan came in and did it almost immediately.

[Smoke117]

He's mentioned and acknowledged as a great player and possibly the most agile big man to ever play. But he didn't have the alpha traits the others had and he often disappeared in the playoffs when his team most needed him.

Rodman showed up in '93 and made him look soft under the boards. Then Hakeem ran circles around him in the playoffs the year he won MVP. And what he couldn't do at his absolute peak, Duncan came in and did it almost immediately.

You don't know what you are talking about. Even when they added Rodman who gobbles up rebounds like no other Robinson was still averaging 10.7rpg to Rodmans 17.3 rpg in 94. He averaged 10.8rpg to Rodmans 16.8rpg in 95. Robinson was also the clear anchor of the defense. Everybody wants to blame Robinson for the debacle that was the Rodman experiment when it was Dennis who was unpredictable and a ****ing asshole. Robinson has always been a chill guy, so you gotta be a really big **** to piss him off.

[D.J.]

You don't know what you are talking about. Even when they added Rodman who gobbles up rebounds like no other Robinson was still averaging 10.7rpg to Rodmans 17.3 rpg in 94. He averaged 10.8rpg to Rodmans 16.8rpg in 95. Robinson was also the clear anchor of the defense. Everybody wants to blame Robinson for the debacle that was the Rodman experiment when it was Dennis who was unpredictable and a ****ing asshole. Robinson has always been a chill guy, so you gotta be a really big **** to piss him off.


I know very well what I'm talking about. I actually watched those games 20 years ago. 17.3 compared to 10.7(6.3 RPG difference) and 16.8 compared to 10.8(6.0 RPG difference). That's a significant difference. Robinson had never averaged less than 11.7 RPG before Rodman arrived and that was his only year under 12. Robinson also started shooting much more, 20.7 FGA in '94 when he had never been higher than 16.7.

Robinson disappeared when it mattered. Yes, Dennis got into trouble and he was a distraction, but that also lies on John Lucas and Bob Hill who couldn't control him. But when they both were on the court and on top of their game, Rodman was much more reliable in a meaningful game.

[Smoke117]

I know very well what I'm talking about. I actually watched those games 20 years ago. 17.3 compared to 10.7(6.3 RPG difference) and 16.8 compared to 10.8(6.0 RPG difference). That's a significant difference. Robinson had never averaged less than 11.7 RPG before Rodman arrived and that was his only year under 12. Robinson also started shooting much more, 20.7 FGA in '94 when he had never been higher than 16.7.

Robinson disappeared when it mattered. Yes, Dennis got into trouble and he was a distraction, but that also lies on John Lucas and Bob Hill who couldn't control him. But when they both were on the court and on top of their game, Rodman was much more reliable in a meaningful game.

You act like your rebounds lowering while playing with Dennnis is a bad thing. The guy ****ing gobbled up rebounds. Pippen was averaging 8-9rpg in 94 and 95 and fell to 6 in 96 when Rodman joined. Robinson was also the primary scorer so he wasn't just there grabbing offensive rebounds. David was also anchoring and protecting the rim, so a lot of misses Rodman was grabbing while Drob was busy protecting the paint. I still just find it hard to get on a guy who while playing with Rodman still averaged over 10rpg lol. If anything that's impressive and if not for Rodmans erratic behavior that could have been a ridiculous front court.

Lets remember the Spurs traded Rodman to the Bulls for practically nothing because his stock was really low with everyone tired of his antics. Michael and Jordan had to even be asked to allow them to acquire Rodman his reputation was bad. (not to mention the blatant cheap shots he gave Scottie like when he just pushed him into the stands...I like physical play but that was just dangerous and dirty as **** so if Scottie had ill feelings it would make sense)

[Dave_520]

It always makes me laugh to read some of the exaggerations and some outright lies about Robinson/Rodman/Hakeem...

for instance, the comment made about Rodman said Robinson was crying in the locker room, shaking during the Rockets series. Untrue. If you would actually read Rodmans book, Bad as I Wanna Be. as I did when it came out... I dont remember verbatim what was said, but it was not crying..more along the lines of he was aloof and spaced out during one particular half time incident when Avery Johnson basically called him out indirectly while addressing the team. Avery basically said other people need to step up because David is not going to carry us to the promised land during this series, and Robinson did not stick up for himself or say anything... just sat there, basically acknowledging his own failure by his silence. No crying, shaking, etc....

Robinson was easily one of the best of his generation. During his time in the league, he was considered on the same basic level as Hakeem... he did play a below average series against Hakeem that was magnified because he has just won MVP and was playing against the previous years MVP... and during his acceptance speech, happened to mention other NBA greats, but failed to mention Hakeem..which was probably just honest forgetfulness...

And btw, people acted like he played like garbage...which is also untrue..

Hakeems stats during the series..

35.3 pg 12.5 reb 5.0 ast 1.3 stl 4.2 blk ..obviously outstanding stats

Robinsons stats during the series...

23.8 ppg 11.3 reb 2.7ast 1.5 stl 2.2 blk... slightly below his own averages and obviously below Olajuwons... but not terrible by any means

His playoff performances lacked heavy hitting numbers, and esp against the Jazz, he seemed to really have problems..

Golden State was an odd one, mainly because Nelson used a small lineup and because they had no star center, simply kept the center around the 3point line which kept Robinson out of the paint defensively the entire series, completely taking the Spurs out of their game after game 1... it was actually pretty brilliant


Robinson would destroy in todays game...obliterate. Because the way the center position has evolved into a more perimeter oriented position, and because Robinson was so versatile, he could play both classic center basketball or perimeter ball as in todays game...

[SilkkTheShocker]

It's pretty sad how people let that series against Hakeem overshadow his body of work. Those Spurs team he had to drag before TD weren't all that talented.

[The Iron Sheik]

When he was playing he was considered one of the best. Now people rarely mention him. He's kinda like the inverse of Hakeem. When Hakeem was playing, not everybody considered Hakeem the god he is looked at as now.

[Leroy Jetson]

Before Duncan Robinson's best teammate was Sean Elliott, a two time all star reserve. He also had Rodman, but Rodman was a huge distraction in San Antonio, he needed a strong coach to rein him in, Rodman did almost zero on the offensive end. Spurs were 21-61 before Robinson, they went 56-26 his rookie year. Robinson never had the killer instinct but he also had very little help. If he played today he would expose Dwight as a second rate pretender, would easily be an MVP contender, first team all NBA, all defense and a perennial DPOY candidate.

[StephHamann]

http://media.giphy.com/media/11Fyqer3gaJVrq/giphy.gif

[SCdac]

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn200/nbacardDOTnet/zz%20NBA%20Photo%20Gallery/y%20NBA%20etc/1%20San%20Antonio%20Spurs/David%20Robinson/VS/DavidRobinson-blocks-KarlMalone.gif

[Rake2204]

The 71 points was controversial because during that time, David and Shaq was on their last game and was neck to neck for the scoring title. David was well respected and many don't like Shaq because he was new comer. Because of that, David got spoon fed to 71 from the Spurs and the Clippers.I am not sure I agree with all of your assessment. I did not believe the reputations of David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal came into play on the final day of the 1994 regular season. I also do not believe Robinson was spoon-fed by the Clippers.

I think there's no doubt Robinson's own teammates were looking for him, but to me it always appeared L.A. was doing everything they could to stop him, sending double and triple teams at will. It's just, Bob Martin and Bo Outlaw were only going to be able to do so much, especially when Robinson was pulling from deep on top of everything else. Here's a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24NLqvKER1c


I watched DROB destroy Hakeem for five years.. He outplayed him everytime, until 1993... Hakeem developed some never seen moves and the rest is history. But Robinson was better than Ewing...Yeah, Hakeem kind of seemed like he hit a second prime beginning with the '94 season. He and David only met once in the playoffs (and we all know how that went) but they actually played eachother to a stalemate in their regular season matchups: http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=olajuha01&p2=robinda01


Shame he didn't come into the league sooner, rather choosing to fulfill his duties to the US military in the Navy.I think that plays a role in how he sometimes gets forgotten by history (though many give him due praise). He was a senior in '87, yet he didn't make his NBA debut until the '90 season (at age 24). As a result, he turned 30 just prior to his seventh NBA season,then sustained a season-ending injury the very next year. The Spurs' terrible downfall after he went down led to the acquisition of Tim Duncan.

By then, a healthy Robinson was still playing wonderful basketball but he was suddenly 32 and was more than willing to fill whatever role needed instead of posturing for alpha status (which worked out wonderfully).

[sketchy]

As great as he was, he was overly passive and definitely didn't have that "killer" mentality it takes to be dominant. If he played today, people would call him "beta."

Even with that being said, he's easily one of the better players of his time and like you said, kind of underrated which is probably due to his good but not great legacy.

[Rake2204]

For me, however, Robinson's relatively low position all-time is justified by his relatively short longevity, due to that late 1996 injury and the fact that in the playoffs he underperformed against opponents he had no job underperforming. As a 24/12 rookie, he had a 9/9 playoff game against the practically centerless Blazers (Duckworth didn't even play). In Game 7, he had 7-21 FG's and the Spurs lost.David surely struggled in game 1 against Portland his rookie year, but I feel it'd be remiss to bring that game up without mentioning how he followed with games of 31/8, 28/8/8, 21/10/4, 27/15, and 24/13/6 (the third stat accounting for blocks in each). And surely, he struggled from the field in game 7, but still managed 20 and 16. Altogether, it'd seem he fell short of perfection but still turned in a heck of a series.


In 1991, he initially dominated the scrubs of the Warriors, only to post 18 points (and 6 TO's) in the crucial Game 4, with the Spurs losing the series to a team whose bigs were Tom Tolbert, Tyrone Hill and Jim Petersen.As another poster alluded, I thought that series was a lot about what the Warriors did, as opposed to what the Spurs didn't. When David's dropping 28 and 15 while shooting between 60-70% from the field, and the Warriors are still winning, something wonky is afoot.

And again, in game 4 (an elimination game), it seems the negative aspects of Robinson's performance were mentioned (just 18 points along with 6 rebounds) without mentioning the other side, which is that Robinson hit 7 of his 11 shots, snared 14 rebounds, and handed out 4 assists, only for his team to still lose by 13. Surely, I'd bet Robinson receives blame there for not demanding the ball more (or something along those lines) but I'm not sure that would have made up the entire difference there.


He had again some poor games in '93 vs the Blazers and the Suns, who boasted Mark West and Oliver Miller...He had two poor shooting games against Portland in '93, but still averaged 20 and 15 for the series. Against Phoenix, he had a poor shooting, 13 point performance in game 3, but he averaged 28 and 12 in the other five games of the series. Sure, we could say he underperformed from a "total points" perspective in some games, but he seemed to be performing pretty darn well during the other 90% of his contests.


He played poorly against Utah in '94.No defending that one. I do not have any good memories of Robinson in that series. The best thing I could say as a biased fan is that Robinson carried that club that year (leading the team in points and assists). But when your starting gunners are Dale Ellis, Negele Knight and Willie Anderson (and they combine to shoot 35% from the field), it's going to be tough to win. Also, it'll be tough to win when Robinson plays as he did. It's difficult for me to break that one down though, as I haven't seen any of those games since I was a kid. I'd be interested to see what happened there.


Then came Hakeem. Then followed another poor show vs Utah and afterwords followed his injury (and Tim Duncan).I always felt the Hakeem thing was, again, more about what Olajuwon did than what Robinson didn't. Hakeem roasted everyone that year - Chuck, Malone, David, Shaq. No one was exempt. Robinson averaged 24 and 11 in that series. He wasn't exactly shut down - it's just that Hakeem was next-leveling at that point.

But back to Utah, once more, I'd be curious to watch those games again today (both from '94 and '96). If there was ever a team that seemed to shut Robinson down on paper, it looks like it'd be Utah. Robinson went from averaging 30 a night in round 1 in '96 against Charles Barkley and company, to averaging sub 20 in a six game series against the Jazz in the very next round. Do you recall that series? If so, what happened there? What did Utah do that other teams didn't?

[Dave_520]

Robinson wasnt "overly passive".. what a silly description for a man who dominated the middle the way he did, especially defensively. His game was a front the basket, relying on quickness and agility.. which for a CENTER, was not a good style for the rough playoffs.. .remember this was before hand checking and rough style defensive styles were banned...

Put Robinson in todays environment with all the soft rules for defenders, and he would easily 30ppg...

[Smoke117]

People always act like Robinson failed in the playoffs when his rookie year the Spurs took the Blazers who would go on to the finals to six games while averaging: 24.3ppg 12.0rpg 4.0bpg 1.1spg .533%fg while easily being the best defensive player on the team...what a bum though. He took the Spurs from 23rd in offense to 13th and 13th in defense to 3rd his rookie year. He was a already a top 5 player in the league his rookie season.

This is without mentioning the fact that he never had dependable players around him. Terry Cummings was a chucker, Rod Strickland never did anything till after he left the Spurs and Sean Elliott and Willie Anderson had no business being as big as part of the offense as they were. None of these players contributed to the fact that the Spurs were number 1 in defense in 91 and 92. It's absurd how much shit Robinson takes when he completely carried those early to mid 90s teams. They wouldn't even have won 30 games without him.

The entire David Robinson led Spurs from 90-96 overachieved every single regular season because of how dominant Robinson was. Come playoff time nobody else offered him any help at all. The guy was basically doubled every time he touched the ball down low.

[305Baller]

I don't know what you are talking about. He is OFTEN revered as one of the greatest player in the 90's along with some others.

This.

[Soundwave]

As great as he was, he was overly passive and definitely didn't have that "killer" mentality it takes to be dominant. If he played today, people would call him "beta."

Even with that being said, he's easily one of the better players of his time and like you said, kind of underrated which is probably due to his good but not great legacy.

If he played today he'd probably win 2-3 titles just because there's no one who would be able to guard him effectively in today's NBA.

I actually think when people wonder what Wilt would be like in the modern NBA, David Robinson is actually probably the closest player to Wilt in body type/athleticism.

Wilt really didn't play like Shaq.