In a rather calm season in terms of the media for the Knicks (for once, gossip will say…), it’s a short but strange episode around Mitchell Robinson on social networks which captured all the attention around the “Big Apple” club this Wednesday and Thursday.
The day after New York’s victory in Portland, the Knicks pivot was indeed “illustrated” by a post on his Snapchat account in which he grumbled without taking any tweezers against his use.
” Tired of being on the court doing cardio, I want to play basketball for real, and not waste my time and my energy… I’m going to disappear for a while “he had thus written in a message subsequently deleted.
Yet full-time holder in a team that has one of the ten best records in the league, in an important role as a control tower in defense and to a lesser extent as a necessary fixation point in attack, “Mitch” thus seemed particularly frustrated with the low consideration given to him in attack, despite significant limits in his offensive game (48% in free throws this season for example).
“I’ve been tormented lately, and after the game against Portland I broke down. I’m expecting a child, I have family worries, so I just have to find a way to keep control in my mind.
Once the bellows fell, the explanations came. Through Instagram in this case, where he was commenting on a post from the “Knicks Fan TV” page to clarify his comments. Referring in particular with great frustration to his thumb injury suffered earlier in the season, which deprived him of 14 games.
” I see many of you accusing me of being immature or whatever. But let me tell you one thing: I could very well be selfish and take 80 shots without defending. But it’s not me, I give my physical integrity for this bullshit. They say I’m injury prone, but when I got injured it was on defensive possession. If I stop defending, I will never get hurt again, but I enjoy this game too much not to risk hurting myself he wrote, pointing to a supposed indulgence with variable geometry towards him. ” I don’t think about it, I do what I have to do in defense without worrying about the consequences. So even though some of you love to say that I need to play better on offense, I do what [les Knicks] have been asking me for five years now. »
Then Mitchell Robinson to engage on another subject: his personal worries, an additional layer of frustration after the game against the Blazers (2 points and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes in this game).
” I’ve been tormented lately, and after the game against Portland I broke down. I’m expecting a child, I have family worries, so I just have to find a way to keep my mind in check. I chained three bad games, and then I started to think about all that, that’s all “ he added, before finally apologizing. ” But it will be fine for me. Sorry about that, I should have handled my frustration differently because I didn’t want to cause controversy. I just need to find myself. »
To be continued, obviously hoping that Mitchell Robinson finds the right balance, on and off the pitch…
| Mitchell Robinson | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2018-19 | NYK | 66 | 21 | 69.4 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 6.4 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 7.4 |
| 2019-20 | NYK | 61 | 23 | 74.2 | 0.0 | 56.8 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 9.7 |
| 2020-21 | NYK | 31 | 28 | 65.3 | 0.0 | 49.1 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 8.1 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| 2021-22 | NYK | 72 | 26 | 76.1 | 0.0 | 48.6 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 8.6 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 8.5 |
| 2022-23 | NYK | 49 | 27 | 68.8 | 0.0 | 48.0 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 9.1 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 7.5 |
| Total | 279 | 24 | 71.6 | 0.0 | 53.0 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 7.8 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 8.3 | |
