Mitchell Robinson to get work with G-League Knicks
Mitchell Robinson should benefit from getting playing time in the G-League, but coach David Fizdale said he'll definitely be with the Knicks, too. Credit: Steven Ryan
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks’ mysterious rookie center, may do a little time in the G League this season, but it won’t be a lot.
Robinson will be back in the lineup for the team’s preseason finale on Friday night after missing two straight games with an ankle injury.
The Knicks, however, have already seen enough of their second-round draft pick to know that they want him to spend a decent amount of time with them.
“I think it will be a little bit of both for him, because just from the lack of minutes. He hasn’t played basketball,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said after practice Wednesday. “A lot of it is just getting to see these situations over and over again. And so to get him the appropriate amount of minutes that he’s going to need, he will be spending some time there. But make no mistake about it, he’ll be with us a lot as well.”
Robinson said he thinks it might be a good thing for him to spend some time in the G League.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it,” he said. “Wherever coach needs me to be is where I’m apt to go. I think he has my best interest [at heart], so whatever he needs me to do I’m there.
“Honestly, I feel like it would help a lot. Sitting out a year of college, [I could] get a few extra runs in.”
Robinson, who is 7-1, did not play organized basketball at all last year after leaving Western Kentucky a few weeks into summer practices. Robinson, however, had a surprisingly strong summer league for someone who hadn’t played a game since high school.
Before spraining his ankle in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ win over the Nets last week, he also turned in a strong preseason debut with seven rebounds and six points against the Wizards.
Robinson is the team’s only true center after Enes Kanter and the Knicks could use a player of his size in the rotation. Yet, it’s clear that the team is thinking long-term with him.
“Every day for him is progress. He’s so raw,” Fizdale said. “Every day is new to him. He absorbs stuff pretty quickly. I would say every day he does something different that makes the whole gym go, ‘Oh.’ But it’s something that we’ve been working on and that he’s at practice, he’s very diligent about his work. He really can focus in on one thing and work at it really hard and a lot of young guys have a hard time with that these days. But he seems to have a knack to be able to stay with something and get better at it.”
KP’s mentorship role. Kristaps Porzingis may not be able to contribute to the team on the court while he’s rehabbing, but Fizdale said the team is encouraging him to develop as a leader off of it. Said Fizdale: “He’s feeling better every day but it’s still that frustrating slow drip for him. My focus with him mainly is leadership, being present, helping the young big guys. Talking to the young guards about what young guards are looking for. Taking guys to eat, spending time with them and things like that. He’s been doing that, it’s been great. And he heals when he heals.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
