Knicks Center Has Understandable Goal

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson wants to make sure that the best things in basketball life are truly free.

Robinson is back for an eighth Manhattan tour, which makes him the longest-tenured Knick. He has formidably established himself as a viable weapon of a bygone era, being one of the few traditionally-skilled centers that mostly camp in the paint to reject visitors, grab rebounds, and keep his shot chart within a five-foot radius.

Alas, Robinson has fallen victim to one of the stereotypes of such a subgenre, as he has routinely struggled at the free throw line: since he took the floor in 2018, Robinson's free throw percentage of 52.2 is third-to-worst in the Association among those that have tried at least 500 singles in that span, besting only the similarly-skilled Steven Adams and Bismack Biyombo.

Speaking at the team's Tarrytown as it prepared for an exhibition game against the Washington Wizards, Robinson stated that his understandable goal for this coming campaign is to get better at the foul line, planning to adjust his starting point.

“I noticed every time I shot it, it would go left," Robinson revealed, per Steve Popper of Newsday. "So then I put my left foot in front of the guideline, and I kind of scooted over a little bit. Actually, it kind of works for me. One dribble then go right to it ... I want to be better than last year. Those are extra points.”

Things reached a bit of a boiling point Robinson and the Knicks last postseason: New York obviously saw value in Robinson, as it re-inserted him into the starting lineup for the last four stanzas of the Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana following his lengthy injury absence stemming from the previous playoffs.

Before and after the switch, however, both Indiana and the Boston Celtics attempted to Bewitch-A-Mitch, fouling Robinson away from the ball to take their chances with his free throws rather than New York's attempts from the field. The gambit mostly paid off, with Robinson hitting less than 40 of his attempts. over the 18-game run.

Though his name has lingered in hypothetical trades and gossip, Robinson has reprised his role in the Knicks' starting five over the first three preseason games, pulling in a combined 30 rebounds over that trio. He has impressed new boss Mike Brown well enough to earn a comparison to an All-Star and brief Knicks from the turn-of-the-century.

"Mitch is a vertical threat. I’m guessing off the top of my head that he might be the best vertical threat I’ve been around," Brown noted, per Popper. "Antonio McDyess was a tremendous vertical threat. You could just close your eyes and throw it up and he’d go get it. That’ something you can do with Mitch. Some of the passes — I’m like, dang, that’s a bad pass — and he just like catches it even with one hand sometimes and throws it down. So with his ability to be a vertical threat, it’s going to help us in a lot of ways, but it is definitely better than what I thought coming in.”

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