David Robinson
(Kalb: #20, Simmons: #28, BBR: #7)
David Robinson was one of the most impressive physical specimens to ever take the court to play basketball, and at one point he was widely considered to be the successor to Michael Jordan as the superstar of the NBA. According to Bill Simmons, "if we ever start cloning basketball players someday, Jordan, LeBron and Robinson will be one-two-three in some order."
Robinson was so highly though of early in his career that when the time came to pick the players for the first Dream Team to compete in the 1992 Olympics, Robinson was the committee's unanimous #4 choice, behind only Jordan, Bird, and Magic. At that point, Robinson had completed only 3 season in the NBA, during which time he had been named the unanimous Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and two-time All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team center.
Robinson's peak corresponded with Michael Jordan's first retirement, which made many believe that he would become a completely dominant force and start to make a collection of MVP's and NBA titles, but Hakeem Olajuwon took advantage of Jordan leaving and finally earned two titles of his own before MJ returned. From 1994-96, Robinson was easily one of the top 3 players in the league, but was never the unquestioned superstar. Here are his stats compared with other top players from those seasons:
Robinson (1994) - 29.8 pts, 10.7 reb, 4.8 ast, 1.7 stl, 3.3 blk, .507 FG%, .749 FT%
Olajuwon (1994) - 27.3 pts, 11.9 reb, 3.6 ast, 1.6 stl, 3.7 blk, .528 FG%, .716 FT%
Robinson (1995) - 27.6 pts, 10.8 reb, 2.9 ast, 1.7 stl, 3.2 blk, .530 FG%, .774 FT%
O'Neal (1995) - 29.3 pts, 11.4 reb, 2.7 ast, 0.9 stl, 2.4 blk, .583 FG%, .533 FT%
Robinson (1996) - 25.0 pts, 12.2 reb, 3.0 ast, 1.4 stl, 3.3 blk, .516 FG%, .761 FT%
Jordan (1996) - 30.4 pts, 6.6 reb, 4.3 ast, 2.2 stl, 0.5 blk, .495 FG%, .834 FT%
None of those seasons had a clear top player, but in each case I would place Robinson one step below his nearest competition due to their higher level of playoff success in those seasons. His peak came to abrupt end the next season, when back and foot injuries limited him to only 6 games and caused the Spurs to miss the playoffs for the first time since his arrival.
In a way that season was also a blessing in disguise, as their horrible record earned them the top pick in the NBA Draft, which gave them Tim Duncan, the perfect complement to Robinson on the inside. That combination gave the Spurs their first two championships, the first with Duncan narrowly edging Robinson for the Finals MVP, and the second coming by a much wider margin.
One of the signature moments of Robinson's career came on the closing day of the 1994 season, when he and Shaq were in a tight race for the scoring title in the first season someone besides Michael Jordan was sitting at the top in 8 years. Shaw had put up 32 points earlier in the day, so Robinson knew exactly what he needed to do, and he had the perfect opponent, the Los Angeles Clippers. He scored 71 points that day, destroying Gervin's old team record of 63 and taking the scoring title on the very last day.
Robinson was never the league superstar like Mikan was, but Robinson maintained a high level of play for a little longer, then settled in as a very good player for several years and won a couple championships, while Mikan retired as soon as he was no longer the big star. The fact that he was able to excel in both roles, and how good he was right from the start, gave him this spot just ahead of the first dominant big man.
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