The New York Knicks lived up to expectations as one of the league's worst teams this season, currently owning the NBA's bottom-ranked win-loss tally at a lowly 14-61. Still, coach David Fizdale isn't done ensuring he takes advantage of every last moment in the 2018-19 season.

How will he do it over the regular season's final seven games? By inserting tantalizing rookie Mitchell Robinson as the Knicks' starting center, a move heartily endorsed by the player he's replacing, veteran big man DeAndre Jordan.

The 36th overall pick of last year's draft, Robinson was considered a top-10 recruit in the 2017 high school class by several national scouting services. He was a relative unknown during the pre-draft process regardless, though, hindered by not playing college basketball at all in 2017-18 despite enrolling at Western Kentucky. After being granted his release from the school and briefly contemplating transferring to a NCAA powerhouse, in September 2017 Robinson announced his intention to forego his freshman season altogether and prepare for the NBA.

At 7-foot-1 with elite leaping ability, natural coordination, and long arms, Robinson is blessed with elite-level physical tools for an NBA center, ability he's most put to use as a rim-runner and all-court shot-blocker as a rookie. The 20-year-old is shooting 68.1 percent from the floor, with 106 dunks, and has put together one of the best shot-blocking seasons in NBA history, evidenced by a league-leading 10.7 percent block rate only matched by Alonzo Mourning and Manute Bol among high-minute players.

Robinson is far from a finished product, or even no-doubt future star. He has a long way to go in terms of defensive awareness, and needs to get better setting screens and handling the ball in space. At a skinny listed weight of 240 pounds, he could certainly use some additional muscle, too.

Needless to say, what Robinson does with the opportunity afforded him over the season's final games could prove quite instructive to his place in the Knicks' long-term plans.