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Mitchell Robinson will not be ready for the start of the 24-25 season as he is not yet fully recovered from his May foot surgery. Robinson and the Knicks are targeting a return in either December or January.

The Knicks maintain that they are confident in their existing depth at center and don't want to rush Robinson back. The Knicks lost Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency.

Robinson suffered a stress injury in his left foot during the playoffs. Robinson also had surgery on the foot in December. 

Via Yaron Weitzman

Luv those Knicks wrote:Randle, Precious & Sims will share center. That'll be interesting. Still a good team, but no legit center right now.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:Randle, Precious & Sims will share center. That'll be interesting. Still a good team, but no legit center right now.

6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 but a scrub... It will be fine most nights, but never great and sometimes a struggle.

HaydukesRedux wrote:Precious and OG looked fine against Embid.

Undersized? or course, but like you said, "fine most nights" and other nights.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:Randle, Precious & Sims will share center. That'll be interesting. Still a good team, but no legit center right now.

6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 but a scrub... It will be fine most nights, but never great and sometimes a struggle.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:Randle, Precious & Sims will share center. That'll be interesting. Still a good team, but no legit center right now.

6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 but a scrub... It will be fine most nights, but never great and sometimes a struggle.

Luv those Knicks wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:Randle, Precious & Sims will share center. That'll be interesting. Still a good team, but no legit center right now.

6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 but a scrub... It will be fine most nights, but never great and sometimes a struggle.

I'm going to disagree with you on "never great", as I think some nights the smaller Knicks lineup will run circles around their opponants. They will look great for a share of their games. That said, . . . I'm just going to wait and see how much this hurts them. If Mitch comes back in January and gives them half a season and playoffs, that'll be fine. But knowing Leon, the Knicks will try to work the phones and make a trade. Leon loves dealing.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 but a scrub... It will be fine most nights, but never great and sometimes a struggle.

I'm going to disagree with you on "never great", as I think some nights the smaller Knicks lineup will run circles around their opponants. They will look great for a share of their games. That said, . . . I'm just going to wait and see how much this hurts them. If Mitch comes back in January and gives them half a season and playoffs, that'll be fine. But knowing Leon, the Knicks will try to work the phones and make a trade. Leon loves dealing.

Well, that is a result of Thibs seeing a matchup and countering it with a small ball lineup, usually for short stretches in a game. It's very different when you have no choice. Now teams see how the Knicks have to play and build lineups to exploit it. It is no longer a counter move... it is their only move.

Luv those Knicks wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Luv those Knicks wrote:
I'm going to disagree with you on "never great", as I think some nights the smaller Knicks lineup will run circles around their opponants. They will look great for a share of their games. That said, . . . I'm just going to wait and see how much this hurts them. If Mitch comes back in January and gives them half a season and playoffs, that'll be fine. But knowing Leon, the Knicks will try to work the phones and make a trade. Leon loves dealing.

Well, that is a result of Thibs seeing a matchup and countering it with a small ball lineup, usually for short stretches in a game. It's very different when you have no choice. Now teams see how the Knicks have to play and build lineups to exploit it. It is no longer a counter move... it is their only move.

Thibs doesn't do that kind of thing. He's a good coach, but he frustrates knick fans with his lack of flexibility. I think it had more to do with foul trouble and not wanting I-Hart to foul out, or Mitch to foul out. I could be wrong. It's been a few months. Thibs was never one to get creative with small lineups. He used a short lineup most of the playoffs. Using Precious at center and not having Randle meant we had to play OG at PF most of the time and Josh Hart at SF. Small lineup by default with Mitch missing some games and Randle missing the playoffs entirely.

Thibs wants a center. Leon wants a center. Me . . . I just want them healthy for the playoffs. Knicks probably could use a center though I'm not sure who they'll trade for. But I'm also curious what the roster they have now can do.

Pickled Prunes wrote:
Thibs might be frustrating, but you just mentioned several effective adjustments he (and his staff) made in the playoffs last season. Finding the right time to take your only center off the court and finding the right scheme to defend with no one over 6-7 on the floor... these are key adjustments.

I don't think being "good enough" for three months will be good enough. They want to be a 1,2 or 3 seed so they can avoid BOS until the ECF. NYK finished in 2nd last season, but only 3 games ahead of 7th. A loss or two in November could make a huge difference in playoff seeding. They don't need to trade for a starting center, but having a big body at the end of the lineup can really help.

Luv those Knicks wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:
Thibs might be frustrating, but you just mentioned several effective adjustments he (and his staff) made in the playoffs last season. Finding the right time to take your only center off the court and finding the right scheme to defend with no one over 6-7 on the floor... these are key adjustments.

I don't think being "good enough" for three months will be good enough. They want to be a 1,2 or 3 seed so they can avoid BOS until the ECF. NYK finished in 2nd last season, but only 3 games ahead of 7th. A loss or two in November could make a huge difference in playoff seeding. They don't need to trade for a starting center, but having a big body at the end of the lineup can really help.

Let me be clear,

An adjustment because you don't want a player to foul out or because 2 of your big men are out due to injury is different than adjusting to a small lineup for a matchup.

Thibs is one of those guy's who's very set in his ways. I don't think he wants to use OG to guard centers. Fans might want to see it, but I don't think Thibs wants to do it.

I also disagree with you on the top 3 seed. Seeding doesn't matter that much. Health in the playoffs matters much more.

Leon will try to make a trade, no doubt, but he'll be reluctant to overpay. This could come down to the trade deadline, or maybe, nothing happens at all, or maybe they get lucky and a big man gets waived, though I'm not sure they can pick a guy up in their apron situation, Leon's going to try, hek, he's already trying, but I'm not sure how it'll play out. ;

That said, . . . and this has nothing to do with Thibs. I remember Pat Riley would throw everything he had a Shaq or Hakeem. Anthony, the lovable thug, Mason would guard those guys sometimes. Giving up lots of inches, but making up for it with tenacity and physical strength.

The Knicks had a PG once, a physical player, but like 6'3. He shouted to the bench one time "Let me guard Shaq". I can't place that players name, but I thought that was amusing,

Pickled Prunes wrote:
The GSW "death lineup" only became a thing because David Lee was injured. You are describing Thibs as only making adjustments when he has to. Even if that's true, he often makes the right adjustment. Most, if not all of his adjustments are defensive and going small is an offensive adjustment, so I would never expect him to lean that direction.

Pickled Prunes wrote:
That said, I don't know how this turned into a discussion about Thibs. I definitely wouldn't suggest that he is a top 10 coach in the NBA. Most of what you are saying lines up with what I have been saying. No coach in the NBA would be content to start the season with the NYK current center lineup. OG at center is a desperation move at best. They need to address it, but it doesn't need to be a major investment. Grab up Robin Lopez or Biyombo. Just put some heft at the end of the bench.

Seeding absolutely matters. NYK went 0-3 in IND in the playoff compared to 3-1 at home vs IND. More importantly, BOS went 37-4 at home last season. In fact of the 20 teams that made the play-in, CHI was the only team with a losing record at home, going 20-21. Home court matters. If the NYK are a 4-5 seed they will likely face PHI, IND, CLE or MIL in round 1. If they get through that, they face BOS in round 2. The East only has 4-5 good teams so the top three seeds get a bi-week in round 1.

Luv those Knicks wrote:Post by Luv those Knicks » Today 8:04 am

Pickled Prunes wrote:

The GSW "death lineup" only became a thing because David Lee was injured. You are describing Thibs as only making adjustments when he has to. Even if that's true, he often makes the right adjustment. Most, if not all of his adjustments are defensive and going small is an offensive adjustment, so I would never expect him to lean that direction.



Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Thibs only makes adjustments when his feet are held to the fire. Otherwise, he's locked in to his traditional lineups. But, we can disagree on Thibs and move on.

Luv those Knicks wrote: Pickled Prunes wrote:

That said, I don't know how this turned into a discussion about Thibs. I definitely wouldn't suggest that he is a top 10 coach in the NBA. Most of what you are saying lines up with what I have been saying. No coach in the NBA would be content to start the season with the NYK current center lineup. OG at center is a desperation move at best. They need to address it, but it doesn't need to be a major investment. Grab up Robin Lopez or Biyombo. Just put some heft at the end of the bench.

Seeding absolutely matters. NYK went 0-3 in IND in the playoff compared to 3-1 at home vs IND. More importantly, BOS went 37-4 at home last season. In fact of the 20 teams that made the play-in, CHI was the only team with a losing record at home, going 20-21. Home court matters. If the NYK are a 4-5 seed they will likely face PHI, IND, CLE or MIL in round 1. If they get through that, they face BOS in round 2. The East only has 4-5 good teams so the top three seeds get a bi-week in round 1.



The Knicks center situation is . . . I don't know what adjective to use. Dire? Messed up? Scary? Ammusing? I'll be honest, I'm ammused.

NY was trying to trade for a center before this happened. Now, with Mitch out till December, every GM in the league knows NY is hungry for a center and that's not a good place to negotiate from.

As a fan, I'm fine with this. Sims is limited, but OK. Precious is more of a PF, but he's a servicable center and a bit more capable on offense than Sims. And Randle will play some center too, Is that ideal? No. But, as a fan, I don't care. I still think they have a good team and it'll be fun to watch. See how Precious and Sims do. See if Randle can handle the spot (hey, that rhymes) and get Mitch back with 30 or 40 games left. I'm OK with that, and if they swing a trade, which they're certainly going to try to do, maybe that's even better.

Yes, they're one of the weakest teams at center in the league right now. That was a strength the last 2 years, now it's a weakness. I think that's something we both agree on.

I'm still looking forward to the season. I'm curious how this will work.

That's just my thoughts. I'm more curious than worried. Maybe I'll get worried if nothing happens by the deadline and if Mitch struggles to return, but for now, I'm not worried.