Thank You Mitch
New York, like every other sports city loves their stars. Jalen Brunson and Derek Jeter are New York royalty. However, once in a while, a role player comes along that captures the hearts and New York fans. Take Brett Gardner for example. He was a highly underrated player with the Yankees and even though he was never the best player on the team, he was beloved by Yankees fans. The undersized former college walk-on spent his whole 14 year career with the Yankees. He was scrappy, he was fast, he was fiery, and he played great defense. He never hit for power (except when they juiced the balls to the tilt in 2019) because of his size, but he did just about everything else. The other reason he was popular? He was the link between the 2009 World Series champs and the Aaron Judge era. For the Knicks, Mitchell Robinson was that guy.
In 2018, the Knicks took a chance on Robinson in the second round of the NBA Draft even though he chose to skip college and train for the draft on his own. Back then, the Knicks were in the Dark Ages. Mitch survived a 17 win season and David Fizdale year one. Even during that ugly season, he was second team All-Rookie. When they did finally make the playoffs in his third year, he missed it because of a foot injury. He finally got to debut in the playoffs in 2023 and showed out grabbing 9.8 RPG and blocking 2.2 shots per game. Then 2024 came and he suffered a foot injury in the playoffs that kept him out for most of the next season. He more than made up for lost time on the Knicks Conference Finals run with highlight defensive plays against Boston. With the help of Mikal Bridges, he clamped Jayson Tatum on the last possession of Game 2 and rotated to cover all five guys before trapping Jaylen Brown in the corner during the clinching game.
While injuries are part of his story, he established himself as an elite rim protector and rebounder. Especially on the offensive boards. Since the 2023 season, Mitch has a 20.7% offensive rebounding rate, by far the best in the league. He had his limitations. In addition to his long injury history, shot 35.5% from the foul line in his playoff career and teams tried Hack-A-Mitch to slow down the Knicks offense. The latter, contributed to many crowd pops at the Garden on the occasion he did hit one. However, his ability to grab an offensive rebound to keep possession alive and kick the ball out for a three was a huge weapon for the Knicks over the years. It is fitting that in his final seconds as a Knick he grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed free throw to keep the possession alive and help them seal the game. And he did it while playing through a surgically repaired broken hand.
With that, I’d like to say thank you Mitch. For sticking around during the dark years. For the offensive boards, especially the one in Game 5. Josh Hart said you grab normal offensive rebounds and he grabs the kind that break team. That broke San Antonio. For snatching Embiid’s soul on that dunk in Game 3. For the NBA Cup win. For stuffing Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in a locker during the 2023 playoffs. For your weird/cryptic social media posts. When you come back to New York to get your ring, I hope it is as loud in the Garden as it was when you made a free throw. Even though you signed with the Boston Celtics.
