New York Knicks: 3 Christmas wishes from Saint (K)Nick

2. A more nice-than-naughty Mitchell Robinson

The biggest and most pleasant surprise for the New York Knicks these past few seasons has been the emergence of Mitchell Robinson out of nowhere. Originally a mere second-round pick, Robinson started going to work right away and became irreplaceable in New York.

During his rookie campaign in 2018-19, Robinson averaged 2.4 blocks per game which was good enough for second-best in the league, surpassing the likes of Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside. What’s more impressive is doing all that in just 20.6 minutes of playing time.

As a sophomore, Robinson kept on playing at a significantly high level, though the additions of half the available big men in free agency kinda slowed down his progress. He still managed to deny 2.0 shots per game while being on the court for 23.1 minutes per outing.

So why exactly is it that Robinson has been naughty in his professional career so far? Well, as is the case with many young centers, he too has struggled with the number of times he’s getting whistled at for a foul.

Robinson’s eagerness to defend often leads him to jump prematurely. More experienced big men can easily take advantage of that and earn themselves a quick and easy trip to the foul line while avoiding to face Robinson in the post.

Let’s talk numbers though, shall we? So far, Mitch has been holding a career 5.3 fouls committed per 36 minutes, meaning that we should look no further when trying to figure out why his playing time has been extremely limited despite his performances.

He actually managed to show signs of improvement during his sophomore season, though has a long way to go until he stands around the best centers in the league. These players usually commit a foul around 3-4 times per 36 minutes and are rarely in foul trouble.