The New York Knicks are expected to be one of the top challengers to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference this season, after taking a big swing to add Mikal Bridges in a blockbuster trade this summer.
New York’s guard and forward rotation is incredibly deep and talented, as Tom Thibodeau will have a ton of options for mixing and matching lineups. The one weak spot for the Knicks is at center, where they got thinner this summer when Isaiah Hartenstein left for Oklahoma City in free agency and they didn’t really find a replacement for him. They did keep Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims, but they figure to be very reliant on Mitchell Robinson being healthy to be at their very best.
The problem is, Robinson had foot surgery in May and word emerged on Monday from Yaron Weitzman and Tim Bontemps that he will not be back for the start of the season — and could be out until the calendar flips to 2025. Bontemps reports the expectation is Robinson misses “a couple of months” while Weitzman says the target for a return is December or January, but all of that is dependent on a smooth rehab process.
A year ago, when at their best, the Knicks were able to have 48 minutes of tremendous rim protection and rebounding from their center position with Robinson and Hartenstein. Now, they’ll start the season without either of them and be forced into a lot of small ball. They certainly have the personnel to manage small ball minutes, and Thibs was already talking about having Julius Randle play some minutes at the five this season. Achiuwa can also take some center minutes and OG Anunoby is even a viable option at the five, but the Knicks are going to have to make some serious adjustments to playing defense without a high-level rim protector, at least for the start of the season.
The optimist’s view of the situation is that getting a couple months without Robinson will give the Knicks more versatility come playoff time to go small depending on their matchup and have extended reps doing it in the regular season. That only really pans out if Robinson gets back to full strength and is healthy for the postseason, and they don’t wear down their forward rotation by having to deploy them at center more often.