After years of battling injuries, Mitchell Robinson finally became an NBA champion. But the offseason led to his departure from the New York Knicks. Despite the bitter exit, the 28-year-old center’s confidence is soaring, and his offseason work suggests he is eagerly waiting to prove something with the Boston Celtics.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I went to the gym… working out with my coach in Boston. You know what he said? He didn’t know that I had the s–t that I showed tonight,” Robinson said on his Snapchat. “The ball handling, the shooting, the touch. Right now, I’m just so confident in myself. I don’t worry about what no one said.
“I don’t give a f–k. But I am extremely confident right now. I feel like this is going to be a great year for me. As you can see, I’m starting to take recovery a lot more seriously. So, ‘Hey, man, whatever you believe in, chase your dream.'”
Robinson is beginning a new chapter after signing a three-year, $47.4 million deal with Boston. The Knicks’ salary-cap situation left them with little flexibility to keep him, even as Robinson had remained an important piece of their frontcourt when healthy. But that does not mean all paths were closed. The Knicks held Robinson’s Bird rights, which meant they could have exceeded the salary cap to re-sign him. But doing so would have pushed the franchise above the NBA’s punitive second salary apron.
Knicks owner James Dolan had already made it clear that the franchise wanted to avoid crossing that financial line.
“There’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be su-c-dal to do, and we’re not going to do those,” Dolan said in June. “One of them is called the second apron. Cannot go into the second apron… I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron.”
Now, the former Knicks star has an opportunity to show exactly what New York is losing. After all, last season, the Knicks also kept Robinson on an unofficial minutes restriction, and he appeared in 60 regular-season games.
Even with that limited workload, he averaged 5.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 72.3% from the field. His value became even clearer during the postseason.
Robinson played in all 18 games of the Knicks’ championship run despite nursing a fractured hand injury. He continued to provide the rebounding, interior defense and physicality that had made him such an important part of New York’s rotation. His departure also came with an emotional goodbye.
OG Anunoby appeared disappointed by Robinson’s departure, responding to his farewell post with a crying emoji. Then the former Knicks star replied, “I tried, brother. I didn’t want this to happen, Hopefully the truth comes out at some point. I’m gonna miss you, big dawg! Keep being great.”
Now, Boston gives him a fresh environment and a bigger opportunity to establish himself. Robinson is expected to compete with Neemias Queta for the starting center role in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation, but Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens already has plenty of faith in what the former Knicks center can bring.
“I feel like that spot is just really solid for us,” Stevens said on Beneath The Banners. “I think Mitch is obviously proven. He’s been there, done that. He’s an NBA champion and played a very meaningful role in that series. That’s just kind of what he’s always done. He just makes teams better.”
That faith should be enough for Robinson to power through.