The New York Knicks have spent the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season waiting for this moment to arrive. After 56 games, a controversial trade deadline, and mountains of debates about the best path forward, Mitchell Robinson has returned to the rotation and become a regular inclusion again.
Unfortunately, three games into his 2024-25 campaign, Robinson hasn't played more than 15 minutes in a single game—because of course he hasn't.
It's understandable for fans to want Robinson back at full strength after missing more than two-thirds of the 2024-25 regular season. It's even more rational for critics to harp on how his defensive quality has fallen below the ideal standard thus far.
According to Phillip Martinez of SNY, however, Robinson has already taken accountability for his lack of communication on the defensive end of the floor.
“For me, I gotta be more talkative,” Robinson said of his play on Tuesday. “Didn’t communicate with the guys as much as I should have. I could be better defensively. Let a guy get behind me too many times, which is something I don’t let happen often.”
There's nothing wrong with constructive criticism, but patience will be essential to Robinson gearing up for the most important time of the year: The 2025 NBA Playoffs.
Mitchell Robinson takes accountability, but improvement requires patience
Prior to making his 2024-25 season debut on Feb. 28, Robinson hadn't played an NBA game since May 6, 2024. That near year off from competitive action was inevitably going to result in a learning curve as he returns to the level expected of him.
There's ample reason to believe that the 26-year-old will return to his borderline All-Defense quality when healthy, but early struggles were inevitable.
That's far more difficult to stomach in March than it would've been in December, as every win and loss counts tenfold. New York is only 3.5 games behind the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and holds slim leads over the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers at 4.0 and 4.5 games, respectively.
Even the Detroit Pistons are just 6.0 games back, meaning a Knicks slump could land it as low as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference rather than the No. 3 spot they currently possess.
In saying that, the Knicks should be a significantly better team with Robinson at 100 percent than without him. The unfortunate truth is that the only way to get him there will be for him New York to take the good with the bad as he gets in-game reps.
If that results in the Knicks losing ground in the standings to a reasonable degree, then it may just be a necessary evil.
The harshest of all realities facing New York right now is that its defense has been underwhelming. It ranks No. 18 in defensive rating and No. 21 in opponent points in the paint, both of which Robinson will be essential to resolving.
There may be a learning curve for both Robinson and the Knicks in the meantime, but that's a truth they'll need to make peace with to realize their postseason dreams.