Duncan Robinson had an excellent shooting campaign in his first year with the Pistons last season, but his defense eventually proved to be a liability in the playoffs. This season, Robinson needs to be better in isolation defense, especially during the biggest games. He can’t continue to be a cone that requires help defense from his teammates whenever a good player gets him on an island.
Robinson needs to turn a new defensive leaf
The Pistons will see their perimeter defense challenged immediately by the Celtics in their season opener. Boston not only lives on drives and threes, but also loves to target weak links in a defense. Robinson will be out to the test right away.
He’s currently pegged as the starting shooting guard thanks to his potent three-point shooting and effective secondary playmaking. But the Pistons have their fair share of solid shooters now, and he could see his minutes decline if the defense doesn’t get better. That change won’t be immediate and could even wait until the playoffs, but it’s definitely possible.
Unfortunately for Robinson, it’s not a simple matter to fix his defensive issues. He always tries hard on that end but doesn’t quite have the quickness to match up with the league’s best guards or the size to match up with the best forwards. In last season’s playoffs, he was targeted by scorers like Paolo Banchero, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
The Pistons can help Robinson
On the bright side, there’s arguably no better team for Robinson than the Pistons. Detroit has some of the most active help defense in the league, especially when Ausar Thompson is on the court. Thompson and other wings can often give Robinson support in iso situations and still have the speed to rotate back onto their original matchup.
That strategy won’t always work, especially against teams with elite shooting and passing at every position. There are going to be some cases where Robinson just needs to be good enough if he’s hunted out, or improve his ability to stay hidden. Good communication and pre-switching can leave Robinson only defending weaker scorers and avoid the headache of a star dancing against him.
But the Pistons need to be on a string defensively to execute that gameplan effectively. Although it probably won’t be required to win regular season games, the Pistons might want to start practicing pre-switching early if they anticipate doing it in the playoffs.
In the cases where Robinson does get isolated, he can still improve with better discipline. Last season, he had a tendency to reach and foul too often in those situations. Even at age 32, Robinson can still get much better in his all-around game with some defensive adjustments.
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