The New York Knicks FINALLY have their “Young Core”
By Adam Kester
Mitchell Robinson can be the defensive anchor in the middle for the New York Knicks
Barrett may have the highest draft pedigree of the young guns, but 3rd-year center Mitchell Robinson has looked to have a clear-cut trajectory as a productive big man since he debuted for the Knicks.
Robinson came into the league as a raw prospect who didn’t even play organized basketball the year before coming into the NBA. Despite his lack of experience, teams were still infatuated by his freakish athletic ability and size. The New York Knicks took the gamble on Robinson in the 2nd round and it’s paid off.
Robinson has always been a project player, which is something that I think causes confusion for some fans. There seems to be this vision of Mitchell Robinson becoming a ball-handling, sharpshooting big man one day, and it’s largely based on viral workout videos of Robinson performing these skills in an empty gym.
What this has done is it leaves people clamoring for more from Robinson, when really, he’s already developed into a dominant presence in the paint right before our eyes. Robinson is not a post-up, playmaking big man. He’s a rim runner on offense who wreaks havoc on the glass.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, Robinson went down with a hand injury that should keep him sidelined into April. Before the injury, Robinson has shown huge strides in his development as a bruising center – He was leading the entire NBA in box-outs per game before the injury.
Robinson has become a dominant defensive anchor in the middle. Not just the freakish blocks on the perimeter, but he plays intense, hard-nosed defense as a shot intimidator in the middle – much of this improvement can be attributed to the coaching of Tom Thibodeau and Kenny Payne.
If Robinson’s offensive game remains limited in the future… so be it. Robinson’s analytics projection as a player already falls in line with many elite rim-running, defensive anchor centers such as DeAndre Jordan and Rudy Gobert. He’s undoubtedly one of the New York Knicks’ most important pieces for the future.