CHICAGO
The Knicks opted to keep it a mystery until nearly game time Friday night whether Mitchell Robinson would make his season debut — although he broke the news by posting “I’m ready” on Facebook hours earlier.
After assuring myself that someone under 50 years old was using Facebook, I returned to the more pressing part of the story — that maybe that mystery is as much of a problem as the lingering left ankle concerns that have sidelined him.
While he did make his return and was in the starting lineup, no one seems able to answer just how long the return will last. Will he play in back-to-back games? Will the workload management that oddly had him on the court in preseason and then sitting out the first four games of the regular season continue throughout the season?
So we asked him. Is it going to be like this all season?
“I don’t know,” Robinson said after the Knicks concluded their morning shootaround at the United Center on Friday. Then he was asked if he was going to play in the game eight hours away. “I don’t know,” he said.
The Knicks made big changes in the offseason, bringing in Mike Brown as their coach to replace Tom Thibodeau. He brought with him new systems, discarding the ones that already had brought this group to the Eastern Conference finals last season. But moving Robinson into the starting lineup and putting Josh Hart on the bench might be the riskiest move of all.
If Robinson is a mystery, the Knicks knew exactly what they were getting in Hart. He played more minutes per game than any other player last season — not just on the Knicks but in the entire NBA. He is not a shooter like Karl-Anthony Towns or a scorer like Jalen Brunson, but he set a franchise record for triple-doubles in a single season, breaking the mark set by Walt Frazier.
Hart was as much a part of what the Knicks achieved as anyone, and he did it while Robinson sat out the first 58 games of the season and played only 17 regular-season games. In the playoffs, when Hart struggled with a broken finger and some admitted fatigue, he suggested to Thibodeau that he make a change — putting Robinson in the starting lineup and dropping him to the second unit.
We can debate the importance of a starting five — most coaches will point out that the closing five is maybe the most important lineup. And the reasoning for putting Robinson in the starting lineup is understandable. But there also is a difference in relying on Robinson for one night in the playoffs versus the marathon of a season.
When healthy, Robinson can make an impact with elite defensive skills and rebounding prowess. But that “when healthy” is a huge issue. Robinson sat out the first four games of the season as well as the final two preseason games, with the Knicks insisting there was no injury and that this is all part of a plan.
“It’s harder, but it’s part of the process,” Brown said. “Can it be done? Yes. Will we get it done? Yes. It’s something that we embrace because we want the best possible version of Mitch we can get.”
Robinson said he’s been a part of this plan, but also said the obvious: that it’s been frustrating being on the sideline and watching, trying to stay in shape while the team manages the left ankle that he had surgery on twice.
So the Knicks have started Ariel Hukporti twice, Deuce McBride once and Landry Shamet in another game — spending time adjusting to a new system with a new lineup every night. No one expects Robinson to be playing all 77 after Friday night, so figure more mixing and matching, a strange way to develop any sort of continuity.
Hart, even if he’s fine with the second-unit role, doesn’t want to be part of the in-and-out process.
“I’m cool not starting,” he said. “That’s what I want to do for this season. For me, there’s a different way to approach it mentally. Obviously, when you have guys that are questionable and they’re a game-time decision and now my role might be different and I don’t know what my role is until an hour on the clock or 35 minutes on the clock. So it’s one of those things where like, if I’m not going to start, totally cool with it. But I don’t want to be like the next starter up because then everything is varying by game. I just want more of a consistent role and thought process so I can just perfect that role.”
Just what that role is remains to be seen.
“I feel like I’ve got the biggest adjustment out of the whole team,” he said. “Just in terms of role, starting, not starting, how the minutes are going to be, and obviously I’ve talked to Mike about how the minutes are going to go, and I’ve gotta know every position. So I’m still figuring that stuff out and it’s an adjustment, but this is my seventh coach, so I’ve had a lot of adjusting to do in my career, so I should be solid.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
