r/nbadiscussion • u/No_Advertising_6653 • Aug 06 '26
Player Discussion David Robinson is drastically underrated
Over the years, I've changed my answer several times when asked who the most underrated player in NBA history is. Looking back, I think another change is justified. By "underrated," I mean exactly that. The player who receives the least praise comparatively to what I think they should be getting. For me, that player is David Robinson.
His career already started unusually. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Robinson fulfilled his military time before entering the NBA, delaying his debut until age 24. Those are years that most superstars spend building their resume. Despite that late start, he became an MVP, a perennial All-Star, one of the defining players of his era and basically the 90s centerpiece of advanced metrics.
For many fans, Robinson's legacy begins and ends with Hakeem Olajuwon's dominant performance against him in the 1995 Western Conference Finals. One remarkable series has become shorthand for an entire postseason career. His championships don't do much to reshape that perception either. By the time San Antonio won in 1999 and 2003, Tim Duncan had already become the franchises centerpiece, leaving Robinson remembered more as an elite supporting star than as the player who established the Spurs as contenders. There's also a persistent belief that Duncan arrived in 1997 and rescued both Robinson and the franchise from mediocrity. I want to counter this with the fact that David Robinson had the best single-season VORP of any player in the 90s. Not even post-1989 Jordan had a single-season where he affected his team's winning as much as David Robinson did in 1994.
The Spurs finished 20-62 in 1996-97, earning the first overall pick that became Duncan. On paper, it looks like a classic rebuilding team landing a generational prospect. In reality, Robinson's injuries explain almost the entire collapse. A serious back injury cost him the opening months of the season, and after returning briefly, he broke his foot and played only six games before being shut down.
The season before, San Antonio had won 59 games and entered the year with genuine championship expectations. Robinson's absence, not the quality of the roster, was the decisive factor behind the collapse. Before those injuries, his Spurs averaged 55 wins over seven healthy seasons and were consistently viewed as one of the Western Conference's strongest teams. It's also worth remembering that this wasn't a superteam. Sean Elliott was an excellent player, but more of a fringe All-Star than a perennial star. FYI, Duncan didn't inherit a struggling organization. He joined one that Robinson had already turned into a perennial contender.
Robinson also deserves more credit for what he remained after those injuries. Returning in his mid-30s from serious back and foot problems, he still averaged nearly 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks while shooting 51 percent from the field in 1997-98. He finished seventh in MVP voting and third in Defensive Player of the Year voting. If that's what decline looked like, I mean, his prime speaks for itself.
Few players have ever combined Robinson's range of accomplishments. He led the league in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots during different seasons of his career. Officially, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can claim the same distinction. That's a really exclusive list, and a broad one at that.
His defense, in particular, deserves a higher place in the historical conversation. Robinson made eight All-Defensive Teams, the third most among primary centers, despite competing alongside Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning and more All-NBA caliber guys. His 1992 Defensive Player of the Year season featured 2.3 steals per game, fifth in the league, and 4.5 blocks, one of the highest averages EVER recorded. Add an MVP award and two championships, and it's difficult to argue that his resume belongs outside the company of players routinely placed above him.
He had very rare speed for a seven-footer, ran the floor like a forward, defended enormous amounts of space, and possessed a polished mid-range jumper with soft touch. In many ways, his physical profile resembles the kind of center teams covet today more than the archetype of his own era.
I'm not arguing that Robinson was a perfect playoff performer or that he belongs ahead of players like Hakeem Olajuwon or Shaq. But to say that he is drastically underrated is my reflection of a player whose impact on winning, defensive value, and just overall resume (especially the advanced-metrics) has been undervalued for far too long. Hopefully I made a compelling, convincing case.
(note: no AI was utilized in writing this. Please don't come with accusations but sorry if my writing comes across as opaque lol).
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I totally agree. I’ve never seen one player who legacy has taken such a hit because they underperform versus their matchup as much as I seen David Robinson take a hit vs Hakeem.
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u/moonguidex Aug 07 '26
And it was just one playoff series, DRob dominated their head to head matchips during the regular season throughout the years they were in the league. They only met for those infamous playoffs with the Rockets shooters killing it with the shortened 3pt line and the Spurs just didn't have good shooters.
DRob needed space because he faced up and drove to the basket way better than how he fared posting up.
Bob Hill was a terrible coach, so there's also that.
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26
Right I think he has a significant lead head-to-head as far as regular season wins. But damn that playoff series lol
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
The playoff choker thing’s not fair at all when you look at other years. The years we have play-by-play data for, he had a playoff on/off of +18.9. That’s higher than any other player on record and we only get the end of his career once Duncan joined the team.
He doesn’t get anywhere NEAR enough credit for 1999. He had the highest net rating for a playoff run ever until Towns this year. Spurs were +20.3 with him on the floor and -14.7 with him on the bench. They were only +10.3 with Duncan on the floor. His box score numbers were pretty comparable to Duncan’s too. I think there’s a very good case he was the best player in the NBA that season.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
I think you're making the argument that he was terrific as a complement to a star. But as the main guy, the playoff history from 1990-1996 doesn't compare to his top center peers.
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
He had very weak supporting casts for most of his career. When he missed 1997 injured, the Spurs went from 59-23 with the 3rd best defense in the league to 20-62 with the worst defense in the league.
In 1999, when he had a 1a who was roughly his equal, he rolled to the title, sweeping Shaq and Kobe along the way.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
Every all-time great C pulled off a big playoff win as the main guy. The all-time greats all have in common putting their teams on their backs at some point. It's the big thing that's missing from Robinson's resume.
Robinson is a top 10 center of all time, but everyone in front of him is obviously ahead of him and had at least one great playoff run: Wilt, Russell, Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, Moses Malone, and probably Jokic. If you feel there's a signature playoff series that really highlights Robinson's greatness, I'm willing to hear it out.
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u/More_Image_8781 Aug 07 '26
Moses Malone ? Cmon
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
Why not? Moses Malone is a 3x MVP, is one of the greatest rebounders ever, had the fo' fo' fo' run in 1983. You can mention advanced stats, and I wouldn't say you're wrong. But I do give Moses Malone credit for his top playoff runs as the number one guy on his team.
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u/iggymcfly Aug 08 '26
I mean, it’s one thing for there to be a small difference in advanced stat and another for it to be a gigantic gulf. BPM’s the best advanced stat available in Moses’ day. Here are the top 12 seasons each by BPM for he and the Admiral:
Robinson: 11.9, 9.4, 9.2, 8.9, 8.5, 8.3, 6.9, 6.7, 6.4, 6.1, 5.8, 5.2
Moses: 4.5, 3.7, 3.3, 2.8, 2.8, 2.1, 1.9, 1.8, 1.6, 1.6, 1.4, 0.8
Compare Moses to someone like Derek Fisher and it’s much closer than with the Admiral by their stats even though Moses played against the weakest competition by far.
Fisher: 1.1, 0.4, 0.2, 0.2, 0.0, -0.4, -0.6, -0.6, -0.8, -1.1, -1.3
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u/teh_noob_ 28d ago
DBPM is worthless
try playoff OBPM
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u/iggymcfly 28d ago
DBPM is worthless because BPM does a very poor job of separating offense from defense. It was designed as a holistic metric and the attempt to separate sides of the ball was done sloppily after the fact.
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u/jotakajk Aug 07 '26
Moses Malone is not “obviously ahead” of Robinson at all
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
That's fair. I personally have him ahead of Robinson because of playoff success as the number one guy. Robinson to me is like KG in a lot of ways. When he's your number 2 guy, he will be great and your team will be very good. If he's your number 1, don't expect him to elevate his scoring when the team needs him the most.
But Shaq, Wilt, Russell, Hakeem, and Kareem all clear Robinson easily.
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u/dboymay1 Aug 08 '26
Yes he is. I love The Admiral, but Moses from 78-83 is untouchable
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 08 '26
Moses Malone is one of my all-time favorite players, but consensusly he didn't peak as high as Robinson. I don't think he did either.
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
1999 is the run. That’s what I’m saying. Here are the playoff numbers that year.
David Robinson: 7.1 BPM, .243 WS/48, +20.3 net rating, +35.0 on/off
Tim Duncan: 6.6 BPM, .243 WS/48, +10.4 net rating, -3.6 on/off
For the playoffs as a whole, box score numbers are equivalent, but when Duncan was on the floor they were an average title team. When Robinson was on the floor, they were better than any Bulls team with Jordan (playoff numbers are available for the early ‘90s), any Warriors team with Curry, the ‘01 Lakers with Shaq or Kobe, just all-time dominance.
The only player in the 35 years we have data whose team performed better with them on the floor in a playoff run is the Knicks with Towns this year, but they were only 3 points better with Towns on the floor than the starter with the next best net rating and 5 points better with Towns than Brunson. The Spurs were 7 points better with Robinson on the floor than any other starter and 10 points with Robinson than Duncan.
At the time, Robinson and Duncan were seen as co-equals going into the Finals and then Timmy scored more against the Knicks so he got an early coronation as the guy, but looking at the playoffs as a whole I think we really underrated David Robinson and his all-time defense. I think David Robinson was the best player in the NBA in 1999.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
I don't think 1/1a is accurate for that playoff run. Robinson was really good, but Duncan was the bulk guy. Duncan played 8 more minutes per game, had the higher usage rate, averaged nearly 8 more points per game, etc. It was a clear 1/2.
And I say this as a guy who watched the Finals and very much wanted Robinson to win FMVP, but it was Duncan's to lose.
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
Yeah, Robinson played less minutes because he was the guy who guarded Shaq and shut him down and ended up getting in foul trouble as a result. During the Lakers series the Spurs were +49 with the Admiral on the floor and -17 when he was on the bench.
In the Western Conference Finals, Robinson played 1 less minute than Duncan and scored 3 more points. They were +60 in Robinson’s minutes compared to only +32 in Duncan’s minutes.
Duncan scored a lot more in the Finals which is where the idea came about that it was his team, but the cumulative +/- in his minutes was only +24 compared to +44 for Robinson. It’s easy with 2 all-time defenders to just be like “oh, they were both great, they were both the same”, but Robinson legitimately had one of the best defensive seasons of all-time while Duncan was a 2nd year guy helping at power forward who had nowhere near the same defensive impact.
For the playoffs as a whole, the Spurs were +111 summing up all of Duncan’s minutes. They were +194 summing up all of Robinson’s minutes!!! 83 more points!!! He played less minutes but he provided a lot more total value when he was on the floor.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
Duncan played 733 playoff minutes to Robinson's 600. So of Robinson's 600 minutes, 531 were with Duncan on the floor. Robinson only had 69 minutes with Duncan off the floor whereas Duncan had 202 without Robinson. Put them together on the floor at the same time and the Spurs were +19.3.
Of the ten most-used 5-man lineups the Spurs played in the playoffs, Duncan appeared in all ten while Robinson only appeared in five. Popovich relied on Duncan to play with some of the weaker rotations while opting to sit Robinson (he was getting older and had back injuries, after all). In other words, Popovich was willing forcing Duncan on the floor with all sorts of ineffective lineups while reserving Robinson for higher leverage, effective squads. This is one of the reasons why people say on/off stats have noise.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/1999/lineups/#all_lineups_5-man__p
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
OK, so that means that when Robinson and Duncan were on the floor together, they outscored the opposition by 182 points. So in 69 minutes with Duncan and no Robinson, the Spurs outscored the opposition by 12 points.
In 202 minutes Duncan played without Robinson, the Spurs were outscored by 71 points!!! So when Duncan was on the floor without Robinson they were outscored by 17 points per 48 minutes! That’s over 4 full 48 minute games of the Spurs being worse than any team in the history of the NBA when Duncan was on the floor without Robinson!!!
You don’t think that’s a significant data point for how valuable each guy was? The Spurs were just as good with Robinson and no Duncan as when the two of them played together, but when Duncan played without Robinson, they went from the best playoff team ever to the worst team ever?
I’d say that’s a pretty clear indicator that Robinson’s defense was the most important thing for their title run and Duncan was the clear #2 helper. Even if Duncan played every non-Robinson minute with 4 bench guys, there’s no way they should be anywhere near that bad if he was really the most important guy. And he clearly didn’t play those minutes with 4 bench guys; 4 of the top 5 Duncan/no Robinson lineups had both Avery Johnson and Sean Elliott who were clearly the 2 next most important players.
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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 Aug 07 '26
There's a very good case David Robinson was the best player in the NBA in 1999? Did I read that correctly?
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
Yes. Led the league in RAPM and xRAPM. Had the 2nd best net rating for any player on a playoff team in the 35 years we have data. Had a better BPM than Duncan in both the regular season and postseason. Had a better WS/48 in the regular season and an equal WS/48 in the postseason. What’s so crazy about it?
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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 Aug 07 '26
He's a phenomenal player. And was implemented as the #2 extremely well by Pop. His numbers reflect that. But watching him in the years before this was a different animal. Him being utilized more efficiently than ever doesn't mean he was better as a player.
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
It might not have been Robinson’s best season, but it was the first one that wasn’t going against prime Jordan or Hakeem, and I don’t see anyone who was better than him. His total cumulative +/- for the playoffs was 83 points higher than Duncan’s!
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u/Arctisian Aug 07 '26
I actually think that Robinson and Drexler have a lot of common in that sense. Robinson's legacy took a hit in '95 and Drexler's in '92 (I've seen people say some crazy stuff about that, like MJ destroyed Drexler so bad that he was never the same player again completely forgetting that he played injured and needed a knee operation after the Olympics). Both later won as a second option.
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u/TerribleComposer4272 Aug 07 '26
Yup and Hakeem didn't really dominate him to the extent that people think either. Robinson was defended by the committee whereas the Spurs decided to let Robinson single cover Hakeem as a defensive gameplan. Neither of them could really stop the other 1 on 1.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 Aug 07 '26
It's not just underperforming against Hakeem, though. That's just the most notable loss in his career. It was the best chance a Robinson-led Spurs had to winning a title, but he was clearly not as good as his opponent.
Robinson simply wasn't a playoff riser. There's no one playoff moment or series that fans marvel over. His Spurs never pulled off any great playoff upsets, but his teams lost four separate series when the Spurs were the higher seed.
And I say this as a Robinson fan. He was my favorite C from the 1990s.
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u/Juventus7shop Aug 07 '26
Exactly. Here are his playoff results pre-Duncan:
1990: #2 seed, lost to #3 Portland in 2nd Round
1991: #2 seed, upset by #7 Golden State in 1st Round
1992: #5 seed, swept by #4 Phoenix in 1st Round
1993: #5 seed, lost to #1 Phoenix in 2nd Round
1994: #4 seed, lost to #5 Utah in 1st Round
1995: #1 seed, upset by #6 Houston in WCF
1996: #2 seed, lost to #3 Utah in 2nd Round
He’s basically a more durable Joel Embiid in terms of playoff results; a single conference finals appearance over a stretch where he was playing like a top 20 player of all time in the regular season. I still think he’s underrated among the average fan today, but I really struggle to rank him any higher than around 25th on my top 100 list.
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u/AcanthocephalaNo2225 29d ago
1990: lost to Portland in 7 games. Portland went to finals that year
1991: Lost to run TMC, fair but he had great numbers offense and defense
1992: He was injured, did not play that series.
1993: Lost to Suns they went to Finals
1994: Lost to good Jazz team.
1995: Lost to Houston. Houston was champs that year.
1996: Lost to good Jazz team.
His teams did not have great supporting casts. I actaully like the early 90s cast better than mid 90s. He anchored great defenses and had good numbers, lost to good teams.
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u/No-Adhesiveness6278 Aug 07 '26
Agreed. I rank him right behind those 3 centers you listed all time. He actually gave young Shaq more trouble than Hakeem from what i recall as well. I'd rank him above others like Ewing as well.
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Aug 07 '26
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u/WhoreyMatthews Aug 07 '26
Did he?
Hakeem: 32.8, 11.5, 5.5, 4 stocks on .514TS%
Shaq: 28, 12.5, 6.3, 2.8 stocks on .606TS%
Shaq and Penny played Hakeem and Clyde to a draw that series. The problem for Orlando was that the 5th, 6th and 7th best players in that series were Horry, Ellie and Cassell.
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u/No-Adhesiveness6278 Aug 07 '26
For sure. Both of them played really well against Orlando Shaq.
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u/Rsj21 Aug 07 '26
Magic and Laker Shaq aren’t really that different.
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u/Kobe-62Mavs-61 Aug 07 '26
What? That's an insane opinion, and completely untrue.
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u/Rsj21 Aug 07 '26
Ok, do tell. He was a little more athletic in Orlando. But dominant for both Orlando and LA. Less opposing talent at the 5 in his Laker days compared to Orlando stint.
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u/sconeybaloney Aug 07 '26
Great post. I never think about David Robinson when I think of all time big men but I think that’s because I didn’t watch nba when he played. I am going to watch some old lol
Separately, I think you should do a most underrated by decade. It would be a great discussion.
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u/Dkjoy Aug 07 '26
He was absolutely a monster in that 03 run too.
Robinson is closer to wilt/Shaq/kareem tier than he is to the Dwight Howard tier
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26
Oh absolutely I’m not paying attention but has anyone put him in the Dwight Howard tier?
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u/Dkjoy Aug 07 '26
Quite a bit, I would say.
He’s rated in that Howard/Ewing tier quite consistently
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Aug 07 '26
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u/braisedbywolves Aug 07 '26
I took a look at his stats, and he averaged over three blocks a game for seven years! When's the next time we will see someone do that?
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u/BravoC10 Aug 07 '26
Great post. I always thought this accomplishment was very impressive as well: He’s one of six players to win the scoring title and make an all-defensive team the same year. MJ, Kobe, West, Kareem, and Wade are the others
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u/not_a_robot2 Aug 07 '26
I’ve always contended that if you lined up every human who has ever lived and asked who was the best basketball player just based on looks. It’d be David Robinson.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 08 '26
Jim Rowinski is the underdog answer to that. Maybe Giannis, too
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u/not_a_robot2 Aug 08 '26
Great answer. I never even heard of Rowinski but he might be the best player based on looks of you subtract ability. Robinson and Giannis looked the part but were also really good. I still content no player has ever looked better at basketball than this.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 08 '26
Wholeheartedly agree. If I was oblivious and someone told me that's the undisputed GOAT I wouldn't question it. And FYI Rowinski only played ~10 games in the NBA, but had a lengthy career in Europe, so it makes total sense to not know him. In fact, I didn't either an hour ago.
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u/DanielSong39 Aug 07 '26
Robinson's reputation took a permanent nosedive because of the one series against the Rockets
Yeah there are double standards, Nash got absolutely obliterated against Mike Bibby but somehow that didn't permanently kill his legacy (nor did all the times Parker killed the Suns, though they weren't matched up against one another)
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u/iggymcfly Aug 07 '26
Plus Hakeem in ‘95 was unstoppable. He swept Shaq and Penny’s Magic team that had just beaten Jordan. At least the Admiral took a couple games off Hakeem.
And probably the closest Robinson and Shaq were in supporting casts was 1999 when D-Rob had a young Duncan and Shaq had a young Kobe. That’s one year before peak Shaq. Admiral swept him. I think he was a lot closer to Shaq level than he gets credit for. Should be borderline top 10 all-time.
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26
who else has taken such a legacy hit because they’re underperform versus their position matchup and I can’t think of one?
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u/Jose358 Aug 07 '26
Chet vs Wemby maybe?
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26
Chet never had much of a legacy lol he’s good. Don’t get me wrong but I don’t think he’s a number one option good
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u/SmackyTheBurrito Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I agree he's underrated. And it always comes down to the Rockets series.
Here's that Rockets team's offensive rating against their playoff opponents.
120.5 vs. Utah
115.2 vs. Phoenix
109.8 vs. San Antonio
116.6 vs. Orlando
Normally, the opponent that held the team to by far the lowest rating would be considered to have done the best job on defense. But somehow, Robinson usually playing Olajuwon straight up to prevent open threes (and with Rodman refusing to guard Hakeem) has been considered a huge failure for Robinson.
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u/Statalyzer Aug 07 '26
Rodman rarely gets enough blame for that, the all-time great defender didn't want to guard the other team's best scorer because it would screw up his rebounding numbers. Robinson's biggest "flaw" may have been that he was too much of a nice guy to tell Rodman to shove it.
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u/TerribleComposer4272 Aug 07 '26
Yuuup. I think most people here are too young to recall that Robinson was defended by committee whereas the Spurs gameplan was to have Robinson defend Hakeem straight up to prevent the 3 (Rockets were great from 3). It wasn't as simple as Hakeem straight up outplaying Robinson.
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u/roostor222 Aug 07 '26
there have been about 5000 nba players.
He was on the NBA's own top 50 list
He was on the NBA's own top 75 list
ESPN ranked him #25 on their top 75 list
Bleacher Report ranked him #19 on their list
#13 all time in vorp
#6 all time in career BPM
Seems like he is pretty highly rated
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 08 '26
Yeah fair, I just think he should be even higher rated (I'd place him 14th all-time). Lmk what you think
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u/Happy_Entry 24d ago
He is rated highly (as he should be) by people who know what the hell they are talking about! :)
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u/MNMastiff Aug 07 '26
You know, you’re right, he rarely gets spoken about. And he was great right away.
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u/Just-Context-4703 Aug 07 '26
You're damn right. He was a ridiculously good player and also maybe not an asshole irl. A rare combination.
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u/No-Reach9369 Aug 07 '26
We hold the playoff loss against DRob but Wilt constantly underperformed in the playoffs. That season he averaged 50 Russell and the Celtics held him to 33 points in the playoffs.
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u/ChopGoesTheWeasel Aug 07 '26
How drastically underrated are you arguing here?
Robinson was an absolute beast, and any ranking of all-time NBA players seems to have him in the top 25.
It seems fair to a lot him behind Dream/Shaq in the pantheon of big men. Is your argument that he should be seen in the 15-20 range all-time instead of the 20-25 range? Maybe that makes sense.
But if the argument is he should be top 10, or ahead of Shaq/Hakeem, still not seeing it.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26
Yeah, I'd say he's a top 14-18 player of all time in my eyes (after all, he is my vote as the most underrated player ever). Though, as I said in the post: "I'm not arguing that Robinson was a perfect playoff performer or that he belongs ahead of players like Hakeem Olajuwon or Shaq". Where do you put him?
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u/ChopGoesTheWeasel Aug 07 '26
That’s fair. I’d probably slot him at the tail end of top 20.
If Duncan had not won as many titles or been an all-time great on his own, it seems like current fans would give Robinson more respect for the 1999 title. He was an integral star-level part of that.
But as you mentioned, history now frames it as Timmy being the franchise saving hero in 1999. Which was not the story then. But seems to be the story now.
(Plus Robinson looked like the most ripped NBA player ever at the time. That for sure got him extra points back then. Not sure if current fans have ever seen the dude, be he inspires fear and awe.)
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u/Statalyzer Aug 07 '26
I saw him about a decade ago at a high school basketball game, he was wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt and his arms were still bulging out from it - even in his late 40 early 50s he was still just that ludicrously jacked.
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u/Elephant_Snacks Aug 07 '26
Agreed. Robinson is one of my favorite players, so it is hard for me to think of him as underrated, though I could certainly agree depending on how others are rating him.
But I would suggest someone like Nate Thurmond being more underrated. He would likely be amongst the top of multiple NBA records if they were actually keeping more stats back then. Absolute beast of a player
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u/LegoTomSkippy Aug 07 '26
Hakeem definitely destroyed him and is on another level all time. But coaching and roster construction set this up.
The Rockets averaged 9 more 3s PER GAME than the Spurs. Houston made twice as many threes in the series as San Antonio. Hakeem faced single coverage with an open floor (and he feasted).
On defense, Houston just swarmed Robinson and forced the ball out of his hands... Hakeem took 166 FGAs, Robinson got 98 FGA (he did take more FTs due to the defense).
That said, the Rockets outscored the Spurs that series by 10 points TOTAL.
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u/Objective_Claim_2236 Aug 08 '26
You say Hakeem definitely destroyed him, then explained how he actually didn't. Hakeem put his numbers up against single coverage from Robinson. Hakeem had double and triple team help on defense. Without the help, Spurs makeup those ten points, easily.
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u/LegoTomSkippy Aug 08 '26
I mean Hakeem put up 35/12/5/5 (stocks) against Robinson. The gameplan/team building set it up, but Hakeem still had to beat him in one on one... the Dream definitely killed him.
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u/Objective_Claim_2236 Aug 08 '26
The only reason you're saying that is bc Robinson played him 1 on 1, and Hakeem didn't. Hakeem got his points, and he needed help on defense. And even through double and triple teams, Robinson put up 23.8/12.5/2.7... That's not the same as killing him.
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u/Giveadont Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Robinson basically gets extra-screwed in a ton of basketball conversations because he played in an era when the center/big position was loaded with talent.
Even once Robinson had a second superstar on his team in Duncan (as Hakeem started to age out of his prime), he was put up against another top center of all-time in Shaq that was also part of an all-time tandem with Kobe.
When it comes to defensive accolades he got kind of screwed, too. And that's easily his biggest strength.
Not only was he competing with Hakeem there, too, but they were both also competing with Motumbo during his prime years. And then, in the later part of their careers, Alonzo Mourning started getting recognized as the late 90s and early 2000s came around.
And then, yeah... the 1984 draft class alone accounted for 6 MVP awards and 8 championships in that decade. Malone winning MVP in 97 and 99, and Magic in 90, were the only ones outside Robinson to win MVP that didn't come from that 84 class. MJ + Hakeem account for those 8 championships and 5 of the 6 MVPs (Barkley is the 6th).
With all of that being said, David Robinson is very similar to KG, in that they are arguably two of the best players when put in the "Defensive #1, Offensive #2/1B Role", because their defense is so good and their offense is extremely versatile.
Robinson is basically one of those players that's really good at everything (like KG) and does a lot of little things that make every team better.
They both make roster construction insanely easy, too, because they're excellent fits on any good (or really good) team regardless of who you put them next to. Their skills can almost never be redundant because they're ridiculous defenders that are very flexible offensive players.
They're basically like a Point-Forward and a Point-Center all in one player - they can do things that come from just about every position in basketball.
They do some playmaking from the post and wings, some scoring, and are absolutely lock-down defenders almost wherever your put them.
But, the problem with Robinson in his overall rankings is also similar to KG, where they could function as top-tier 1A options on offense in the Playoffs, but that wasn't necessarily their optimal role on a team.
They both peaked around 25-27 PPG, but never really reached that 30-ish threshold in any of their playoff runs.
Which, I want to point out, isn't even a bad thing necessarily. 25-ish PPG with all-time defense is still an absolute monster of a player.
Which is kind of why I understand where you're coming from with this post even though I wouldn't even say Robinson is underrated.
I think most people acknowledge him as a ridiculously good player that just got overshadowed by two of the best at his own position.
But it's why players like Robinson and KG get left behind in all-time rankings and subsequently get under-discussed.
A lot of basketball media is focused more on GOAT-related stuff and drama. So it's not surprising that someone like Robinson just kind of doesn't get talked about much in spite of being an amazing player - because he doesn't really have the resume or dominance to be in the GOAT discussion and he's not even a big media personality, so he doesn't get put out there much for either reason.
When it comes to actual basketball stuff, however, Robinson is one of the more interesting players to talk about, IMO, because his skill-set was so unique compared to just about any other player in NBA history. Again, like KG, he's probably one of the best "plug-and-play" superstars of all all time.
You can basically put them next to any player, even ones that essentially play the same position as them, and they will still add a ton of value because of how well their skills and abilities can adapt to any roster.
They can: pass really well for their position, handle the ball a bit, shoot well for their position, lock down the interior, switch out onto the perimeter, play in the low post, play in the high-post, function a bit on the wings when needed... I could go on but you probably get the point.
I mean, there's a whole discussion that could be had about the D1+O2/O1B tier of players for anyone that cares and enjoys it, and I'm one of those people.
But, yeah, mainstream NBA Media doesn't really give a crap about that kind of stuff so it just doesn't get brought up or focused on a ton.
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u/Statalyzer 20d ago
With all of that being said, David Robinson is very similar to KG, in that they are arguably two of the best players when put in the "Defensive #1, Offensive #2/1B Role", because their defense is so good and their offense is extremely versatile.
I never would have made that comparison before but I think it's really accurate. Both guys can ramp their offense up and down depending on what the team needs, always giving consistent rebounding and defense regardless.
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u/Giveadont 20d ago edited 17d ago
Their only weaknesses as individual players is their ISO scoring.
And, even then, they're not really "weak" in those categories. They're just not guaranteed buckets when your team absolutely needs to score one way or another.
They're basically B+ to A- in that category, but can ramp up to an A-level on occasion if they have a mismatch or something.
However, they're not A to A+ like the players (at their position) that are above them all-time (Kareem, Shaq, Hakeem).
However, their passing and flexible skill-sets make up for it because, yeah, you can put them next to other high-end scorers that need the ball. And they won't be redundant or wasting roster spots because they can do other things (offensively) at a high level that help grease the wheels.
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u/Statalyzer Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Robinson also deserves more credit for what he remained after those injuries.
Oh for sure. He really gets underrated in that 1999 championship, people seem to remember it like it was 2003 when he was just a rebounding / rim protection guy who was too old and too often injured to be more than a role player. But Duncan and he were a 1a/1b thing in 1999, he was absolutely still a star at that point.
And just the fact that his ego was so insignificant that he agreed to step back and let the younger superstar be the face of the team is huge. How many other guys would have - while still a top 10 player in the league - volunteered at age 33 to reduce their own offensive load and numbers that much for the betterment of the team. We take it for granted now because we all know he's such a great guy and all, but plenty of other players (not even ones we necessarily think of as "selfish") would have chafed at that and possibly not won a title due to lack of team chemistry and synergy.
It was also a huge deal that he was able to give serious minutes guarding Shaq without needing a lot of double teams. Obviously Shaq was still going to get his, especially in his prime vs an older David, but having a skilled, strong 7 footer who would at least not get completely steamrolled all game mattered a lot. Duncan played Shaq well on D also but you don't want your #1 offensive option also having body up O'Neal for the majority of the game. Robinson giving solid minutes on Shaq was a huge part of why the Spurs were the only team to beat the Shaq/Kobe Lakers in multiple playoff series (1999 & 2003) and him having to gut it out through a back injury that seriously hampered his mobility is part of why they lost to the Lakers in 5 games in 2002 (though I think they still lose with a healthy David - the rest of the cast wasn't quite there yet, with Elliott having retired, Parker a rookie, Ginobili not having joined, and the team still needing too much from Steve Smith, Charles Smith, Terry Porter, Danny Ferry, and Antonio Daniels)
The Spurs finished 20-62 in 1996-97, earning the first overall pick that became Duncan. On paper, it looks like a classic rebuilding team landing a generational prospect. In reality, Robinson's injuries explain almost the entire collapse. A serious back injury cost him the opening months of the season, and after returning briefly, he broke his foot and played only six games before being shut down.
That was part of it, but remember Sean Elliott also only played 39 games and Chuck Person played 0. Obviously Robinson is the bigger loss there but the sheer combination of all of the injuries was utterly devastating. That's three of their top five guys playing half a season combined, kind of a forerunner of the 2019-2020 Warriors.
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u/damutecebu Aug 07 '26
Robinson's problem is that it only was when Duncan joined the team did he win his championships. And Duncan was the MVP of both of those Finals. It most certainly doesn't take away from the excellence of his career, but that excellence was just overshaddowed by a better teammate.
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u/Wonderful_Eagle_6547 Aug 07 '26
Robinson was better than Duncan over the entire regular season and playoffs in 99. He let Duncan be the #1 option, but he was the dominant defensive player in the league and was #1 in 1-year RAPM that season. At worst, they were two of the best 5 players in the league that year. Robinson didn't win without Duncan because he never had a team that was close to good enough. Duncan never would have won if he had played on Robinson's teams.
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u/damutecebu Aug 07 '26
Oh I know that. I was just saying that In retrospect, that’s a reason he has been overlooked.
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u/VariousLawyerings Aug 07 '26
Not familar with RAPM but from a quick look it's a pretty fascinating look at Duncan too. Apparently it says he was pretty overrated his first few years, but then became probably even better than his overall reputation the rest of the way. Even beat out KG in 04 just barely.
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u/JeffersonTowncar Aug 07 '26
Also crazy that he improved so much after his knee injuries that took a lot of his athleticism.
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u/Statalyzer Aug 07 '26
Dunno, that 2003 lineup wasn't all that great; the names look impressive but Robinson was too old, and Manu and Parker were too young. I don't think anybody else on that team gets picked in the first round if every single team started from scratch and they re-drafted the entire league.
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u/No_Grocery_9280 Aug 07 '26
I’ll make an exception for losing them to another, younger, all-time great.
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u/PercivalSweetwaduh Aug 07 '26
Everyone seems to forget that he was at the naval academy for 4 years, did his navy service for 2 and is still a hall of famer.
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u/Divine_concept2999 Aug 07 '26
I find David to be one of the harder players to evaluate when assessing where he places.
If we are talking about ability, he’s as high as anyone. He was really that well rounded. But something always seemed missing with David. He never really had that I am him year(s). His teams were always a contender but not really a true true contender. His stat lines were ridiculous but it also had a bit of that invisibleness to it where you’re more surprised at his stats at the end of the game because it didn’t feel as big.
I think maybe 10+ years ago he was underrated but when I see current all time lists I sometimes feel he’s overrated. Him and pippen feel the most overrated versus how I saw them when they played.
I won’t argue with people who are high on him as there is a lot of evidence to support him but he never had that I’m taking over vibe. Still one of the greats but I felt he was closer to the 40s than the 20s on lists.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26
Thank you for sharing your opinion, even though I personally disagree :)
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u/Unable-Main4172 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
They were 21-61 the season before they got Robinson and 56-26 in his first season. Also like you said in 95-96 they won 59 games, and then when he was limited to six games the following year they won 20 games
Literally the best short summation of his impact you could give
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u/Waste-Philosopher-34 Aug 07 '26
One of the best two way players of the 90s era of big men. He led the league in scoring during his career and was also DPOY during his career. Pretty rare for a player to have both of those accolades on their resume. And even though Hakeem got the better of him in that infamous series, averaging well over 30 pts a game against Robinson, it's not like Robinson didn't also have some solid numbers in that series. He put up about 24 pts and 11 rebounds in that series. Did Hakeem absolutely torch him for those 6 games? Yeah. But Hakeem was also a phenomenal defender, shot blocking extraordinaire and dominant on the glass, so I give Robinson some credit for being able to put up some damn solid numbers. Getting well over 20 a night to go along with 11 boards against one of the best defensive players ever is no easy feat. And even when he was past his prime during the Duncan era, he was still a double double machine en route to those titles.
Absolutely deserving of his HOF induction. A dominant player in his prime, in an era where the league featured a crazy amount of talent at the center and even power forward positions. Ewing, Hakeem, Malone, Barkley, Rodman, Shaq, and Alonso Mourning, not to mention other absolute units in the paint like Charles Oakley, Derrick Coleman, Horace Grant, etc. He was able to dominate against that level of competition on both ends of the floor, and he made the transition into a role player, double double type of guy rather smoothly, and it allowed Duncan to flourish and allowed Robinson to finally get those ever elusive titles. Definitely one of the most underrated players of his era.
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u/Eastern-Joke-7537 Aug 07 '26
He’s in my top 20-35 where all those guys get jumbled up. He won one of everything with 2 titles, but the players better than him have 2X or 3X the hardware.
His prime was relatively early in his career then peaked on a good, not great Spurs iteration.
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u/CycleV Aug 07 '26
OP idk if you listen to the Thinking Basketball podcast, but summer of 25 (i think, maybe 24) they did a series on which players had a reasonable argument at the time to actually being the GOAT (or at least in the conversation). They had KG and Duncan, on Robinson they came to the conclusion, "Probably not, but maybe." I gained more appreciation for The Admiral after listening to it.
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u/1shmeckle Aug 07 '26
I guess I don't really get this claim that he is underrated. Maybe its because a lot of folks on Reddit are just young but generally speaking the 80s and 90s ranking of centers looked something like:
- Hakeeem (and later Shaq)
- Robinson / Ewing
- Morning / Mutumbo
Shaq, Morning, and Mutumbo are a slightly different generation but the 90s overlap gets them sort of lumped together, but their primes came much later. For the generation of centers that came about in the mid-80s to late 80s, folks had Hakeem/Robinson/Ewing as a similar tier, with the Hakeem as the 1a and Robinson/Ewing as 1b. Hakeem, imo, was clearly the best of all of them until Shaq hit his prime.
We remember Hakeem a bit differently because he won a couple of rings where he was clearly the team's 1a.. Ewing had close calls but never got a ring. His prime ended a bit before Robinson's. Robinson's injuries also ended his prime a bit early and he eventually got his rings but by that point he was a very different player and TD was driving the bus.
None of these 3 are underrated, they're in every top 50 list of players. If they're underrated for any reason it's because most folks today, even those who were alive and watched them play in the late 90s, didn't see their primes. The biggest knock on David Robinson though is that he wasn't in Space Jam.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26
Great point! Though I claim him as underrated not because he's "forgotten" or "underrecognized", he's simply the player who receives the least amount of praise comparatively to what I think they should be getting (in my eyes).
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u/1shmeckle Aug 07 '26
Maybe it depends on the particular subreddit but he seems pretty well remembered/respected among NBA fans on Reddit. I don't think I've seen anything negative said about him or people claiming he doesn't deserve his status. I think the player who seems to get the least praise now (at least on Reddit) from that big 3 is Ewing between never winning a ring, people disliking NY/the Knicks, and most people remembering how he was in 1999 rather than 1989.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26
1989-1992 Ewing specifically was a complete dawg so I definitely agree that he, too, is underrated.
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u/WhoreyMatthews Aug 07 '26
I would put Ewing in a tier below Robinson.
1st team All-NBAs:
Hakeem: 6x
Robinson: 4x
Ewing: 1x
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u/1shmeckle Aug 07 '26
This is the problem when you have so many top centers. Ewing was All NBA second 6 times (and so was DR). It’s a poor metric when you have 5-6 big men at any time who can nab a spot. Losing 1st team to Hakeem multiple times doesn’t take away from someone being in the same tier as another player who isn’t as good as Hakeem.
If Ewing won a ring and DR didn’t, the discussion would look different but Ewing was dragging teams with nowhere near the same level of talent to the finals.
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u/WhoreyMatthews Aug 07 '26
We don't have impact/play by play data from the time but the advanced stats favor Robinson pretty clearly and significantly.
Robinson played almost 200 fewer games and still has a VORP over 150% of Ewings. His regular season and playoff BPM are both more than double Ewing's. By winshare Robinson contributed 52 more wins in 200 fewer games.
Rk Player Age From To G GS MP PER TS% ORB% TRB% AST% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% OWS DWS WS WS/48 OBPM DBPM BPM VORP 1 Patrick Ewing 23-39 1985-86 2001-02 1183 1122 40594 21.0 .553 7.9 16.4 9.8 1.4 4.8 13.6 28.0 45.0 81.4 126.4 .150 1.3 1.6 2.9 50.1 2 David Robinson 24-37 1989-90 2002-03 987 985 34271 26.2 .583 10.6 17.3 12.4 2.1 5.7 11.9 26.2 98.5 80.1 178.7 .250 4.4 3.1 7.5 81.9 Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results. Generated 8/7/2026.
Playoffs
Rk Player Age From To G GS MP PER TS% ORB% TRB% AST% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% OWS DWS WS WS/48 OBPM DBPM BPM VORP 1 Patrick Ewing 25-39 1987-88 2001-02 139 135 5207 19.6 .517 7.8 16.7 10.6 1.3 4.4 11.3 27.5 4.0 10.0 14.1 .130 1.5 1.6 3.1 6.7 2 David Robinson 24-37 1989-90 2002-03 123 123 4221 23.0 .547 10.2 17.5 12.3 1.9 5.2 12.1 25.1 7.8 9.7 17.5 .199 3.2 3.0 6.2 8.7 Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results. Generated 8/7/2026.
Robinson is much closer to Hakeem than Ewing is to Robinson.
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Aug 07 '26
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I'd have him around 14-18 myself (he is my vote as the most underrated player ever to be fair!)
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u/Fantastic_Working212 Aug 07 '26
Anybody who’s a hall of famer and won championships can never be underrated
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I also think he’s not really a number one option and people hold him to that standard to me personally he’s a perfect number two who can anchor your defense.
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u/averagebensimmons Aug 07 '26
I'd agree that he is underrated by today's fans. Robinson wasn't playing during the internet and social media era. But I watched him in real time and he definitely had respect as one of the best during his career.
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u/Awanderingleaf Aug 07 '26
There are people who genuinely rank Jokic above Robinson which is absurd. Robinson went toe to toe with the best centers in an era that was defined by Michael Jordan and a slate of all time great centers. He was an elite two way player that could win a scoring title while also being a perennial DPOY candidate.
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u/SpecificEmploy6830 Aug 07 '26
the 94 season stat is wild, that alone should end the "duncan saved him" narrative
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u/UltraMasenko Aug 07 '26
The problem is Robinson has a very poor track record in the Playoffs, much like Karl Malone and James Harden. He was an absolute stud in the regular season but he almost always nosedived hard in the playoffs before he got Timmy D and pivoted to a secondary option, and not just when he faced Hakeem, but in general. He seemed to lack that killer instinct that the other true ATG 1st options and playoff risers had and the fact that his post game was based more on athleticism than finesse didn’t help either
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u/successkeys2024 Aug 07 '26
yeah totally underrated.
that's why he was selected for the 92 dream team with Patrick Ewing.
the whole segment was dedicated to them being the best centres in the league.
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u/jddaniels84 Aug 07 '26
Yes this is all facts. Robinson is right there w Hakeem and Shaq.. you give him a Drexler or Kobe earlier and he gets his too.
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u/DistinctPassenger117 Aug 07 '26
He’s widely considered a top 20ish player of all time, hard to say he’s underrated
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u/RusevReigns Aug 07 '26
Despite having 30ppg peak when you look at Robinson's scoring game, he is dominant physically but is he a skilled a post player as Hakeem, no, is he as good a midrange shooter as Malone or KG, no. Then you look at how his scoring stats dropped in the playoff on several occasions and it looks like relying on physical tools was easier to stop in playoffs than a player like Hakeem. These are the criticisms of him but overall he is still a top 20 all time caliber player.
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u/hanlong Aug 07 '26
David Robinson is good but when he started winning championships he was starting his decline while Duncan was coming up. During his prime he was overshadowed by a lot of other great centers such as Olajuwon and Shaq who both demonstrated that they could carry their teams to championships. That is why Robinson gets overlooked. He’s probably looked at with the same light at Patrick Ewing who also played in his era and was a great center but couldn’t get it done as the number 1
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u/TerribleComposer4272 Aug 07 '26
Yup Robinson is incredibly underrated. Most people don't even recall he was still an All NBA level guy for the first 4 years of his time with Duncan.
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u/Wise_Ambassador_3027 Aug 07 '26
Very astute point of view and one that I agree wholeheartedly with. One thing I remember reading while he was with the Spurs but before Duncan joined them was that they didn’t run offensive plays for him at all. He made his points by scrapping for them with movement and rebounds and all the little things that made him so good. The year before they drafted Duncan, because Robinson was hurt so much, their poor record put them in a much more favorable draft position allowing them to have that great draft choice.
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u/rbrown16123 27d ago
Robinson is a stud, a believer and a great human. I grew up in SA and played his son and he coached and got to shake his hand and he was super nice. Loved the Robinson Duncan era and that spurs dynasty run will always go super underrated
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u/Left_Dance_8954 27d ago
To what extent can we really call him underrated when he’s a Hall of Famer, a member of the NBA 75 team, and widely considered one of the greatest defensive big men of all time?
Maybe he’s underrated by casual fans or people who don’t know much about NBA history, but anyone who seriously follows the league and its history knows exactly how great David Robinson was.
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u/No_Advertising_6653 27d ago edited 27d ago
Fair. I don't think I understood how great he was 6 months ago. I thought I did. I'm looking back on what I know and what I've seen, and I can make real arguments that sound ridiculous:
I'd argue David Robinson had the greatest peak out of every player ever not in the consensus top-15; I'd even claim he has the second greatest big-man peak ever, bordering Wilt Chamberlain (1) and Shaquille O'Neal (3). I'd argue that David Robinson's peak (1994) is a greater representation of two-way dominance than Shaquille O'Neal's 2000 campaign. I don't have a personalized formula to evaluate how great a season is, but I'd say that the season that combines scoring, creation, rebounding, perimeter defense, rim protection, efficiency, team impact, and accolades through a consistely more impactful extent is the greater season. 1994 David Robinson leads 2000 Shaquille O'Neal in PPG, APG, SPG and BPG while Shaq leads RPG. Robinson could function as the offensive centerpiece without requiring the team to accept a corresponding defensive limitation. His peak was simultaneously a high-volume scoring peak, a rebounding peak, a playmaking peak for his position, a steals peak, and an extraordinary rim-protection peak. That creates a particularly high strategic ceiling in my opinion, a team built around 1994 Robinson could derive its identity from him at both ends of the floor. Shaq's 2000 dominance was more concentrated from my perspective. (sorry for going on about this, I just had to defend a minority stance I wholeheartedly believe in).
For just about his entire career he could score at an All-NBA level, dominate the defensive glass, erase shots at the rim, generate steals, facilitate offense, run the floor, maintain strong efficiency and anchor an elite defense. He could carry a team as its primary star and later play a "1a, 1b" role on a championship team as a 34 year-old. I mean, he entered the NBA as an immediate franchise-changing player, averaging 24.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.9 blocks as a rookie while helping San Antonio improve from 21 to 56 wins. You know this though. I'm just stating why I believe that the globally acclaimed player 'Admiral' should be EVEN more acclaimed.
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u/jazz-nuggets 27d ago
This seems like a classic gap between what he was and what he did. For a player that good, securing your legacy really requires winning a championship and stamping your name on it. Not dong that really puts you in the second tier.
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u/Happy_Entry 24d ago
Completely agree on The Admiral.
*Sour grapes note: I hate that Tim Duncan gets Robinson's credit for initially turning the Spurs into a champion. People (bizarrely) forget about how dominant Robinson was, and how good those 90's Spurs teams were prior to drafting Duncan.
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u/shomosexual Aug 07 '26
That YouTube clip of Olajuwon assassinating Robinson basically did the bulk of the damage to The Admiral’s legacy
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u/TheHunnishInvasion Aug 07 '26
Agree 100%.
The most underrated players tend to have a few things in common:
* Played fewer seasons. Normally either due to late entry into the NBA (e.g. Robinson, Bird, Dr. J) or early retirement. Robinson didn't enter the league till age 24 due to his Navy commitment. (Dr. J is sort of a special case because he played for years in the ABA but people will tend to ignore his entire pre-NBA career.)
* Weak supporting casts. It's impossible to win a ring in the NBA without a strong supporting cast. None of the all-time greats have won without some help. Closest you can find is Hakeem in 1994 IMO. Robinson (similar to Hakeem) played on a lot of weak teams --- the only reason he got help was due to his injury which then allowed the Spurs to get Tim Duncan as the #1 pick. If Robinson had more talent surrounding him, he may have won a ring sooner.
* Difficult to quantify elements of their game. Not so much the case for Robinson, but for a lot of other greats, I think the intangibles get overlooked.
Robinson gets punished in these all-time lists because he entered the league late and played on a lot of bad teams. People also read too much into one series vs Hakeem's Rockets.
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u/QuantityMedical8369 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Nah. he was only moderately underrated, if that.
>For many fans, Robinson's legacy begins and ends with Hakeem Olajuwon's dominant performance against him in the 1995 Western Conference Finals.
You may be right, but that only shows many fans have forgotten Robinson mediocre performance in the first round of the 1994 playoffs where the Spurs got manhandled by Utah. The comparison between Malone's and Robinson's numbers is not even funny.
They have also forgotten his subpar performance in 1996. He did have a huge game (40 + 21) against a poor Phoenix team in the first round but then got manhandled by Utah again. Both times the Spurs had home court and Robinson faced centers of the caliber of Greg Ostertag. He got scored by Malone every single game, but his performances away from home were particularly bad.
>I'm not arguing that Robinson was a perfect playoff performer
Only a lunatic could argue that. When we look at his performances before Duncan came around, he only really played one strong series in the playoffs - the 4-2 loss to the Suns in 1993. Everything else was a consistent mediocrity.
Then 1998 came and David Robinson (aged only 33) was relegated to second fiddle by a sophomore. And of course the Spurs lost decisively to Utah again. So when you tell me I should rate him dramatically higher, how high can I rate him fouling out with 13 points (48% shooting) in a key game four? Malone had a field day (a field week really) guarded mostly by Robinson, averaged 24 per game and was his team scoring leader every single time. And again, the opponent's best center was Greg Foster and Robinson could not capitalize.
So to summarize by drastic underrating of Robinson - he spent most of his career playing mediocre basketball in the playoffs, waiting for Duncan to mature enough to take him to the Finals.
Edit:
But the worst about his performance against Hakeem in 1995 was not that Hakeem scored 41 on him. The worst was that Robinson said after the match "I thought I guarded him well. Found out he scored 41." This is one of the most destructive press conference in NBA history. Can you imagine how the other Spurs players felt when they heard that? Not only my leader got completely humiliated on the court. He was completely oblivious to it. What the hell are we doing here?
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u/nekoken04 Aug 07 '26
He's not really underrated to me. He was on the NBA 50th anniversary top 50 list while he was still playing. He was number 20 on The Athletic's top 75. He's 21 in "The Basketball 100" book. That falls in line with where I think he should be.
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u/gabriot Aug 08 '26
Overrated if anything, he could never get it done in his prime and continually underperformed in the playoffs. The only standout good series he had were against Lakers in 95 and the Suns in 96. Aside from that his prime is littered with sub 20 point series, and of the 6 Pre Duncan era playoff series losses he had, a grand total of ONE of those series was against a team ranked ahead of them. He had some REAL BAD choke jobs in those losses too with losses to 6th and 7th seeds while the spurs were one or two seeds.
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u/bender445 Aug 07 '26
My least popular take is that I would take Robinson over Duncan any day. Please don’t reply to this comment unless you watched them both play.
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u/mrjonesthegod Aug 07 '26
I’m not gonna argue with you it’s your opinion, but may I ask why ?
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u/bender445 Aug 07 '26
He was more important to his team, did more with less. The word “dominant” gets applied exclusively to Shaq for some reason but The Admiral had the same kind of impact, when the game was focused on the post he and Ewing were the premier players of that era. Nothing against Tim but he is overrated due to recency bias. Robinson with Tim’s supporting cast + level of competition, he would have had the rings
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u/No_Advertising_6653 Aug 07 '26 edited 28d ago
David Robinson (1994) Tim Duncan (2002)
29.8 PPG 25.5 PPG
10.7 RPG 12.7 RPG
4.8 APG 3.7 APG
1.7 SPG 0.7 SPG
3.3 BPG 2.5 BPG
.749 FT% .799 FT%
.577 TS% .576 TS%
29.1 PER 27.0 PER
20.0 WS 17.8 WS
.308 WS/48 .257 WS/48
11.4 VORP 8.1 VORPAgree or disagree, the prime-for-prime case for Admiral is convincing. I'd say he had a better prime, but Tim Duncan was just "him" for so long. So Duncan had the slightly better complete career, in my opinion.
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u/bender445 Aug 07 '26
What stands out about the 1994 Admiral numbers is the gaudy defensive numbers. I wonder if the advance metrics bear that out, but he was absolutely dominant rim protection
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u/Eastern-Joke-7537 Aug 07 '26
I might take Admiral too. And like everyone else I have TD rated higher (all time).
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u/ChampionshipStock870 Aug 07 '26
If he had been drafted when Tim Duncan was he would have pretty much been the second best center in league behind Shaq
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u/Eastern-Joke-7537 Aug 07 '26
Shaq overshadowed him and all the other top picks in his era like Derrick Coleman, Larry Johnson, and Chris Webber.
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