New York Knicks: 3 Players who will benefit the most from Kemba Walker

New York Knicks: Player #2 — Mitchell Robinson

Mitchell Robinson as the roll-man with a real point guard? Get your popcorn ready. Movie theater butter, light butter, Pop-Secret, Orville Redenbacher, whatever your corn of choice may be, you’re going to want it when Robinson is catching a lob 5 feet behind him and yamming it.

I’ve written extensively about not just the player that Mitchell Robinson can become later in his career but also the player he already is today.

Both the physical strides (added weight and strength) and mental strides (greater defensive awareness, discipline, and technique) were evident last season, and unfortunately, his season was cut short due to injury, and his development wasn’t at the forefront of the team’s successful season. His progress became an afterthought.

The point guards Mitchell Robinson has played with include: Frank Ntilikina, Emmanuel Mudiay, Ron Baker, Dennis Smith Jr., Elfird Payton, and for a few games, Derrick Rose.

Robinson has the size, springs, and strength to be a dominant roll-man. The gravity of Robinson crashing hard to the rim is impossible to ignore for defenses, and the New York Knicks may finally be able to start effectively using it with Kemba Walker as the conductor.

Mitchell Robinson ranked in the 90th percentile of all players scoring impact as a roll-man.

I do hate to continuously nag on the negative on-court impact of Elfrid Payton, but as a point guard who doesn’t shoot or even provide any mid-range, floater shooting, what else do you do as a defense but just sag into the paint. Mitchell Robinson is no longer going to be rolling into a clogged paint.

Kemba Walker isn’t just a shooter, he has blow-by speed and handles. With Kemba Walker, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, and Evan Fournier on the court, Mitchell Robinson is probably the last person opposing teams are worried about on offense.

With Kemba Walker now at the helm, I could see Robinson being the beneficiary of multiple alley-oops and pocket passes. Don’t be shocked if Robinson is averaging a double-double this season.