What was with David Robinson's lackluster/mistake prone play on the 1992 Dream Team?

[hiphopanonymous]

I've been watching the Olympic games from 1992 recently since they are up on YouTube and he looks very disconnected from the rest of the guys in all 3 of the games I've rewatched so far. Poor timing, not aggressive, silly foul prone and needless turnover prone - he looks like he doesn't belong on these mistakes alone let alone not being able to show brilliance, polish creativity and supreme confidence like the rest of the guys. Actually I see guys like Magic lecturing him on basic defensive positioning after inbound plays since there is no play by play on Olympics uploads, you can here all the chatter. He's occasionally heard getting a word in his ear for his simple mistakes.

I hate to say it but his focus and confidence looked damn near amateur in some of these games, like Laettner looked more poised and intelligent in how to play the game of basketball than he does. He seemed to only be good for a couple of simple backdoor plays that other guys got him open not he himself or the odd transition and even those two play types he'd display poor timing and was a frequent liability in most other scenarios definitely not creating anything brilliant for the team like all the rest of the guys did. He turned the ball over on an inbound because he passed it to Magic with a guy waiting behind Magic for the steal - that's simple poor decision making and communication and that kind of simple mistake is all his fault not Magic's. It sticks out like a sore thumb because none of the other guys are making mistakes on simple plays like this in fact Team USA almost never turned it over unless it was some potentially brilliant highlight play near the hoop like a blind wrap around pass. Him whiffing a simple inbound was like what team USA's opponents did not what they did - other than Robinson.

USA vs Spain for example he looks particularly mistake prone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlmE7jNX3O0

Also I notice - with all the hype he gets for being a physical specimen he looks extremely lean, with a weak core and base and not very explosive. On camera closeups where most people like to show off his pics to imply what a beast he was sure his arms look toned but when the shot moves back out he doesn't even look very long let alone filled out - MJ looks to have a broader upper body and arms at least as long and he's a guard. He looks like he has small hands too or something because he bobbles passes around unlike the entire rest of the team which may be part of why he displayed such poor timing - he could never get a grip on the ball. This kind of stuff makes me think maybe David Robinson is just not that good or wasn't that good around 1992 at least. He looked as much an odd one out among those great players as Laettner did. What are your guys thoughts anyone else ever notice this?

[clipps]

Yeah. I'm sure it really hurt the Dream Team's chances at winning the Gold Medal that year.

[ShawkFactory]

I always wonder about his mental strength and BBIQ.


All of of this could be a product of circumstance/luck/etc, and if it is I'd be happy to know...but his numbers went WAY down in the postseason throughout his career, particularly the advanced ones. I know this isn't basketball really but he obviously had GOAT-like advanced numbers in the regular and wasn't close to that in the postseason.

Granted I've only seen a couple full games of his in his prime, most against Olajuwon which probably isn't the fairest way to assess how he played.

[hateraid]

The big 3 took over (Barkley, Jordan, Magic)
Everyone conceeded to them

[hiphopanonymous]

The big 3 took over (Barkley, Jordan, Magic)
Everyone conceeded to them

But Mullins, Pippen and Malone looked sharp as a tack making ELITE plays out there with all the guys - as did Bird Drexler Ewing and even Stock on his limited minutes - they looked poised and super confident always making extra touch passes as if they were thinking 2 or 3 moves ahead, never stuttering or looking confused and never ridiculous turnovers etc. Only random turnover from any of them might've been because they attempted a dazzling pass that barely missed the mark and made the crowd gasp with how high IQ it was to begin with. The looked like they were way higher than the opposition as they should've been.

Robinson? Couldn't catch a slow lob. Couldn't inbound to Magic. Couldn't make an uncontested layup to save his life at times. Looked confused at times. Never had a play ran for him from what I saw unlike the other guys. Never even attempted a dazzling pass or any pass as far as I could see short of inbounding the ball from time to time and even messing that up. Laettner actually had better looking minutes than Robinson in a few games. As elite as the dream team was in transition I haven't seen a single Robinson outlet pass - and guys like MJ and Barkley were running the break. It's like he couldn't even make the basic "rebound and pass" plays an "elite" center would be expected to make. And he made the silliest fouls, he'd foul a 6 foot guy who wasn't in any shooting motion on the 3 point line as he was dribbling the ball because he rushed him and ran into his body - like wtf was he going for a steal or a spot on the bench!? I never saw him complete one steal from this kind of foolish defense but he got countless fouls this way.

[hateraid]

But Mullins, Pippen and Malone looked sharp as a tack making ELITE plays out there with all the guys - as did Bird Drexler Ewing and even Stock on his limited minutes - they looked poised and super confident always making extra touch passes as if they were thinking 2 or 3 moves ahead, never stuttering or looking confused and never ridiculous turnovers etc. Only random turnover from any of them might've been because they attempted a dazzling pass that barely missed the mark and made the crowd gasp with how high IQ it was to begin with. The looked like they were way higher than the opposition as they should've been.

Robinson? Couldn't catch a slow lob. Couldn't inbound to Magic. Couldn't make an uncontested layup to save his life at times. Looked confused at times. Never had a play ran for him from what I saw unlike the other guys. Never even attempted a dazzling pass or any pass as far as I could see short of inbounding the ball from time to time and even messing that up. Laettner actually had better looking minutes than Robinson in a few games. As elite as the dream team was in transition I haven't seen a single Robinson outlet pass - and guys like MJ and Barkley were running the break. It's like he couldn't even make the basic "rebound and pass" plays an "elite" center would be expected to make. And he made the silliest fouls, he'd foul a 6 foot guy who wasn't in any shooting motion on the 3 point line as he was dribbling the ball because he rushed him and ran into his body - like wtf was he going for a steal or a spot on the bench!? I never saw him complete one steal from this kind of foolish defense but he got countless fouls this way.

Mullins, Pippen and Malone played a support role to the big 3 dominance. Their games are built that way. All Mullins did was stand in the corner and pop 3's. Perefect compliment. Pippen and Malone ran the floor. Robinson at the time was considered the best center in the game so having to defer may have been a little more difficult. Like you said, never had a play ran through him. I kind of see it like Zion at the ASG.

[hiphopanonymous]

Mullins, Pippen and Malone played a support role to the big 3 dominance. Their games are built that way. All Mullins did was stand in the corner and pop 3's. Perefect compliment. Pippen and Malone ran the floor. Robinson at the time was considered the best center in the game so having to defer may have been a little more difficult. Like you said, never had a play ran through him. I kind of see it like Zion at the ASG.
On the dream team Mully was catching alley-oops backdoor and hounding on defense making steals simply from great 1 on 1 defense no help and even dunking on the other end. He was also making frequent great cuts and drives to the hoop - Never saw Robinson do that - Mully looked like a superstar compared to Robinson in some of the games I've watched. Mullins certainly didn't just camp in the 3 point line in the games I watched

[ShawkFactory]

It’s actually a known fact that Chris Mullin didn’t miss a shot during the entire tournament.

[Lebron23]

He's probably having a PSTD in FiBA Competitions afteer Sabonis outplayed him in 1988. Same reasons why the Spurs started winning NBA titles after they drafted Tim Duncan.

[hiphopanonymous]

https://youtu.be/hiK1Pzq7v3M?t=4502

Watching the Croatia game - check out this kind of posession.. he looks like he plays for team Angola with stuff like this - totally unforced turnover. Nobody even touched the ball he just panicked.

[Smoke117]

Robinson had been injured and missed the end of the 92 season and playoffs. It would make sense he was rusty here. Also, Jordan who is supposed to be the best player in the world was terrible against a bunch of scrubs.

[999Guy]

Robinson wasn’t in his true prime yet.

But meanwhile Jordan was hugging the right baseline and was chucking up mid range bricks like it was 2003.

Chuck, Magic, Pip, Malone, Mullin all played better than Mike. At minimum.

[DoctorP]

Robinson was still a young and raw player when compared to those other guys. Not surprised he got a schooling. Laettner was a Dukie so maybe he had a high bball IQ, I don't know.

[ZionDunks]

This is the kind of post I’m here for