NBA, Where Are They Now? / Sep 10, 2009 / 12:44 pm

Where Are They Now: Eddie Robinson

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Eddie Robinson

It’s too bad YouTube didn’t exist back in the year 2000. If it did, I guarantee a lot more people would know who Eddie Robinson is. E-Rob’s hops were straight up ridiculous. He was the sixth man for those Charlotte Hornets teams that boasted guys like Baron Davis, Ricky Davis and Eddie Jones. Even with all those high risers on the squad, E-Rob’s crams might have been the nastiest. Night in and night out, he was good for at least two Sports Center worthy crams. My favorite was his signature showboat dunk: a self alley-oop on the fastbreak (see vid below).

Robinson hails from Flint, MI, where he grew up playing playground ball with the famed “Flintstones” like Mateen Cleaves, Mo Peterson and Charlie Bell. But unlike the ‘Stones, E-Rob took the back roads to make the league. Undrafted out of Central Oklahoma (Div II), Robinson was able to score a free agent deal with the Hornets in ’99. At a skinny 6-9, he was a lot like the Birdman the way he could bring excitement and energy off the bench. The Bulls signed him to a five-year, $32 million deal after his solid performance in the 2001 Playoffs with Charlotte. From there, his NBA career went south. His lack of a jump shot and a questionable attitude led to the Bulls buying him out after the 2003-’04 season.

E-Rob never took his game overseas, but had made several efforts to revive his pro basketball career. He tried out for the Hornets in 2005 and played the whole ’06-07 season with the Idaho Stampede where he put up 15 points per game. Unlike a lot guys in the League that go broke after the NBA paychecks run out (Jason Caffey), Robinson was wise in his investments. During his stint in the D-League, where he earning around $15,000 a year, he told the NPR that during his NBA days, his financial team limited him to a $1,000 a month allowance after the bills were paid.

“I’m not really here (the D-League) for that, you know, financial money,” Robinson said. “I mean, I love playing basketball and this is the league that’s going to get me back to the next level.”

E-Rob was drafted 14th overall by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the 2008 D-League Draft, but never played a game for them that season.

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  • JCARR

    Juwana Mann

  • Arrogant

    when he was with the bulls, i worked up at the united center… his hops were crazy… had potential… but he had this “i dont care ” type of vibe…

  • Kobeef

    I always liked him. Fun to watch but yeah, without those hops he doesn’t bring much to the table.

    Very similar to the Birdman in terms of skill set.

    Sounds to me like E-Rob is doing just fine without basketball, but it is nice to see a player continue to play even though they don’t need the money.

  • Gunner J. Matthews

    He was like a Tim Thomas clone.
    I never liked playing with him in NBA LIve cause he couldnt shoot. He’s a one dimensional player

  • BRUCE

    $32 Million isn’t enough? That’s $12 Million more than MC Hammer?

    Give me $5 Million Dollars, more than enough for retirement!

  • LB

    Oh yeah, I remember this cat. Definitely wasnt worth 32 mil though. Remember that was the best catch the Bulls cuz all the free agents they were after that year went elsewhere. I was wondering what happened to him. There are a couple of other talented ballers who seemingly disappeared. Whatever the hell happened to Bonzi Wells, Ron Mercer and JR Rider?

  • BiG ShoT BoB

    Yeah I remember this cat he was nice on that baby bulls squad with Ty Chandler and Curry. I remember him being really tall for a shooting guard.

  • Chris10sen

    Here’s a nice mixtape of Eddie Robinson…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSdgZNID7-U&NR=1

  • Chas

    Um, lack of a jumper? That’s all he did with Chicago. He was afraid to take it to the basket.

    Look at his FG% over his career. He is basically a 50% jump shooter.

    http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/robined01.html

    Skiles had a quote about him (I’m paraphrasing), “If I shot 50% from the floor, I wouldn’t drive either”

  • james p

    @big shot bob
    was it ron mercer?

  • BiG ShoT BoB

    @ james p…no I’m talking about Eddie Robinson

  • Ashlov

    Wow, I had removed Eddie Robinson from my brain.

  • sweetv0mit

    who has the best in game self alley-oop DUNK that we’ve seen in the regular season? i vote for this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsXE4xZeDEQ

  • knicks fan33

    d leaugue pays 15,000 a year how do u live off that

  • Diego

    HORRIBLE signing by the Bulls back then for the $.

    I remember they were after one (or more) particular free agents of the same build (I am thinking the real key one was T.Mac?), then they got skunked, panicked and threw that outrageous wad of cash at Robinson after his 1 decent year with Charlotte, thinking he was the next big thing. Real bad move by the Bulls back then.

  • sh!tfaced

    nice to see a player who had the smarts not to spend it all in one place…

  • http://nba.com Vlade D-Block

    Eddie Robinson..Lmao What ever happened to my man Qyntel Woods???

  • http://none newy

    eddie robinson was one of the most talented players i have ever seen, for some reason john paxson had a problem with him and never played him over 20 mins. and for those people out there that don’t know, he had one of the best jumpers from 15-20 in the league. the suns should sign him up.

  • C-Rob

    Yea, i’m not sure where they got the idea he didnt have a jumpshot…he had one of the sweetest midrange jumpers in the game…

    Nothing like Birdman either, people must really not remember E-Rob…He was one of the most athletic players in the league at that time, 6’9 guard before they were really popular…once skiles came to town everything went south, he had already been battling injuries but once he took over he was doomed…

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