Hey! Whatever Happened To Glenn Robinson?
By Brian Taylor
Being a number one, first-overall draft pick carries a lot of heavy expectations, pressure and scrutiny. But in 1994, one Naismith College Player of the Year paid no heed to that, and demanded one of the most ridiculous rookie contracts in the history of sports, and that one audacious guy was Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson.
There are rookies that come in with hype from college and then carry that over into the League, but Robinson, who was absolutely insane at Purdue, looked like a sure shot for whoever picked him up at the draft. Before Robinson had even stepped onto and NBA floor, he made some waves, amplifying his name.
For starters, the “Big Dog” had it all, the smooth jumper, the handles, and the hops, all tied up in a neat 6’7” package. The problem was that no team in their right mind was going to pay $100 million bucks (pun intended) for said package. I don’t know if Dr. Evil was his agent, but Glenn was serious about his price tag after the Bucks selected him first overall. The Bucks’ franchise was worth $77 million back in 94’, so you could imagine the freak-out-factor this had on the national sports media. Not only that, but Robinson had drawn the ire of Utah veteran Antoine Carr, who already laid claim to the nickname “Big Dog”.
Before that season started, Herb Kohl (who owns the Bucks and Kohl’s and is also a Wisconsin Senator) brought Robinson back to earth with a $68.15 million dollar guaranteed contract. It was then thought to be the most expensive rookie contract of all time, and in the process, Robinson pissed off a lot of Bucks’ fans, but he turned out to be decent.
As a member of that 1994 rookie class (which featured Juwan Howard, J-Kidd and Grant Hill) Glenn led all rooks in scoring, firing at a 21.9 ppg clip. He was named to the All-Rookie team for that year, earning numerous honors along the way. In 1996, he was even named to the Olympic team, but couldn’t play due to injury.
It wasn’t until the 98’-99’ season that it all came together for Glenn, as the team hired a new coach (George Karl) and GM of GMs’ (Ernie Grunfeld) together with veteran point guard Sam Cassell from the Martian National Team. With those pieces in place, Milwaukee returned to the playoffs annually, culminating with an Eastern Conference Finals appearance against A.I. and the 76ers in 2001.
Losing left a really bitter taste in Glenn’s mouth, and no amount of Orbit gum could’ve gotten rid of it, so he lashed out at teammate Ray Allen, saying he was “soft” and that he wilted under the pressure. Since that wasn’t a good way to endear one’s self to a team, (and since Ray Allen was more of a true star anyway), Milwaukee shipped Glenn down south to Atlanta for Toni Kukoc. Robinson still put up All-Star worthy numbers, but he garnered the unscrupulous reputation of Locker Room Cancer (e.g.: “Christian Laettner”).
After a year with the Hawks, Glenn was on the move again, this time to Philly in a four-team deal (its how Spree got to NY). Robinson had a mediocre season in Illadelph before getting hurt and staying on the IR for most of 2005. He was traded to the Hornets before being waived and scooped up by the San Antonio Spurs, who were looking for another shooter during their title run. It was after that transaction that Glenn Robinson (by default) was crowned an NBA Champion. Don’t worry, I made the same face you just made after reading that sentence, but it’s legit, he has a ring.
If you want to hear and see how folks reacted to Glenn’s rookie demands, peep this.
Oh man, now this is a player who I find myself completely forgetting about every couple months. That picture is priceless.
Like you B I still find it weird that Big Dog has a ring while “greats” like Stockton and Malone don’t, however, from what I remember Robinson posted some legit numbers for the Spurs in their playoff run. I remember there was a bit of a buzz surrounding him that summer heading into his free agency but I can only assume he was asking for too much money and this time GM’s weren’t willing to dish out the money to make playing hoops another year worth the effort for Big Dog.
Man, the Big Dog/Philly trade IS NOT how spree got to NY, you way off. Spree got to NY about 5YEARS before that (not sure where you got your info) in a trade for John Starks, Chris Mills and a few other muppets.
My bad Mark, I forgot about the Starks trade.
Great article tho…
Where is he now?
Thanks very much for this article. I went to Purdue, and really liked Glenn Robinson. I think he was very misunderstood, and although I don’t know much detail about the initial contract dealings, I know that he really wanted to be the best contributor to his team that he could. Probably wanting to win so badly and probably feeling that Ray Allen had an aloof way about him, I could see Glenn talking not so well publicly about Ray. That’s too bad, because it gave him a locker room reputation possibly not deserved. In ‘94 at Purdue, he was the most exciting college player since Jordan, no doubt about it.
I sure would like to hear about where he is NOW. In Gary, IN? Hopefully well, and giving back to youth or something. Again, thanks for the article.
My boy is chillin and doing his thang so all the haters step back & get you some, ya wanna be like real us get some game first!!!!!
QUIT HATIN BIGG DOGG CHILLIN STILL MAKING MONEY RETIRED LIKE ANY RICH NBA STAR G.I.
I’m looking for a way to reach Mr. Glenn Robinson aka Big Dog. I need to reach him for a personal matter. Thank you. Kathy
Glenn lost his mother in an unexpected illness. It is understood he has been dealing with his grief since.
Glenn Robinson is living in Atlanta for the most part but he also frequent Chicago from time to time. If you want to find him check out the clubs he frequent on Saturdays in Atlanta and follow the weed smoke….
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