New York Knicks: It’s Time for the Mitchell Robinson Review

The New York Knicks are about a quarter way through the season, so there’s no better time to evaluate Mitchell Robinson’s development.

Watching Mitchell Robinson take leaps game-by-game in his third year in the league is my equivalent to watching your toddler finally take their first steps (I don’t have any kids of my own yet, but watching young talent develop has to be almost as sweet, right?). And we have to give credit to Tom Thibodeau and the New York Knicks coaching staff for both getting the best out of Robinson, who we knew had latent potential, and getting the Knicks to 8-8 (this must be nirvana). 

Before the start of the season, Stefan Bondy wrote that Thibodeau was looking for “professionalism” and “growth” out of Robinson. And as some of you may remember, CP from Knicks Fan TV reported on the Knicks’ concern with Mitch’s professionalism as well. After Robinson didn’t show up to the mini training camp for undisclosed reasons, the team’s recent criticism was valid given that he is a foundational piece of the new Knicks Era. Also, the success of this franchise is partially based on his development.

But now that Thibodeau is gushing over Mitch’s improvements, it seems that Mitch has matured or risen to the challenge. Perhaps behind the scenes, Thibodeau got to know Mitch’s personality and tailored his approach to coaching him based on his style. Furthermore, it’s evident that even though Robinson likes to have fun and be goofy in his downtime, it’s not a reflection of how seriously he takes his job. 

It’s excellent that Robinson has shown progress and is beginning to deliver on his potential, which we all knew was there given his ability to finish around the rim and his defensive versatility. But because Mitch is such a raw talent, there is still room for him to grow if he’s going to be New York’s center for years to come. And since we’re still early into the season, it’s only right to look at Robinson’s strengths and areas of needed improvement (just as I did for Frank Ntilikina & RJ Barrett). 

Looking at Mitchell Robinson’s key strengths

It’s clear as day that Mitch is an elite finisher around the basket. Per Cleaning The Glass, as a rookie, Robinson finished in the 76^th percentile amongst bigs by completing 70 percent of his shots around the rim. And last season amongst bigs, he ranked in the 87^th percentile by finishing 76 percent of his shots in the paint. Whether it’s getting dump-off passes, putbacks, or lobs, Mitch can score with ease if it’s four feet or less from the hoop. 

Robinson’s finishing should be no surprise, though, since he surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s single-season field goal percentage record with an astounding 74.2 percent. Yet, the intriguing part about his accomplishment is that he did it without utilizing any old-school-center-moves – meaning not playing with his back-to-the-basket or facing up. And with that in mind, him breaking Chamberlain’s field goal percentage is that much more impressive. 

Robinson also has the ability to grab rebounds: this is a real strength, even though it may sound like a given because he’s a center. We are all well aware of big men that couldn’t rebound (Shawn Bradley, Jason Collins, and Knicks fans favorite… Andrea Bargnani).

Mitch is currently averaging 8.3 rebounds per game, which has him ranked 20^th out of 99 active centers in the league. 

It may not be clear through the eye-test, but Mitch is actually stronger on the offensive glass than on the defensive side. In order from his rookie year to this current season, Mitch has ranked 19^th, 10^th, and 5^th among centers for offensive rebounds. However, on the defensive board, Mitch has ranked no lower than 47^th (rookie season) and no higher than 37^th (current season). But as Shwin pointed out, the team is better on the defensive glass when Mitch is on the court, even if he’s not grabbing the rebound. 

To that point, Mitch has made strides to become a better rebounder. He is positioning himself better this season and learning how to box players out. He’s had tough matchups with Andre Drummond, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid. But even against some of the best bigs, his technique is getting better. 

Mitch’s greatest strength is his defensive prowess. Per NBA Advanced Stats, Robinson is ranked sixth on the team with a 103.8 defensive rating, which places him behind Frank Ntilikina, Reggie Bullock, Obi Toppin, Nerlens Noel, and RJ Barrett (although Frank & Toppin’s sample sizes are small). That defensive rating has him ranked 39^th in the league – counting for players who’ve averaged more than 15 minutes a game and have played 10 games minimum.

Robinson is a rim protector first and foremost, and it helps that he stands at 7′ 0″ with a 7′ 4″ wingspan and can jump through the roof. We’ve witnessed Robinson go to town on opponents when they get into the paint, which is why we’ve seen him tally 9 blocks in one game – that was his rookie season against the Orlando Magic on January 11, 2019. 

Despite his size, Mitch has the unique skill of guarding smaller opponents on the perimeter because of his lateral quickness. And with his wingspan, he’s able to stop opponents from shooting on the perimeter as well. Let’s remember how he recently blocked the living daylights out of Malcolm Brogdon to help the Knicks defeat the Indians Pacers in crunch time. 

Looking at Mitchell Robinson’s areas of needed improvements

Mitch has his flaws, of course, but we’ve seen him improve on his weaknesses. The first one is his fouling tendencies. 

Mitch is known to get into foul trouble… badly. Mitch has fouled out 15 times during his first two seasons in the league throughout his young career. He has committed 217 personal fouls during his rookie season and 194 his sophomore year during that time. 

Now, to put this in perspective, as bad as Mitch is at staying out of foul trouble, it’s not the worst the league has seen. DeMarcus Cousins ranks 62^nd in single-season fouls committed, tallied 332 fouls his rookie season, which comes out to 4.1 personal fouls per game. As we’ve seen from Robinson, he starts the season getting into foul trouble but then gets that issue under wraps as the season progresses.

And so far this season, it looks like Thibodeau has got him under control. In seasons past, Mitch would’ve been in foul trouble 3 minutes after checking in for the Knicks. And part of the reason for that is because he’d use his hands to swipe when being pushed off the block or jump into opponents’ landing zone after they took a jump shot. Just look here to see how Robinson keeps his distance when contesting Nikola Vucevic’s shot:

It seems that Thibodeau, Kenny Payne, and Mike Woodson have explained to Mitch that his height and length are his greatest assets and that he doesn’t need to jump at every ball. As we’ve seen this season, Mitch is maintaining his base, jumping fewer times, and keeping his hands up because standing upright without jumping is difficult for smaller players to shoot over him. 

Another key area where Mitch needs to improve is by expanding his scoring versatility. As I noted earlier, Mitch broke Chamberlain’s field goal percentage record with dunks and tip-ins. Mitch has rarely ever shot a mid-range jumper or attempted post moves that we’d see from Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, or Hakeem Olajuwon. We’ve yet to see the up and under or hook shot from him. 

Now, Robinson’s trainer has been pushing for the Knicks coaching staff to let him utilize his offense skill sets that he’s been working on (and the fans would LOVE to see that as well). But Thibodeau is probably taking the work from the ground up approach with Mitch. Thibodeau and the coaching staff would rather have Mitch comfortable doing center things before expanding his game to include jump shots since he’s such a raw talent. 

Another area of Robinson’s game that needs work is his screen setting. Over the years, Mitch has set ineffective screens by either moving too soon before his teammate’s defender hits him to force the switch or by not getting into the proper position space-wise to set the screen. 

During Mitch’s rookie season, he set 180 screen assists that led to 388 points. During his second season, he set 150 screen assists, which led to 331 points. This season, Mitch has already set 41 screens assists that led to 88 points. To get an understanding of screen assists, here are some numbers to consider: 

• Rudy Gobert: 471 screen assists, 1,089 points scored from screen assists
• Domantas Sabonis: 437 screen assists, 977 points scored from screen assists 
• Bam Adebayo: 366 screen assists, 874 points scored from screen assists
• Nikola Vucevic: 312 screen assists, 710 points scored from screen assists
• Jarrett Allen: 307 screen assists, 724 points scored from screen assists

These players were the top 5 players of screen assists. To see Jarrett Allen in the top five of that list, who has a similar skillset to Mitch and doesn’t shoot a jumper either, should indicate Mitch is capable of getting to that level, with the caveat that this team adds shooters to help get him there. 

But we can see this season that Mitch has improved his screen setting ability. He is taking contact from his teammate’s defender before moving and preventing the defender from getting back in front of their man. Robinson’s screen setting is not perfect yet, but we’ve seen enough to know that he is trending in the right direction.

The last area where we need to see Robinson shine is his passing. 

Over the past two seasons, Mitch had been averaging 0.6 assists per game. Now, assist numbers aren’t a great indication of how little Mitch was involved in the passing game. In his first two seasons, he averaged 17.4 passes per game during his rookie year and 21 passes per game in the previous season. This season, Mitch is averaging 0.5 assists and 27.8 passes per game. 

As stated, assists aren’t a good indication of how well a player is passing – his teammates also need to score when Mitch passes them the ball. But watching Mitch this season, he is learning how to keep the ball moving while looking for the open man. Something that he wasn’t consistently doing last season. We’ve Mitch do the short-screen and pass to the wing to get his teammates involved and continue the play.

We should expect Robinson to be a better passer because, under Thibodeau, he made Joakim Noah a fluid passer – per game, Noah averaged 4+ assists and 56+ passes under Thibodeau. 

Mitch is a player with so much potential, and individuals around the league have shared this sentiment. Even Carmelo Anthony echoed this when Mitch had his perfect game going 11-11 from the field against the Portland Trail Blazers last season.

Robinson will improve this season, and it’ll be great to see what he looks like mid-season. We should expect a lot of improvement from Mitch this year from what we’ve seen on the floor thus far. 

Grade: B+