BOSTON (WHDH) - One of the stars of the Miami Heat has a big fan base here in New England.
Shooting guard Duncan Robinson is one of the best in the world at what he does and he got his start shooting hoops while growing along the seacoast in Newcastle, New Hampshire.
He is an unlikely hoops hero who went to a small high school and then on to Phillips Exeter Academy. His first year of college ball was played for Division 3 Williams in Western Mass. back in 2014.
“He’s definitely a local product and loves his teams here,” Robinson’s coach from Phillips Exeter Jay Tilton said. “It will be really interesting. This will be the challenge for a lot of people tonight who are longtime Celtics fans. But, I’ll tell you this, I am a big Duncan Robinson fan.”
While he was able to move on to Michigan for the remaining three years, he went undrafted until he was finally given the chance to play in the Miami Heat organization. He only played 15 games in that first season.
That’s when he was able to work his way up the roster with hard work and grit.
“He spent so much time honing his craft in his free time,” Tilton said. “He didn’t need people to structure workouts for him. He was very independent in that regard and you can tell right away that he had a really high ceiling.”
The teenager from Exeter has grown into a man and thus into a star in the NBA — something Tilton said he had no idea would happen.
“He was definitely was a late bloomer in the sense that you know, physically he needed some time to kind of put it all together,” he said, “So many people ask me all the time, ‘Isn’t it unbelievable what Duncan is doing?’ I used to say that. Now I think everything is believable with him.”
Tilton said he now finds himself rooting for his player no matter what uniform he wears.
“I’ll say this, I wore my Heat sweatshirt on the walk today and I got a few funny looks,” he said.
While he may not have been the best player back in high school, Robinson has made himself someone the Celtics are going to have to worry about as they head into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
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