Knicks Must Reincorporate Mitchell Robinson Down the Stretch

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson made his season debut against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, marking a return to the court that was nearly 10 months in the making.

Robinson, 26, last played on May 6 of last year in Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers, but he re-aggravated an ankle injury that forced him to get surgery.

Now that he is back, CBS Sports writer Brad Botkin is urging the Knicks to get him as comfortable as possible before the playoffs.

"Will the Knicks start Robinson alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, perhaps sending Josh Hart to the bench? Or will they ultimately bring Robinson off the bench and do more one-big lineups with him spelling Towns? It'll probably be somewhere in the middle, but one thing is for sure: New York's defense, the third-worst unit in the league since Jan. 1, is not at a contending level, and Robinson, if he can get up to speed and assimilate effectively, can potentially change that equation quite a bit," Botkin writes.

"The Knicks do have three more games left against the top two teams in the East (two vs. Cleveland and one vs. Boston), and I would say those are big games for the Knicks to show they can play with the elite since they have been blasted by the league's top three teams (Cavs, Celtics, Thunder) this season to the tune of an 0-7 record and an average margin of defeat of more than 20 points, but all three of those matchups are in the final two weeks of the season and there's no telling whether Cleveland and Boston will be playing their main guys.

"If they are, circle those games. The Knicks really needs to prove, if only to themselves, they can compete with the big boys."

Robinson came off the bench against the Grizzlies, but perhaps a start or two would be ideal because it would give the Knicks' lineup a different look to possibly see if it would perform better than what the team currently has.

But whether Robinson is a starter or reserve, getting him up to game speed will be massively important if the Knicks want to do any damage in the playoffs.

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