Mitchell Robinson is the Knicks' Biggest Variable in the Playoffs and Free Agency

Playoff basketball has become an annual thing in Manhattan over the last few springs. With that has come the yearly occurrence of the Hack-A-Mitch strategy deployed on New York Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson. There it was, midway through the third-quarter on Saturday, when Atlanta coach Quin Snyder sicced Mo Gueye to wrap a just-checking-in Robinson twice in a row to send him to the charity stripe.

Robinson missed the first and made the second, which evoked loud cheers from the Madison Square Garden faithful, who have long tried to encourage the fan favorite through his struggles. He made 1-of-4 free-throw attempts on the night. The seven-foot center was limited to one minute in the third-quarter and essentially intentionally fouled off the court.

This is why Erik Spoelstra ordered the hit on him when his Heat won four games to two in the 2023 Semifinals. Nick Nurse and the Sixers deployed the strategy before Joel Embiid took out Robinson’s legs, which ended his 2024 playoff campaign.

As It Turns Out, Team's Are Ok With Using The Hack-a-Mitch Strategy

During the Knicks run to the Conference Finals last season, coaches JB Bickerstaff, Joe Mazzulla and then Rick Carlisle all leaned on the desperate, yet correct strategy. Robinson converted on 22-of-56 (32.7%) tries during 18 playoff contests.

The strategy works to an extent by throwing off the team’s offensive rhythm and jumbling the rotations around. It does allow the Knicks to set their defense and slow the game down, however, which favors them.

An easy way to combat the maneuver is to just start Robinson at the beginning of quarters. Teams won’t want to get into the bonus that early. This is something coach Mike Brown did to start the fourth quarter.

Against the Hawks, Robinson’s availability is not especially important because of their lack of size up front. But the eight-year veteran can’t remain unplayable for swaths of games if the Knicks want to make a deep playoff run and he wants to cash in on a boat-load of money this summer.

Robinson is in the last year of his contract, earning $12.95 million. Talks about a new deal fell through in September. Re-signing him will likely put New York over the second apron, restricting their ability to improve the roster. They do hold his full bird rights and can exceed the tax to bring him back and have no assets to replace him if he walks.

On the open market, even with his well-documented struggles at the free-throw line and sketchy injury history, Robinson will easily fetch the $15 million mid-level exception, likely more after going largely unscathed this season. Thanks to abiding by a strict load management program and not suiting up in back-to-backs, Robinson saw action in 60 games, his most since 2021-22.

Robinson Enjoyed His Most Healthy And Impactful Season

Despite averaging a shade under twenty minutes per game and his offensive game mostly revolving around catching lobs, Robinson was a force on both sides of the ball due to historically great offensive rebounding. He led the Eastern Conference in offensive rebounds per game and averaged a league-leading 22.2 rebounds per 100 possessions this season, including a whopping 10.6 on the offensive boards, per NBA Reference.

Robinson's Achilles heel did get even worse this season, though. He started the season 6-of-28 (21%) from the line and finished with a career-low percentage of 40.8%. Since Robinson shot 60% during his rookie campaign, his free-throw percentage has declined every year, except for last year, when he converted on 13 -of-19 attempts (68%) in just 17 games.

During his career, Robison has made 420 of 827 (50.8%) free throws. That number craters to 38.6 during postseason play. This has made him unplayable at vital times. The Knicks are better with Robinson in the game. They must decide how to keep him in it right now and for years to come.

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