The Knicks took care of plenty of business this summer, extending Mikal Bridges, hiring Mike Brown, and adding Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson in free agency. But one area the team has yet to address is the upcoming free agency of center Mitchell Robinson.
In a mailbag for The Athletic, James Edwards III discusses the Robinson conundrum for the Knicks, which revolves around both the immense value he has displayed for the team in back-to-back playoff runs, as well as the injury concerns that have limited him to just 48 games over the last two regular seasons.
Edwards’ sense is that the Knicks would be interested in a team-friendly extension, but if Robinson wants to bet on himself, that could complicate extension talks. Edwards also notes that should the center stay healthy during the first half of the season, the Knicks could consider trading him for value ahead of February’s deadline rather than risk losing him in free agency.
We have more from the Knicks:
- One player who could see an uptick in responsibility this season is Miles McBride, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. Bondy notes that Bridges struggled in his role as the primary point-of-attack defender last season and was less effective than in the past at staying in front of high-level ball-handlers, a role McBride is perfectly suited to. Having McBride take primary guard matchups would allow Bridges to slot in as a tertiary defender while not forcing Jalen Brunson into defensive matchups he would struggle with. Bondy notes that former head coach Tom Thibodeau didn’t lean very heavily on lineups that included both McBride and Brunson, likely due to size concerns, but that Brown might be more open to the idea.
- The addition of Brown is expected to bring more balance and structure to players’ roles, Bondy writes, and to increase the pace at which the team plays. As Bondy notes, that change may impact Brunson,w ho held the ball longer than any player in the NBA last season, with an average of 6.06 seconds per touch. By comparison, Tyrese Haliburton averaged just 3.65 seconds per touch. While Brunson is undeniably elite with the ball in his hand, encouraging him to make quicker decisions, especially when it comes to finding Karl-Anthony Towns along the perimeter, could help energize the offense and introduce more unpredictability.
- At least one prominent coach is still grappling with the Knicks’ decision to fire Thibodeau, according to Bondy, who cites recent comments by Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue. “Should he have been fired? Hell no,” Lue said on the Club Shay Shay podcast. “The players did a hell of a job. And Thibs did a hell of a job. And to take a team to their first [conference finals] in 25 years and then get fired, like, it just doesn’t make sense.” Lue also believes that the circumstances around Thibodeau’s firing and the expectations conveyed by the front office make for a difficult situation for Brown. “That’s a tough spot to be in,” he said.
I don’t think NY can lose Mitch and go deep. Small ball Kat at the five isn’t appealing to me at all. Would be very appealing scheming against Brunson and Kat on the defensive end though. Both a liability and will be hunted relentlessly when it matters. Will both get worked over in a seven game series. A team with the full MLE available this time next year would definitely take a chance on Robinson. Mitch has already been a descending team friendly contract. The injury history is real though and makes it hard to evaluate worth. I also think OG and Bridges overlap a bit, hence Bridges a little less efficient and effective. We’ll see?
Seriously lol do you watch the Knicks.
KAT is the starting all-star center. He avg 25 n 13 last year. His best rebounding avg for his career. You may not like his D. Nobody likes his D. He is still the Knicks center. And NO he and Mitch will never work. How much better that starting all-star CENTER can you be …
KAT has the versatility to play the four and NOT kill his team defensively. That keeps him from being 50M Enes Kanter.
And LOL at Brown being even more willing to play McBride next to Brunson
Al already in preseason form
Brown hasn’t coached a game.
And do you understand what staring all-star center means. You ever see Mitch play with Towns.
Look up Towns stats with Rudy.
Mitch nor Towns can play perimeter D. Not even in the video game……
“You ever see Mitch play with Towns.”
They shared the court for 16% of Mitch’s regular season minutes (47 of 291).
Not including the three games Mitch started next to Towns in the playoffs.
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“Mitch nor Towns can play perimeter D”
And only one of those players can play Interior D. Hence why Towns is a 4 on any actual contender.
Just an example….Spurs could add Mitch. Wemby, Robinson, Kornet…..whoa. Wemby could play the 4 some. A back up role in San Antonio may be good health wise for Mitch. Kelly, Barnes FAs etc. I’m sure other ball clubs could add Mitch too. Going to be hard for NY to keep Mitch without moving someone else.
They can keep him. Would just go over the second apron. As for the Spurs they tried Wemby at the 4 and it was horrible. He was getting beat off the dribble and getting into foul trouble chasing speed. He settled in once he got in front of the net and the Spurs D benefits from him being a deterrent in the paint.
Nrg82:
The Knicks aren’t giving Mitchell Robinson away. So what are the Spurs giving up? And by the way the Knicks can sign Mitchell Robinson. I keep seeing a lot of nonsense comments that they can’t. They can go over the second apron. You can be over the second apron for a couple years without any significant penalties. The key is not to be over it for three out of five years. They can figure it out.
Nothing if he leaves in free agency
Nrg82:
He could leave them in free agency, but the Knicks can offer the most money, so why will that happen? So why exactly are the Spurs, or anyone else, offering more than the Knicks, who can offer the most money?
How and why could the knicks offer the most money, did you read the article. The part where it says knicks would be interested in a team friendly extension. Why would Mitch do that if he could sign for more elsewhere. Have you seen New York’s projected cap? I think not.
Nrg82:
That’s just an article and speculation. You think everything you read is actually what the team thinks. I said the Knicks have the ability to offer the most money. Whether they will or not, no one can say. But they absolutely can offer more than any other team. The projected cap doesn’t mean anything. They are over the cap. They will continue to be over the cap. That’s not the point. They are going to go over the second apron whether they resign Mitch or not. So they can absolutely resign him. This is not that hard.
$205 mil this season. Already at $203 mil next with nine guys signed. Robinson isn’t one of them. Lols. Good luck with that. You’ll see.
Nrg82:
Who cares? The Knicks have the money to pay him. What is the point that you’re making? They don’t mind spending money. I’ll see what? They won’t sign him because you say they won’t? You don’t even have a basic understanding of the salary cap or the aprons. It’s not even worth debating with you.
WRONG….NY won’t have the most money to sign Robinson, you’ll see.
Nrg82:
Oh my God, you just keep saying stupid things. They are able to offer him a higher contract than any other team. It’s up to them if they want to offer or not. They have his Bird rights. Do you understand anything?
Nrg82:
Look, I don’t want pick on you here. You don’t have to understand the finances of basketball to follow basketball. However, if you want to have debates on a message board, you should learn some things. Learn about the salary cap. Learn about bird rights. Learn about the first and second apron. There’s things I didn’t even understand about going over the second apron that I’ve been reading about recently. And then you can have an intellectual debate about these things without saying nonsense.
They have his Bird rights. No one can pay him more. We don’t care. Cause he will be traded. Hukporti is more than ready. Mitch can help another team. Just keep him under 30 mins.
Send a Mitch pkg to the Nets for a Danny Wolf pkg.
The Washington pick protected through 1-8 would be huge for NY of somehow ended up in their lap. Unlikely though.
Thats the right path there. I just don’t see any trades till at least 30 gms played. New coach, new bench. We need time to feel everything out.
Can’t imagine them trading Mitch if they are trying to win a championship.
Towns plays 34 mins. Hukporti can handle 16 mins. Plus the point of trading Mitch. Is to upgrade team. They aren’t just going to give him away.
NY writers don’t write about the Knicks. Their concerns are in creating more news. So they can milk a story. McBride was the first guy off the bench last yr. Unfortunately he didn’t have a good year. But he always played with Jalen. And the reason Bridges is here. Is to help Jalen on D. So this writer is clueless.
Mitch is the backup here. Imo Thibs got fired cause he wasn’t a bigTowns guy. And he is Rose prized player.
So it’s Towns or bust in NY. Which means our best move will be to move Mitch and whoever. To strengthen team around the core. We got time to see that thru. First we will see how the coach works this team. How the bench supports the starters. We got plenty of time to feel this team out. Before making any moves. As it stands the odds say Knicks are one of favorites in East. So there is no moves coming till 30-40 gms in. Or even the TD.
I have been saying this since we got Towns. Knicks have to find a big defensive PF. Who can play with Towns and watch his back 20-22 mins. Is all we need and Hart can come off bench for 30 mins. Makes the bench one of deepest and best.
Yeah, I’m not sure what the writer is talking about. McBride played well on D – at least better than most guards in the league. Much was expected of him on offense as well, which he performed when needed. He can also handle the ball as well. He’s not Brunson, but I don’t think he’d be on the bench if he was. He’s a perfect sixth man and change of pace player. Very much like Starks, just not as proficient in rebounding or trash talking.
What? OK I’m out, lols.
McBride was a nice PG in college. He will play more PG this yr with Clarkson here. Knicks bench is deeper this tear. We don’t have to depend on one guy.
Seen kat plenty of times, watch knicks as much as you. I’ve seen enough of Kat when not next to Rudy or Mitch. Kat is useless defensively. More a drop coverage guy and he’s soft. Mitch can switch and guard smaller guys much better that Kat. I actually think Mitch is a far better contested rebounder than Kat. Kat, like plenty of others live off non contested boards on the defensive end. I’m sure I was reading somewhere Mitch lead offensive boards per minutes in the entire playoffs just gone. Losing him completely changes the dynamic of the Knicks. Reminds of when Boston for some reason traded Perkins before the deadline while sitting atop the east. Then finished 4th in east and bounced in the second round. Completely changed the dynamic of the team. Uncontested boards off drop coverage is all reliant on a miss. No need to be so sensitive. Losing Mitch will hurt the knicks, best make this season count is my opinion. Robinson out there forcing smaller guys into tougher shots while Kat in drop coverage is ready to pad his stats.
The knicks best defensive rating in the playoff just gone was with the double big lineup up. Net rating through the roof, was extremely high. You can’t hide two weak links defensively in the playoffs without Mitch. We’ll just wait and see.
Nrg82:
Good Lord, why are you under the impression that the Knicks can’t resign Mitchell Robinson? They would go over the second apron. You can do that for a season. It’s not the end of the world. They can figure out their finances in a season or two. One way or another, they are going to be over the second apron after this season anyway.
OK. Lols.
Warriors did it with Curry during their championship years.
Robinson is a necessity because his defense and offensive rebounding are outstanding. When IH left for free agency, they lost half of that 48 minutes of chaos down low in the offensive paint. I’m a big Towns fan, but the combo of a healthy IH and MR was a double punch tandem that brought it every night and cleaned up when others couldn’t. Towns gift is he spreads the defense when on offense with his perimeter ability to drop threes. The Knicks shifted to a more offensive game, which is not Thibs cup of tea or in his breadbasket when it comes to tactical coaching. If they signed IH instead of trading for Towns, I don’t know if they don’t make it to the finals. The chemistry was certainly there.
What finals? Conference finals? They traded Randle and vinny D for Kat. Bringing in Kats salary and dumb trades for precious and Bogdanovic lost I Hart, lols. Extending OG and Mikal will lose them Robinson. I’ll bet anyone the knicks won’t win as many games or go as far if they lose Robinson and play Kat at the 5. Name your price…
I love Robinson but your points on OG, Bridges and KAT are way off. OG and Bridges are necessary for them to be successful, and did so without MR for half the year. There were games KAT just won the game outright for them with his offense. The reason MR won’t get top dollar is because he can’t stay on the floor – whether it’s an injury or foul trouble.
They won 51 games without Robinson last year lol.
Since he got drafted in 7 yrs. He has played 337 gms and missed 237 gms. Thats 41% of his career games. OK dude. I like Mitch, Thibs made him. Stop embarrassing yourself.
Nrg82:
You are grossly misinformed and out of your depth here. They could not offer Isaiah Hartenstein more money than they did because of the previous salary he made. It was completely and totally independent of any other move. It had nothing to do with anything else other than his own previous contract. They were restricted by that and that only. You need to become a little more educated. And re-signing OG and Bridges does not prevent them from re-signing Robinson. They can completely resign him and go over the second apron. There’s absolutely no problem whatsoever in them doing that.
LMFAO….OK.
Nrg82:
That’s about the response I would expect. You’re out of your depth and don’t know what to say so that’s what you say.
Nope just talking to a brick wall or a rock.
Nrg82:
No, that’s what you are. You don’t even understand that they didn’t have the ability to offer Hartenstein more money because of his previous contract. You think it’s because of money they spent on other players. It’s laughable what limited knowledge you have. Stop talking about things you don’t understand and educate yourself.
NYK appear to be willing to turn Mitch into an expiring contract going into the seasojn year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll trade him. They are far more likely to resign him during or after the season assuming he can stay relatively healthy. The obvious reason is that NYK are focused on this season, and trading Mitch won’t bring back anything close to his value to the NYK on the court. His contract situation and his constant injuries almost insure that.
IMO, Mitch (more specifically Mitch’s skill set) is essential if we want to have a championship level defense. KAT at C, other than in small doses, precludes that. Even with our elite perimeter defenders. Not in today’s game. If Thibs couldn’t get us there with KAT anchoring the defense, then it’s unlikely Brown can.
Lue, on Thibs, is only expressing the unanimous opinion of those who know the game or even what coaching is generally. Other opinions come from those not a part of that group. Unfortunately, the NYK FO obviously includes some of them.