New York Knicks rookie center Mitchell Robinson has made a quick leap into the league and has started to establish himself as one of the top shot-blockers in the NBA to the surprise of head coach David Fizdale.
After 58 games, the 7-foot-1 big man is swatting 2.43 shots per game, a mark only second to league leader Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers, who is likely to walk out with the shot-blocking crown by the end of the season.
Fizdale however, noted Robinson is a natural, already walking into the Knicks' rotation knowing stuff that must be first taught to other aspiring shot rejectors.
“Some of that is just natural,” Fizdale told Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “The timing and all of that stuff, that’s natural stuff. He walked in here with timing everything. The fact that he naturally already just instinctually says, ‘oh left hand block versus the right hand block because it’s the right hand to use.’ Those are things that you can teach some of that stuff but man, he walked in the door with a lot of that. The biggest thing with him was understanding what was going on around him and how fast the action was coming at him. And over the course of the year, it seems like that he’s adjusted to that really well.”
Robinson was one of the biggest surprises of the Summer League entering the league, but he quickly got a wake-up call upon starting the regular season, getting in foul trouble and at times fouling out of games due to his propensity to lose control during challenges.
As the season progressed, he's adhered his timing and shot-blocking experience to a new-learned feel for the game, which has now made him into one of the best rim defenders in the league.
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