Could The Knicks Survive Without Their Star Defender? | The Mitchell Robinson Debate

Could The Knicks Survive Without Their Star Defender? | The Mitchell Robinson Debate

Now the Mitch thing is very interesting because you know you know it he’s injuryprone. Do you invest in him? You lose him. I think this team takes a tremendous hit defensively. Man, I don’t see how they compete and be a respectable defensive team without the blockchess monster there. So the Mitch thing, you’re right, is so interesting. it. I I agree with us starting on on bridges and his extension stuff because that’s the most important. Yeah. And it’s also the most likely to get done. I would say the Mitch extension eligibility just from like a thought exercise is the most interesting. If you’re like a real freak like us, you’re just a real nerd. The Mitch The Mitch one is so interesting because that’s the one that has the greatest chance of if you do it becoming a disaster. Yes. Also, it’s the one that has the greatest chance of if you don’t do it, it becoming a disaster. Right. Right. And that is why it is so interesting. It also the opposite is true. It’s also the one that has the chance of if you do it, you are the happiest that you could possibly be and it was the best case situation. And it’s also the scenario of if you don’t do it, it could become the best case situation and you could be the happiest you could be. Uh just because of Mitch’s injury history. I I I think you’re right. He’s he’s when he is healthy, he is so important. They don’t make the conference finals if they don’t have Mitchell Robinson. Like end ends, like full stop. They do not make the conference finals if they don’t have Mitchell Robinson absolutely balling out the way that he did that entire playoff run. and doing it against completely different styled teams, you know, doing it against the rugged and young and raw Detroit Pistons and then doing it against the finesse and veteran and experienced and champion Celtics with, you know, all NBA players of plenty and whatever else. Dominating both of those series. Yeah. Uh the Knicks need him as somebody who can protect the rim next to Cat whether he starts or not. They need that as an option. And here’s the thing with Mitch. He’s an expiring contract, $12.9 million. If you don’t keep Mitch, you have no way to replace him with someone who’s as good at what he does. You just don’t have that. And if you are of the philosophy that in order to maximize towns, you want to play him next to a legitimately awesome defensive center. And Mitch is, if you doubted, if you thought Mitchell Robinson was merely a good defensive center, which would have been an okay opinion to have leading into the playoffs because we didn’t know if he was going to get back to what he was, but if you thought he was just good and not awesome defensively, then I don’t think anybody saw him in the playoffs and didn’t change their mind. You know, I was skeptical because we just hadn’t seen it in literally years. And then it got to the playoffs and I was like, he’s literally better than he’s ever been. Uh he was playing, if he maintained his level of play for 65 plus regular season games, he’d be on all defense team. Sure. Might be on might be on defensive player of the year ballot. Sure. He was that good. Uh so you need a guy that level next to Towns and that style next to Towns. And if you lose Mitch, you’re not going to be able to replace that. At the same time, because of the health history, if you give Mitch guaranteed years and he gets hurt and suffers a serious injury, which would suck, which would suck for him, now you’ve got this legitimatelysized basically just hit of dead money on your books and that could be hampering, especially if you’re going to be a Second Apron team next year. Now, what you could do is you could say, “You know what? We just got to see how this year goes. Just got to see how this year goes. If if you’re good and you’re healthy then and and your body is holding up well, then we’ll pay you next summer, Mitch. Like, you’re too important. We’ll bring you back, but we can’t commit to the money now.” I wonder if the Knicks end up saying to Mitch, like, I wonder what Mitch says. If the Knicks say, “Hey, Mitch, here’s an extension. It’s for a really low number. Like he makes 129. He’s eligible to make 18.1 in year one. Uh which would, you know, come out to what’s the number that it would be on over four years? Like 47 uh two. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah. 472. It was quick math. It was good. Good job by you, man. Good job. Good job. So So it would it would come out to that. Actually, it might be 476 with raises. I might be making that. Okay. Actually, it might be 4 for 80 with raises. I might be making that up. Might be terrible math. Who knows? It’s something in that range. It’s something in that range. Yeah, it actually might be four for like 80.25 or something like that. I think that’s it. But anyway, starts at 18.1. I can tell you that much. So, starts at 18.1. If the Knicks just came in and said, “Uh, here’s three years on an extension and 40 million total uh team option on the last year.” I wonder how Mitch responds to that because as a player that’s a vast underpay and I think Mitch could be justified in looking at that being like $13 million a year. I make $13 million this year, right? And that was the fourth year of a declining contract and I’m better today than I was when I signed this contract. This contract paid me on average 15 million a year and I’m better today and the cap is way higher than it was when I signed it. So, how in the world would I accept this? Because this is way worse than the player I am. Like Daniel Gaffford is Gaffford for 54. Right. Right. And he could be like, I’m better than Daniel Gaffford and I’m also more important and you can’t replace me. Right. from that perspective. At the same time, he also could be if if he thought of it that way, I wouldn’t think that was cocky. I would be like, I understand. Yeah. I I wouldn’t disagree with a word of it. Mhm. He also could look at it and be like, damn. Well, that’s more money than I ever thought I was going to make in my entire life. And um he he’s self-aware about his injuries. Yeah. you know, he might be like, “If I suffer another injury, I may never get that guy. You’re not getting it.” Uh, and he loves no more trucks, no more big rigs, you know, and he and he and he loves playing for the Knicks. So, I I it’s not exactly like I think Mitch is like, you know, looking elsewhere or anything like that. Like, he loves playing for the Knicks. So, yeah. I mean, that’s just that’s just that that part is me projecting because I I know him and and making an educated guess, but like I can tell you for sure he loves playing for the Knicks. I would be very surprised if his preference was to go somewhere else. Like he he loves playing this organ unless he goes to Memphis, but they don’t really need him. They got Triple J, but you know, he’s he’s out there. He’s out there in uh in Nashville. They got they got Edy. They got Edy. Yeah. So, they don’t they got Brandon Clark. Right. Right. Right. Right. You know, I I I think Mitch Mitch Mitch loves it in in New York. I don’t think his preference, you know, all things aside will be to leave ever. But, you know, yeah, every it’s a business and the business sometimes takes over. But if Mitch says like, damn, I could I could I could get hurt, require another season ending surgery tomorrow with my luck and I could never see this money and like if I turn this down, it it is a legitimate risk. And Mitch might say might believe all those things that I just said about him earlier because they’re true and he’s a very confident guy. So I’m sure he does believe that. And he might still say screw it. I’ll take the security. Like $40 million might not be what it used to be in the NBA, but it is what it used to be in the world. Still a lot of money in the world, so I’ll take the 40 mil. Um and I wonder I just I wonder it’s a really interesting thought exercise into team building. It’s a really interesting thought exercise into team building within the Second Apron. And it’s also kind of an interesting thought exercise into the psychology of an NBA player. Very, very much so. And how they value themselves versus how they want to take risks on things that are out of their control. Like how good of a player Mitchell Robinson is. A lot of that, I’m sure he believes to be in his control. Injuries are out of his control. you know, like he could have a fluke injury and he’s prone to those and he might be traumatized by them and be like, “Screw this. Give me the security.” So, and the Knicks may also say, “We don’t want to do that because we can’t commit this long-term money.” It is. What do you think of it? Where do you stand on it? I got to keep him. I get, you know, I’m a blockchist guy, man. You know, playoffs. I was like, “Start Mitch. Start Mitch. Start Mitch. He needs to be Well, he’s he’s an awesome player.” Yeah. Yeah. He’s not. I mean, we’re on the same page as him as a player. Yeah. I just I don’t see the the the replacement cost. Yeah. You know, guys are going to be like, “Oh, Hucky, Hucky.” For me, Huck Hucky. You bring Mitch in, you sit him on the second night of back tobacks. That’s Hucky time. Maybe you sprinkle in a couple Hucky minutes each game to kind of get you keep Mitch between like a 27 maybe 30 and and you try to figure out the rest between Towns and Huck. But I don’t think that there’s there’s no chance in my opinion that they can even come close to competing for a championship without him on defense, anchoring the defense. I agree with I agree with you. I I I I would not get rid of him. I think the question is either do you extend him and let it play out until the and and do you extend him and potentially hit the wrist on the long-term deal that’s going to hurt you? Yeah, that’s what I would do. Or I would I would Or do you let it play out? I’d let it play out. I’d let it play out. Yeah. And then you let it play out. And if he has if he has an awesome year, then you say screw it. We’ll pay you. But that could end up hurting you even more down the line. It’s true. Because because if you’re going to extend him, you’re going to get him on a team friendlier contract. And if Mitch does come out and he plays 60 games, yeah, let’s just say let’s just say he plays 60 games. He’s not even eligible for awards, but he plays, let’s just say he plays 60 games and he and he plays at the level that he did during the playoffs for the entire season. And let’s say even they monitor his minutes cuz they want to keep him healthy and he plays 22 minutes a game, but he’s amazing in the 22 minutes. And then you get to the playoffs and he is one of the driving forces for why you got to the finals because he just does the same thing quite honestly that he always does in the playoffs. He’s always awesome in the playoffs. Yeah. Uh he just does the thing that he always does in the playoffs. He dominates four series in the playoffs and you’re like, “Oh, holy smokes.” I guess we got to pay Mitchell Robinson because he’s an unrestricted free agent and a lot of teams have cap space in 2026 and uh he teams think he can be healthy now and there might be a market for him. Uh and then you got to pay him I don’t think you’re going to have to pay him 25 million a year. I mean Turner Yeah. Turner money. Yeah, I don’t think you’re there’s going to be a world where you’re going to have to pay him that because there’s no amount of healthy that he could be this year that could make people want to give him that money long term. Like there’s still going to be like, okay, well, he was healthy one year. You know, I don’t think it’ll be that, but it might be more than you would have had. You could have gotten him in an extension for so it might cost you more down the line and then all of a sudden the injury risk is still there. Uh, I I do think the the number one play that you need with Mitch is this year is like every single move that you make with Mitch this year. And then Knicks obviously have a very wellrespected medical team and I’m I’m sure they they’re going to think this way and do what’s best for him in that sense, but I would just like not even care at all about the regular season. Right. Right. I wouldn’t care the least. I would treat him the way that the Clippers treat Kawhai. I I I would just be like, Mitch, I couldn’t care less about the regular season. I don’t care. I don’t care if you never play. I don’t care. The only goal is to make sure And by the way, we don’t run you rusty on April 15th either, but like April 20th or whenever the playoffs start. The only goal is for you to be at 100% capacity then. We don’t want you rusty then and we don’t want you hurt then. We are going to balance it so that we’re like ramping you up in the spring and you’re good to go. Like whatever happens in the regular season, we don’t care. Just we need you awesome in the playoffs because the Knicks are good enough to where they should be playing the long game there. Absolutely. And Mitchell Robinson is good enough and as you said, important enough and I totally agree with you that like they they they can’t win the East without him. No, they cannot win the East without him. And I shouldn’t say they can’t win the East without him. Maybe they can because it’s the East, but they can’t win as easily. And I wouldn’t pick them to win the East without him. He’s so incredibly important. And as for Hook Porty, I actually like Hucky. Me, too. I’m very encouraged by Hook Py. He is I had a I talked about this on my podcast actually earlier this week where he has this rare combination for a young big where he is a really good leaper and he’s really athletic and active but he’s also really good at boxing out and that’s really rare for a young big normally like young bigs who are athletic and that kind of stuff just try to jump over everybody and there are other young bigs who are just like ginormous and not that athletic like a Zack Edi who will box out everybody But but you don’t normally get both and and Hook Porty is is really good at that. He’s a good finisher around the rim. He plays incredibly hard. Yeah, I like his effort. Uh I think he got smarter as the year went on last year. I think that he he he got an injury history, too, which is a little worrisome, but I I I like where he’s heading. I think the signs on him are are good for him to be like a good energy Yes. 15-minute game center. But while I think he is the same archetype as Mitchell Robinson, Mitchell Robinson has developed into becoming one of the best in the league at that archetype. He is a rare defensive talent and a rare rebounding talent. Him and Stephen Adams are the two best rebounders in the NBA. Yep. Those are the two best rebounders in the NBA. So, you could be a really good rebounder. Mitchell Robinson changes the game as a rebounder. Mitchell Robinson is one of like three or four players in the NBA who I would say is a playmaker as a rebounder. Like most guys are just rebounders as rebounders. Either you get rebounds or you box out guys so your teammates can get rebounds. Mitchell Robinson is like preventing teams from being able to get out in transition because they have to send three or four guys at him. That’s right. M Mitchell Robinson is opening up wide open rebounds for teammates because four guys, three guys are boxing him out and somebody else is just running in and getting rebound because that guy’s not boxed out. He’s tapping the ball up 18 times in a row which is forcing which is allowing his other teammates to be able to get back a little bit and for the other team to not get out running uh he even if he doesn’t get the ball he is a playmaker as a rebounder. Huck is not a playmaker as a rebounder. Maybe one day he’s not a playmaker as a rebounder. It’s not a knock on Hucky. I there is almost no one else in the league I would describe as a playmaker as a rebounder. I mean it it’s Mitchell Robinson. It’s probably Stephen Adams and those are the guys. And there are very few guys who in like morning shootarounds people like coaches are going to talk about them as rebounders. Oh, here’s how we attack this guy on the glass. Coaches do that with Mitchell Robinson. You got a game plan for that. They game plan morning of for Mitchell Robinson. like he’s he’s one of the guys on the scouting report that you are going through and that that’s a good indicator of how important he is and how valuable he is. Huck fills those same roles as Mitch, but the way that Mitch does it, it’s different. It’s just different, man. It is a whole different level. I mean, he is the things that he is good at. My dad doesn’t really follow basketball. very c very casual. He started getting into the Knicks the last couple of years because they’ve obviously gotten really good and you know I covered the team and so he started to get into it and but he never really saw the good version of Mitchell Robinson because he was always hurt or he was back and he wasn’t 100% or whatever. So my dad didn’t didn’t get it. He was like, “Why is everyone so excited for Mitchell Robinson? I think this guy doesn’t do anything. Like he he’s just not doesn’t do anything for me. He’s not good at all.” My dad couldn’t see it. So, at the beginning of the playoffs, I told him, I was like, “You want to see how good Mitchell Robinson is when a when a opposing team’s shot is in the air, just don’t watch the ball. Just watch Mitchell Robinson and watch all the people around him who are like swarming him trying to get the basketball and just watch that.” And then it gets to the playoffs and Mitch starts to absolutely go off. And my dad calls me one day and says, “I watched Mitchell Robinson for a whole game. I took your advice.” I was like, “What do you think?” He said, “I get it now. I re He said, “I get it. I totally get it.” And he said, “Uh” he said, “I get what it is now. It’s that the things that he’s not good at, he’s the worst I’ve ever seen. But the things that he is good at, he’s the best I’ve ever seen.” Yeah. That that is a Mitch. Yes, that is exactly it. That is exactly it. But the things that he’s not good at, he just doesn’t do. Uh and and so he’s really freaking good when he just does the things that he is the best my dad has ever seen at. Uh and and that’s the value in Mitch. He’s he’s really become a a wonderful player. Yeah. It’s just the health. It’s the health. It it’s it’s just the health, man. Uh, and speaking of health, shout out to everybody in the chat. Uh, Matthew Klein sent the $10 super chat. He says, “No chip without Mitch with this team as constituted. We need another backup center for insurance.” He also says, “Uh, I agree. Huck had serious injuries before we got him.” Also, Steven Fox in the chat, Mitch is an elite offensive rebounder. And, uh, he did. One thing I did want to say with Huck is he he’s got a nice little floater to him. You know, he’s got like that little ih hard floater. Sometimes, like in summer league, sometimes he would get jammed up. He get called for traveling. He’d be a little bit indecisive when he’s out there in the short role and with with nothing but space. But when he does drop, you know, when he does shoot it, it it does go down. So, I I I like how he’s rounding out. He’s an iart mentee. That’s right. Both both German centers. He he he loves Isaiah Hardinstein. Yeah. They’re really They’ve been close since Huck was like really young. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sh and shout out to iheart, man. Very happy um that he won the chip.

Could The Knicks Survive Without Their Star Defender? | The Mitchell Robinson Debate

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