Pacers Insider: Glenn Robinson III's play demanding more minutes

On nights like Saturday, you can see Frank Vogel’s dilemma.

The Indiana Pacers have taken to the new and improved offense so much that they make an up-and-coming divisional rival look like an also-ran while breaking a 3-point game into a 40-point blowout. The roster, a pasture flowing with talented players on the wing, can operate from beyond the arc and thrive for 15 makes, a new season high. And due to the makeup of the roster, deserving players have to wait their turns until injuries or blowouts compel them from the bench.

Both occurrences gave rise to Glenn Robinson III during the Pacers’ 123-86 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

While Paul George flirted with a triple-double (20 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists), and C.J. Miles recovered from a poor shooting first half to lead the team with 21 points, the second-year player Robinson played nearly 21 minutes as a reserve and produced a career-high of 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting. And for a player tagged as a project due to his abundant athleticism but streaky perimeter shooting, Robinson aimed from the 3-point line with perfect precision (4 for 4).

Yet, when George Hill soon returns to the lineup after his bout with an upper respiratory infection and in several more weeks when Myles Turner recovers from his left thumb injury, the Pacers’ rotation will include 10 guys. Robinson will not be one of them.

“It’s too much. It’s driving me crazy with all these tough decisions when everybody gets healthy,” Vogel said. “(Robinson’s) got to stop making all his shots. I’ll just harp on the fact that he missed one.”

• BOX SCORE: Pacers 123, Bucks 86

Robinson has played so well recently, you’ll need to search hard to justify him falling behind Chase Budinger in the rotation as the backup small forward. Almost every time Robinson steps on the court, he bangs on the door of the rotation. His play does all the talking: Let me in!

“He’s just been willing to learn,” George said. “He’s always here and he’s always ready to work. It’s always tough when you’re the young guy, but he’s doing a great job with it. Like you (saw) tonight, when his time is called, he comes in and delivers.”

On Wednesday in Philadelphia, one of his former NBA homes, Robinson picked up a career-high with two steals. Earlier against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that drafted him last season, he scored 11 points that lasted as a career-best total for only a week.

Sure, Robinson basically can earn a career high in just about every game because he played so little during his rookie season. But ask him. If only given a shot in Minnesota and Philadelphia, Robinson believes he would’ve shown how valuable he could be.

“It’s easy for you guys to see and people who haven’t watched me play because I didn’t play a whole lot last year,” Robinson said. “People might just be ‘wow, he’s gotten really better.’ But I say they just didn’t have the opportunity (to see) last year.”

And about last year … Robinson played 25 games with the Timberwolves before being waived, then last March claimed by the 76ers. He spent much of that month running the hamster wheel in the team’s development plan. Even before that shaky rookie season, Robinson played more of the power forward position at Michigan so who would’ve thought he could shoot after watching him make only 30.6 percent from the arc his sophomore season?

Somehow, Larry Bird saw something in Robinson. So Bird signed him to a three-year deal, even hooked him up with the venerated shooting coach Hal Wissel, who helped fix Lance Stephenson’s release before his breakout 2013-14 season. It’s still early and though Robinson’s percentages aren’t quite there (25 percent from 3s, 44 percent overall), the progress shows. As does his promise as a young player. So in the weeks and months to come, Vogel may have a quandary.

“When we get fully healthy, likely in the short term Chase will get the backup (small forward) minutes and Glenn will be out of the rotation, but it’s not by any doing of his own,” Vogel said. “It’s Larry Bird’s fault really. He’s given me so many good players. I blame him.”

After the game, Robinson tweeted about the “great team win” and added his original hashtag “#OverlyDedicated.” It’s a phrase he’s used often throughout his brief time with the Pacers. However, he’s learning a hard lesson of the NBA in that even the most dedicated are not always guaranteed minutes.

“I just continue to play hard. That’s up to coach, and I hope that I show him enough where he wants and has to put me on the court,” Robinson said. “I just try to play defensively and offensively and do little things like run the floor and create excitement when I get into the game. Then that makes his job difficult whether or not to put me in. Once we get healthy, who knows, and my minutes do increase, then I’m going to go out and play the same way I have been."

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner