Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson has NBA potential. Here’s how he’s getting training done

Midway through his freshman season, Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson began popping up on mock NBA Draft boards as a potential late first-round selection. Skilled at 6-foot-10, he can handle the basketball, shoot it out to the 3-point line. He can defend and score in the post, and after a rough start was developing into a deft passer out of double-teams.

When the Bulldogs’ season ended, an 11-19 record was tempered by the number of injuries they had struggled to play through and the talent they had coming back, and a focus was just how important an offseason in the weight room and on the floor would be for all, including Robinson.

Start with where he was in a freshman season in which he showed plenty, and imagine where he would be after a spring and summer working to develop his core and lower body strength, his balance and explosiveness.

Then, what that would mean to the evolution of his game; a threat as a three-level scorer, the ability to defend multiple positions in the post and out on the perimeter.

He is a piece coach Justin Hutson could build around.

“A player like Orlando, who has the work ethic and the commitment, and also has the direction, they really take off between seasons,” Bulldogs assistant coach Keith Brown said.

‘I’m going to stay, get better …’

Robinson was ready to get to work. He didn’t consider transferring, didn’t flirt with an early entry to the NBA Draft, even just to take a peek and get a feel for where the league evaluated his game at this point.

“I never thought about leaving,” he said in a phone interview. “There’s no reason for me to … I’m going to stay, get better and look forward to having a good season next year.”

But for a second year in a row, Robinson is having to make adjustments to try and reach a very high ceiling.

When he arrived at Fresno State, the Bulldogs didn’t have a strength and conditioning coach in place, and he didn’t get on a regimented plan until November when they were into the season.

Now, the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered college athletics.

Rather than daily workouts in the weight room on campus and in the North Gym, Robinson is at home in Las Vegas getting in what work he can using every possible thing at his disposal.

He is dribbling his way through his neighborhood, working on his handles. Parks and gyms are closed but he is able to work on his shooting mechanics from the ground up, the leg drive, the release angle and finish, by shooting a basketball against a wall.

Robinson found some dumb bells in a family storage locker and has been using them when doing his lower body exercises, the squats and lunges.

The dumb bells are 30 pounds, not much, but better than nothing.

“It’s just more reps – a lot of reps,” Robinson said. “Anything you can possibly think of with two dumb bells I probably do.”

“He’s doing what he can do as far as staying in shape and staying healthy,” Hutson said. “He’s going to get stronger. That’s just what’s going to happen. He’s going to change his body.

“(The coronavirus pandemic) doesn’t help, but he has plenty of time. His skill level and his maturity level will just continue to get better. I was very proud of where he was at the end of the year, very excited about where he was mentally and physically, and when he comes back he’s going to be more confident in what he’s doing.”

Working at an elite level

Brown compared Robinson’s work ethic to that of Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, who Brown worked with when they were at New Mexico State. Siakam emerged during last year’s NBA playoffs as a budding star.

“Their work ethic and their buy-in are very similar, and those are pretty important pieces,” Brown said. “Pascal, even to this day, it’s beyond what he did at New Mexico State, but he’s praised at the professional level for his motor and his work ethic and it shows.

“It’s why he’s continuing to improve now by leaps and bounds. He’s never satisfied. That’s an element in a player that separates them from others. They’re never satisfied with where they are. They know they can get better, and Orlando knows he can get better.”

There, there are no concerns.

But there is a premium on access to the weight room and facilities on campus. The volume of work and intensity are just not the same outside it. How much does not having that at this point hurt?

“It’s definitely impeding the progress I could be making, but in this situation it’s important to stay healthy and stay safe,” Robinson said. “But the second that weight room opens up. I’ll be the first one in there.”

Hutson said there still is plenty of time for Robinson even with much of the spring already gone. The Bulldogs could still get some summer, when in normal years they are allowed eight weeks of weight training, conditioning and skill instruction.

The X-factor – time

To get all of the Bulldogs back after a difficult spring and summer, Hutson also is looking at adjusting plans and how they prepare for the season if they are not back on campus until the fall.

There could be more weight training early and more conditioning work, making up for lost time. The emphasis in the program is individual physical and skill development, then putting all of the pieces together on the floor and the coronavirus has only sharpened that focus.

“I think you just evaluate within the rules and the time limits and work with each individual guy on how we can get them stronger and more prepared,” Hutson said. “There’s no answer to that, yet.

“They’re all doing something, but there’s not a lot of stuff that we can mandate right now.”

The X factor at this point is time – when do they get back, how much time will they get to work before starting practice?

But Robinson will be starting on solid ground after leading Fresno State with 12.2 points per game last season and scoring 20 or more points five times, just one fewer than Paul George had when he was a freshman in 2009. Robinson also was fifth in the Mountain West in blocked shots (1.0 per game) and sixth in rebounding (6.6).

“He already has proven he’s very capable of taking it off the glass and playing in the open court, and that’s a very valuable skill for a post player,” Brown said. “He has the potential to be an elite passer, with either hand. He threw some passes with his left hand out of double-teams this year that you look at and think, ‘Wow. That’s a special skill.’

“As he develops his perimeter shot and you add the 3-point shot to it he definitely plays two offensive positions at the next level, but potentially three with a natural progression. As you start being able to run offense through him, he becomes a very valuable commodity.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 2:06 PM.