Mitchell Robinson is earning a ton of praise for his offensive rebounding, and perhaps even more attention for how the New York Knicks are managing his workload. But it’s time to start talking about something even more uncomfortable, if not potentially damning:
He can’t anchor the defense on his own.
For all the (deserved) focus on his offensive-rebounding dominance, the less-glamorous end is supposed to be Robinson’s bread and butter. At his peak, he is equal parts paint deterrent, rim protector, and disruptive on the perimeter.
Right now, he is not checking all of those boxes.
The Knicks have a Mitchell Robinson problem…on defense
The raw rim-protection results are good. Opponents are shooting 51.9 percent at the rim when challenged by Robinson. That is a top-15 mark among 189 players who have contested at least as many point-blank opportunities. He is also challenging 54.4 percent of all opponent attempts at the hoop when he’s in the game, according to BBall Index. That would be the largest share of his career.
Still, the Knicks defense gets 7.5 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor. That is not on him specifically. A couple of his most-common lineups are great, including the version of the starting five with him in it.
Things get dicey after that. Especially when he’s playing without OG Anunoby.
If Knicks fans didn’t appreciate how much OG covers up before, they most certainly do now that he’s on the sidelines with a hamstring strain. His knack for papering over the ball-containment issues with both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the floor is absurd. And it’s not something Robinson can do while also protecting the hoop—at least not right now.
After filtering out garbage time, a little over 55 percent of Robinson’s minutes have come without Anunoby this season. The Knicks are vomiting out a defensive rating of 128.8 during this time, while allowing opponents to take 41.7 percent of all their shots at the rim. For context, the average defensive rating is 115.6, and the average rim frequency allowed is 31.9 percent.
New York needs to hope Robinson can do more
Just to be clear: This is not all on Robinson. The Knicks are asking him to prop up some dicey combinations without Anunoby.
Yet, that is supposed to be why they have him—not just to hoard offensive rebounds and be a traditional stopper at the basket, but to be the ultimate backline fulcrum for however many minutes he’s able to play, regardless of whom he’s operating alongside.
Nobody’s saying it’s an easy job. And Robinson struggled with it even last season. The Knicks’ defense was pretty good when he played without Anunoby, but it cratered when adding Towns to those minutes.
The sample wasn’t and still isn’t large enough to sound the alarm. Robinson will invariably do a better job of multi-tasking in "solo" minutes. This problem is virtually null-and-void when Anunoby is healthy, too. As we’re seeing now, though, Anunoby won’t always be healthy. He certainly won’t always be on the floor, not for every single one of Robinson’s minutes.
New York needs its prized big man to be the one-man anchor, from the inside-out and outside-in, he’s supposed to be. If he’s not, the Knicks’ shot at a title will take a major hit—as will his future with the organization.