Mitchell Robinson doesn’t care if he starts or comes off the bench — he just wants to help the Knicks win.
“Nah. It don’t matter to me at all,” Robinson said after Day 2 of training camp at the Knicks’ Tarrytown facility on Thursday. “I started before. I came off the bench before. I did great in both. So it’s whatever.”
Robinson, once the Knicks’ full-time starting center, saw his role reduced last season following the arrival of Karl-Anthony Towns and a delayed recovery from offseason ankle surgery. Now, under new head coach Mike Brown, the big man enters camp with no promises — and no preference.
Brown has emphasized his desire to play fast, a system that might favor Josh Hart, who started the entire regular season on the wing as New York notched 51 wins. Former head coach Tom Thibodeau, however, turned to Robinson to open games after the Knicks dropped the first two in the Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana. Robinson’s re-entry into the starting lineup — paired with rotation boosts from Landry Shamet and Delon Wright — sparked a turnaround, but the Pacers closed the series in six games.
Brown acknowledged Robinson’s impact after practice on Thursday but said starting roles remain up in the air.
“He is a monster on the glass,” Brown said. “In Sacramento, we tried to emphasize that if our big had to help and leave Mitch, our weak side had to crack back — even if it meant picking up a foul — because he can win a game on the offensive glass alone. That to me hasn’t changed.”
Brown added that he hopes to define roles ahead of the season opener — but isn’t forcing it.
“Ideally, it would be great to have everybody’s role defined before the first game,” he said. “Now, they can change throughout the course of the season, but hopefully going into Game 1, we as coaches — and Billy Lange — get to a point where we have everybody’s role defined. And not only that, but they embrace it so that everybody knows specifically what they need to do.
“We’ve got a lot of guys and we’re a new staff. So if we get a little behind, maybe it doesn’t happen until after the first or second game. I don’t know. But ideally, I’d like to have all that done before Game 1.”
FARM-FED AND FOCUSED
Robinson said he’s entering the season stronger, leaner and more prepared — thanks in part to a surprising lifestyle change: He now owns a farm in Nashville and eats strictly organic, home-grown food.
“I started my own farm thing in Nashville,” he said. “So all my stuff is legit fresh organic, stuff like that.”
He’s not the one doing the cooking — or the harvesting — but the results are showing. Robinson looked trim and springy on Day 2 of training camp.
“[My people] gotta go out there, grab it, and bring it,” he said.
CONTRACT YEAR CLARITY
Robinson is entering the final season of the four-year, $60 million contract he signed in 2022. The two sides have yet to reach an agreement on an extension, and players on expiring deals often surface in trade talks near the February deadline.
Still, Robinson insists he’s not letting the business side affect his approach.
“I’m gonna come out here and play hard still regardless, whether it’s my last [year] or my first [year], just come out here and play hard,” he said. “But at the same time I’m gonna let my agent handle that part of it. I’m just gonna play basketball.”
When asked whether he expects to hit free agency next summer, Robinson didn’t bite: “My agent will handle that.”
BACK-TO-BACKS TBD
After undergoing two procedures to repair stress fractures in his left ankle, Robinson did not play in both ends of back-to-backs last season. He’s fully healthy to start this year’s camp but said it’s still unclear whether he’ll be cleared for those situations moving forward.
“Imma let [the medical staff] handle that. They’re gonna tell me. I just go with the flow,” he said. “The season ain’t really start yet. We’re just in training camp.”