Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990 TAG: 9004250097
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Just call him Ensign Pulverizer.
Robinson's dominating play lifted San Antonio to the NBA's Midwest Division title and the No. 2 seeding in the Western Conference playoffs, which begin Thursday night with the Spurs playing host to Denver.
In other games Thursday night, Cleveland is at Philadelphia, Indiana visits Detroit, New York is at Boston and Dallas is host to Portland. In series openers Friday, Milwaukee is at Chicago, Phoenix visits Utah and Houston is at the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the two years Robinson was squeezing his 7-foot-1 frame into submarines, the Spurs won a total of 52 games. This season, San Antonio has been labeled the "Team of the '90s," and its 56 wins produced an NBA-record 35-game improvement over last year. That eclipsed the 32-game climb Boston made in 1979-80, Larry Bird's rookie year.
Robinson averaged 24 points, 12 rebounds and nearly four blocks a game.
Golden State coach Don Nelson, considered one of basketball's best talent judges, said Robinson reminded him of Bill Russell.
"For somebody like him to say that, considering all of the things Russell accomplished, is a great comparison for me," Robinson said when the Spurs visited the Charlotte Coliseum last week. "But it's a laugh right now. There's not even any kind of comparison there yet. But just to say I have that kind of potential makes me feel good."
Like Russell, Robinson is a shot-blocking left-hander who can dominate a game. On a team that starts two rookies and two second-year players, the 1987 college player of the year from Navy brings an important ingredient.
"He's such a competitor, and he's a winner," said Spurs forward Terry Cummings. "It's one thing to have talent, but it's another thing to know what to do with it, how to use it. A lot of people say David is quiet. It's not that he's quiet, it's just that he's very mature.
"Maybe it will take him part of a game to get his scoring untracked, but he won't get impatient. He'll play defense and rebound, and he won't force it. The two years he missed didn't hurt him. They probably helped."
Charlotte's J.R. Reid, another rookie big man who was Robinson's teammate on the bronze-medal U.S. Olympic team in 1988, said the center's impact on the NBA is more than was expected in 1989-90.
"I knew that Dave was going to be a tremendous player, but I never thought it would be like this right away," Reid said. "People questioned his heart, and if he could go out and play every night. He has all the ability in the world, and I think he's proven to people he's one of the better centers in the league, if not the top two or three, with Akeem [Olajuwon] and Patrick Ewing.
"I played with him all summer in '88. I saw him run the court, block shots, dunk any way you can ask a player to dunk it. Playing and working out helped him. The chance to spend time in the weight room helped him. The two years off have helped him, not hurt. Now, he's a physically cut person."
Robinson, 24, said he had no pre-NBA notion of his rookie niche. "I just wanted to get off to a good start and fortunately that happened," he said. "I've tried to improve all year. People talk about how well I've played, but they just see the final totals. They don't see me every day, like I do. I have so much farther to go.
"The biggest adjustment has been to the length of the season. There's no way you can prepare for something that's this long. So, you just keep plugging. There have been stretches where I haven't been as strong as I wanted to be.
"I have a lot of respect for the guys who are great night-in, night-out. In my first year, I didn't expect to be as consistent as a Magic Johnson. But under the circumstances, I think I've handled it pretty well."
Robinson said the discipline learned from his time at the Naval Academy and on active duty has helped him through the season.
Success and image are important, too. Robinson, who grew seven inches after going to the Naval Academy with a 1,320 SAT score from Osbourn Park High in Manassas in Northern Virginia, enjoys talking about his new life - when the time is right.
Unlike many NBA players, he doesn't speak at length with the media before games, better to gather his thoughts. Afterward, he is gracious and expansive. After last week's win over the Hornets, he was the last Spur into the shower and the last one dressed. He signed autographs until the driver was putting the team bus into gear to pull away from the back of the arena.
"Coming in, I really didn't know myself if the time off would help or hurt," said Robinson, who bulked up to 235 pounds. "But it was a chance to learn, and I had to work out a lot by myself, and that gave me the drive to become better. I had a chance to work on my individual skills, like my jump hook. And playing that summer [1988] in the [Olympic] workouts against guys like Patrick and Alonzo [Mourning] was a bonus.
"I'm not going to say last year wasn't tough. While guys who were in the Olympics with me were in the NBA, like Danny Manning and Charles Smith and Willie Anderson [Robinson's San Antonio teammate], I was disappointed because I had to sit and watch. There were positives and negatives about it, but I do know I was much more relaxed and settled coming in than those guys must have been."
Robinson is earning $2.05 million this season. However, the not-so-great expectations of him by many made his debut easier. He said he isn't flustered by comparisons to Russell, who won 11 NBA titles in 13 years with the Celtics.
"Some of the things said took the pressure off to come out and feel like I had to be a superstar right away," he said. "People said I was overrated and stuff, and that was great for me, because it helped me settle down.
"I was a little out of sync defensively, and I didn't quite have the timing to block shots as well as I had. But offensively, I could put the ball in the basket, although I hadn't really gotten down great post moves.
"I play best when I don't worry about playing better offensively. When I just think about playing defense, blocking shots and rebounding, I settle down more. I have to come to the ball sometimes, but then it's not good if I'm trying to shoot fade-away jumpers. The best way I can get going on offense is scoring off the offensive board.
"The best thing about the comparison of me to Russell is that Bill Russell was a winner. That's the best thing anyone can say about you. Russell had tremendous skills. Even though I know I still have a long way to go, I'm hoping one day I can have that kind of effect on the game like Russell had."
by CNB