Pick 36: Knicks Draft Mitchell Robinson - Pg 97-8 - Block Ness Monster catching on

[newyorker4ever]

Read on Twitter

Can someone find this kid some longer shorts please?

[HarthorneWingo]

The only question I have is, Woj mentioned mentorship, who's gonna be that for him on this team? I have confidence that Fiz and his coaching staff is gonna be big for him, but other than that I'm not sure which player is gonna be able to take him under his wing. I'm not a fan of Kanter at all, and I'm not even sure if Noah is the right guy to mentor this kid.

If we don't have a veteran player we can trust to mentor him, we might want to find one during free agency. A pros pro kinda like Courtney Lee but a big man who has been through it. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head.

And if we can't find such a vet, then Fizdale and members of the coaching staff will have to take him under their wing and do it themselves.

I have just the man for the job.

Spoiler:

[Capn'O]

Read on Twitter

Yo. Yo. Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo. We have GOT to figure this guy out and get his head right. I don't care what the circumstances are. Doing that at 7'1" is INSANE. That right there is why his upside is in a whole different place from guys like Jordan and Capela.

[IllmaticHandler]

Picks from Draft night. Happy for this cat.

[Mecca]

Mitch is going to be a 2K cheat code.

[IllmaticHandler]

Local Article on him...

Mitchell Robinson didn't treat Thursday like the biggest day of his 20-year old life.

He woke up, brushed his teeth and headed to the Chalmette High School gym for about two hours.

"I had to get some shots in," Robinson said.

He got a haircut, and later arrived at the Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette with 75 or so friends and family members to find out the next stop in what has been a long-winding basketball journey.

Then he waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally, at 10:05 p.m, the celebration started when the New York Knicks selected Robinson with the sixth pick (36th overall) of the second round.

"It's a dream come true," Robinson said. "It was long, but it paid off in the end."

Robinson was hoping to be the first player from the New Orleans area drafted in the first round since former John Ehret guard Elfrid Payton was selected out of Louisiana-Lafayette with the No. 10 pick in 2014.

Instead, he missed out on the guaranteed money that comes with the first round and fell to the second round, just as ESPN draft analyst Jay Bilas predicted earlier in the week.

"Mitchell Robinson is sort of a mystery man in this draft," ESPN draft analyst Jay Bilas said on a Tuesday conference call. "He's a top 10 talent that may wind up going in the second round. The concerns are that you haven't seen him in a while, and he's a bit of an unknown."

If Mitchell Robinson wasn't 7-feet tall and being swarmed by friends and family members to take pictures, you probably wouldn't have known the gathering was for him.

He fit in with the crowd, showing no signs of nervousness throughout the night, even after the first round ended.

His mother, Lakesha Hall, says that's the way Robinson has been throughout his unconventional basketball journey.

"Mitchell has not stressed through any of this," Hall said. "I've been running around biting my nails all day, and he has just been telling me to calm down."

Thursday brought to an end what has been a wild drama-filled ride for Robinson.

This time last year, he had just been named Player of the Year on The New Orleans Advocate's All-Metro Team after averaging 26.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and six blocks on his way to being rated as the No. 11 player in the country. He played in the McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic but hasn't played organized basketball since. After signing with Western Kentucky, he decided not to enroll, instead opting to sit out a year and focus on preparing for the draft.

"There was some negativity and some positivity, but he just stayed humble and worked through it," Hall said.

Robinson was projected to go as high as 17 by ESPN and as low as 42 by the Sporting News.

Turns out, he was 36th.

"This is a big thing for St. Bernard Parish and for Chalmette High School," said Butch Stockton, Robinson's high school coach. "Just to have one of your local guys to be in the draft is huge."

Robinson says he's eager about transitioning from Chalmette to the Big Apple.

"I'm going to adjust to it," Robinson said. "I'm real excited. I finally did something I wanted to do."

[Capn'O]

im generally very skeptical of college player development outside of a few programs like nova

Agreed.

Its why the G league will start blowing up more with how they revised it. The first kid to skip College and go to the G league this years said that one of the reasons he did not go to school is cause he wants pro training now.

^this x1000. Fuq a college program.

[Tron Carter]

Read on Twitter

Yo. Yo. Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo. We have GOT to figure this guy out and get his head right. I don't care what the circumstances are. Doing that at 7'1" is INSANE. That right there is why his upside is in a whole different place from guys like Jordan and Capela.

that’s such a fluid catch and shoot motion for a 7 footer. the more I learn about this kid the crazier it seems to me that he fell.

[HarthorneWingo]

So the Lakers made a promise to Mitch to take him at #25.

Watch on YouTube

[Tron Carter]

going through this reddit thread is funny

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBA_Draft/comments/8nhxyv/schmitz_some_impressive_moments_from_mitchell/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=comment_list

just a month ago everybody thought he would be a first round lock. Laker fans didn’t even think he would last until the 25th pick.

[Capn'O]

that’s such a fluid catch and shoot motion for a 7 footer. the more I learn about this kid the crazier it seems to me that he fell.

He shouldn't have been there. It's outrageous that he was.

I was scouting bigs for BAF. When Jontay Porter dropped out (who I also love as an NBA prospect for very different reasons), I was sold on taking him at 15 and I like him more than some prospects that went above that. That said, I was able to trade for Sabonis and wanted SGA a little more so I ended up moving up.

I mean, his talent is just so obvious. Why go for a sure thing role player? He could be a star. I take that risk 10 times out of 10 over a Zhaire Smith or Huerter. Don't get me wrong. I like those cats. But take a hard swing, man. So what if you miss. If we can see it... what are all these GMs missing? Do they think the Lakers' fanbase is still mad that they picked Andrew Bynum over "Sure thing" Sean May

[Jeff Van Gully]

im generally very skeptical of college player development outside of a few programs like nova

Agreed.

Its why the G league will start blowing up more with how they revised it. The first kid to skip College and go to the G league this years said that one of the reasons he did not go to school is cause he wants pro training now.

^this x1000. Fuq a college program.

only problem like that is you miss out on the exposure, hence robinson falling so low.

as we invest in the g-league more and figure out how to use it better there will be more benefit for young people to play there as starts to their pro careers.

[Jeff Van Gully]

So the Lakers made a promise to Mitch to take him at #25.

Watch on YouTube

but a promise is a comfort to a fool

Watch on YouTube

[Capn'O]

Agreed.

Its why the G league will start blowing up more with how they revised it. The first kid to skip College and go to the G league this years said that one of the reasons he did not go to school is cause he wants pro training now.

^this x1000. Fuq a college program.

only problem like that is you miss out on the exposure, hence robinson falling so low.

as we invest in the g-league more and figure out how to use it better there will be more benefit for young people to play there as starts to their pro careers.

It'll get there.

[F N 11]

Watch on YouTube

Ayton wanted no parts.

[nykballa2k4]

I have been talking about mitchell for weeks now only to be disregarded

LOL how the tide turns

Man Please many people talked about him. he just was not a reasltic target so nothing was in depth much. We would have not picked him @ 9 nor did many people think he would slip into the second. People talked about him going back to January. Dont pat your self on the back to hard. You not special.

I briefly mentioned the idea of liking Mitchell if we got a 2nd pick in the 1st. Does that count? I am glad that Garbagelo got his guy, but the real challenge is seeing if he lives up to a quarter of his potential. Will he be DeAndre Jordan or Randolph Morris?

[Ignitowsky]

Similar situation as MPjr, but for different reasons....no bad back.

[F N 11]

If this dude played ball he’ll be a lottery pick. He took a weird route and had people think twice. Good swing for the fences pick by the Knicks. Fiz said he will start him off as a rim runner and protector like Capela. That’s a solid player.

[Da_Mane_Man]

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=22617189

Another pre-draft interview with Mitchell where he's a bit more articulate.

I usually care about that stuff, but in this case I really don't. He wasn't the 9th pick, he was a 2nd rounder. I don't expect him to be the leader of the franchise or anything close to it. He's got potential to really outproduce his draft slot, that's all you can really expect from a 2nd round pick.

What I am excited about from that clip is his shooting. I have been trying to find videos of him making a damn shot and all I see is dunks. That's great. We know he can dunk. I needed to see him knock down a shot and that video shows him doing it (all the way out to the 3pt line too). He's also been working on his handle too, which is another plus.

We know he's gonna bring shot blocking, some rebounding, running the floor and dunking. What we need to see him do is at least be a threat to hit a jumper or take his man off the dribble as well as learn to stay out of foul trouble. If he can add those things to the ones he already does well, then we got a steal.

You say you realize he was a 2nd rounder than you say you expect him to finish near the rim, protect the rim, shoot from the outside, finish on the break, and take his man off the dribble.
How many 6'11" NBA players do that? 10? Maybe.
How about we temper our expectations some based on precedence for 2nd round picks. If he is a rotation player on a very good team its a great pick.
Your describing an All Star maybe an All NBA player

I said I expect him to do those things?

I thought I wrote "if he can add those things..."

[Da_Mane_Man]

Watch on YouTube

Ayton wanted no parts.

Man, I really like seeing that part in the beginning. He faced up and drilled a 3 while Ayton wouldn't come out to contest. That's exactly what I'd like to see him be capable of in the NBA.

In many ways, this is the perfect Center for today's game. He's thin, but very mobile. There aren't really that many Centers who get the ball down low and bang, so his lack of brute strength shouldn't hurt us much in that category. I think he can protect the rim and get boards just with his length alone. He also seems like he has a decent stroke so he's not going to be Deandre Jordan out there on offense.