Defensive Player of the Year

‘Brolic’ Mitchell Robinson is a man on a mission on contract year

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knicks, mitchell robinson

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has bulked up in a serious bid to show he’s ready for a bounce-back season that should be worthy of a huge investment.

With his contract extension looming on the horizon, Robinson reported back to New York ahead of the training camp bigger and stronger.

“Mitch looks good, man. Mitch is brolic; he’s big,” Randle said in an interview with Ian Begley of SNY. “You can tell that he took the weight room seriously.”

Two significant injuries limited Robinson to just 31 games last season. But the Knicks closely monitored his recovery, according to his trainer Marcell Scott in an exclusive Empire Sports Media story last month.

Robinson revealed in a now-deleted tweet he’s currently weighing 280 pounds, a 30-pound increase from last year when he reported to training camp at 250 pounds. The former second-round pick has now amassed close to 60 pounds since entering the NBA on a lean 223-lb frame in 2018.

The Knicks sorely missed Robinson in their first-round playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Clint Capela, who is listed modestly at 240 pounds, threw his weight around the Knicks’ decimated frontline. Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson tried their best, but they were overmatched down low. Capela wreaked havoc with a constant double-double game (13.4 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks) as a roll man and a lob threat — a perfect match to Trae Young’s backcourt wizardry.

Randle is optimistic of their chances this coming season with a healthy and ripped Robinson.

“So Mitch looks good, and he’s one of those pieces that people don’t even really know that we had last year because he missed so much time. So he’s going to be a huge factor for us coming into this year, for sure,” Randle said.

Robinson has set his eyes on the Defensive Player of the Year award. But with Noel back on a three-year deal (team option on the final year), Robinson has competition for the starting spot again.

Iron sharpens iron.

The jury is still out on Robinson after a long layoff, but he is bound to get better with healthy competition internally. And throw in the added motivation that he’s playing for his next contract, expect the 23-year old center to go all out from the get-go.

Due to earn $1.8 million this season, a relative bargain compared to his peers, Robinson is out to prove he’s also worthy of heavy financial investment.

This summer, he watched Boston Celtics’ young center Robert Williams bagged a $54-million, four-year contract extension. Capela locked for two additional seasons with the Hawks to the tune of $46 million.

Robinson is eligible for a contract extension worth up to $51 million in four years. But the Knicks are on a wait-and-see mode. And their young but bold center is eager to flex his muscle and show what he’s been working on this summer.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

New York Knicks: Sky’s the limit for ‘incredible’ Mitchell Robinson under Tom Thibodeau

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New York Knicks, Mitchell Robinson

Tom Thibodeau describes New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson as an incredible athlete. 

When Joakim Noah accepted his Defensive Player of the Year award in 2014, he deflected the credit to Tom Thibodeau.

“Thibs,” Noah said, in the middle of his acceptance speech, “we’ve definitely had our hard times, our ups and downs, but without your system, this wouldn’t be possible.”

Thibodeau was proud of Noah because he was recognized for his contributions to winning. Thibodeau pushed Noah so hard that once they had an exchange wherein, Noah told his former coach that he would hate him if they were not winning games.

That’s Thibodeau for you.  He will never baby you.

Thibodeau is a defensive savant.

One of the absolute truths that he will never compromise is that defense contributes to winning.

“Winning is the most important thing. That’s why you’re here,” Thibodeau said during Friday’s Zoom call with New York reporters.

So when Thibodeau was asked about his new rim-running center, Mitchell Robinson, his eyes lit up with a spark and began to speak glowingly about him.

“What he did last year was put a lot of pressure on the rim. He’s an incredible athlete,” Thibodeau said. “But we don’t want to put a ceiling on him. We want to continue to work on all aspects of his game and develop.”

In his first two seasons in the league, Robinson showed the defensive chops that Thibodeau saw in Noah in Chicago.

The season before Thibodeau arrived in Chicago, Noah averaged 10.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and 0.5 steals in 30.1 minutes.  He enjoyed the best stretch of his NBA career under Thibodeau, winning the Defensive Player of the Year and became a two-time All-Star and two-time member of the All-Defensive First Team.

Meanwhile, Robinson will enter his first year under Thibodeau with better defensive numbers than Noah had in the same stage of their careers in lesser playing time. Robinson posted 9.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, and 0.9 steals in just 23.1 minutes this season.

With Robinson set to become the anchor of Thibodeau’s defensive schemes, the sky’s the limit for the Knicks’ third-year center. And Thibodeau couldn’t wait to whip him into a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. 

Robinson excused himself from attending the team workouts due to personal reasons, but he was present during the individual workouts.

“He spent some time here (in New York) earlier in the summer and we’re hopeful that, you know, we can get him back in and get to work with him so he can build on those skills,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, he’s a very important part of this team.”

Robinson enjoys the trust of his new coach.  And not only that.  He will have the big man’s whisperer Kenny Payne on his ears all season long.