Mitchell Robinson learning from early spot on Knicks' bench
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson goes to the basket between New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis and guard Elfrid Payton in New Orleans on Nov. 16. Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert
BOSTON – For what it’s worth, Mitchell Robinson very much prefers starting the game on the bench to ending the game shackled to it.
Robinson, the 20-year-old rookie big man, is one of the latest Knicks to be affected by coach David Fizdale’s rotation roulette, but after his team’s surprising road win over the Celtics on Wednesday night, he had nothing but praise for the decision that mostly kept him out of foul trouble and helped him be a big defensive factor down the stretch.
Enes Kanter, who before Tuesday night’s game against the Trail Blazers hadn’t started since Oct. 24, again started on Wednesday, when Fizdale made the decision to repeat his lineup on back-to-back days and sit all three of his rookies while doing it.
Robinson said starting the game on the bench actually has helped him learn from Kanter and see how the game is being called. Before losing his starting role on Tuesday, Robinson had picked up at least four fouls in six of the previous nine games. He did rack up four fouls against the Celtics on Wednesday, but most came late, and he shot 4-for-4 and contributed six blocks in 16:25.
“Enes didn’t really get any fouls,” Robinson said with a sort of verbal shrug (Kanter had two fouls in just under 23 minutes). “I saw what he was doing, so why not do that but at the same time challenge shots?
"That kind of thing [coming off the bench] is fair. I mean, I didn’t get into foul trouble until late in the game. Probably, if I would have started, I would have been in foul trouble and I would have sat out and missed the whole game. My teammates needed me to come challenge shots and everything like that, so I think it was the right idea.”
It’s part of the continuing growing process for the Knicks, who still are very much in the ugly part of the rebuild. Fizdale said Wednesday that the coaching staff still needs more time – about 10 more games -- to evaluate the young players and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. Before that, Fizdale seemed to prefer a sort of baptism by fire.
Robinson has seemed to respond well to Fizdale's most recent approach, as has Kevin Knox, who had one of his best games of the season off the bench Wednesday (11 points, nine rebounds in 26 minutes).
“We’re really trying to develop and look at 10 to 12 guys, and so that door is kind of always revolving,” Fizdale said. “It’s going to start settling in a little bit sooner, where we start getting eight to 10 more games where we start seeing [us] get a little bit more comfortable with who’s going to be in the rotation.”
Fizdale said they’re still in a position in which players need to grasp certain fundamentals and translate them at the NBA level. That much is true for Robinson, who said Fizdale has been in his ear, telling him to “just follow the ball and don’t go for pump fakes.”
“I got Coach on me about that – when they jump, when they leave their feet, leave yours too…I took that and it helped me out a lot,” he said. “Play great defense. Keep my hands off the players.”
And keep himself in the game in the process – in whatever capacity.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
