Good morning! Get ready for another doozy on our summer countdown. Today we not only sing the praises of the one and only Mitchell Robinson, but we’ll also be going through another 10 names on our list, leaving us with just the top 23, six of which will be Leon Rose era Knicks. Let’s get to it…
The Knicks 100: No. 34 - Mitchell Robinson
I’m going to ask this question up front, in defense of myself for putting Mitchell Robinson as low as I did:
How often during Mitch’s eight-year stint in New York was he the best center on the team?
He wasn’t the best center in either of the last two seasons, playing behind All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. He wasn’t the best center the year before that, in part due to injury - sadly a major recurring theme of his career - but also because Isaiah Hartenstein took the job and ran with it. He was very good in the #WeHere season, but he only played 31 games, and that year was really about the three-headed monster in the middle comprised of Mitch, Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson (neither of whom made this list, I’ll note).
That leaves four seasons where Robinson was, arguably, the best big on the roster: his first two years in the league, during which he started just 26 of 127 games; the forgettable and regrettable ‘21-22 season; and last but not least, the ‘22-23 season, which culminated in perhaps the best playoff series of his career, and one of the most dominant postseason performances by a role player in Knicks history.
Robinson’s place on the depth chart throughout his time in New York was one of several factors I considered while I wrestled with where to properly slot him in, mostly because for much of this process, I knew I was putting him higher than I could justify.
Originally, I had Mitch in the 20-25 range, ahead of guys who helped lead the Knicks to the playoffs with All-Star games on their resumes. One of those players was Robinson’s longtime teammate, Julius Randle. Randle, I reasoned originally, had nary a standout playoff moment on his resume, while Robinson has quite a few. In the 2026 postseason alone, he’s responsible for two plays that I’ll be telling my grandkids about: the retribution dunk over Joel Embiid, and the offensive rebound that essentially secured the title.
Those plays embody Robinson to a T (or I guess to a D, at least when it comes to his legendary sense of humor that I’m sure will be sorely missed in the locker room). Those plays were confrontational. They were overpowering. They were unmistakably Mitch.
When Robinson was at his best as a Knick, he dominated stretches of games in a way that you swore no other player could. His offensive rebounding is right up there with Jalen Brunson’s floor game as something that cannot be game-planned for. If he was feeling frisky on the particular night your team was facing the Knicks, then your team was, well…fucked.
We had an inkling that Robinson would be special way back when he showed up to Vegas in 2018. The only issue - aside from turning all that raw ability into something useful - was whether Mitch would be here for a good time or a long time. Turns out, it was both. Between ditching college and bouncing from agent to agent, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if Robinson last in an organization that was already chock full of disfunction. That he wound up being one of the longest tenured Knicks in history only adds to his legend.
All of this contributes to why I had Mitch slotted so much higher on first pass, as does the recency bias I had for a guy who I still can’t believe won’t be wearing orange and blue on opening night. There is, however, another side to the coin.
Robinson may be tied for 14th in total seasons played in New York, but he’s 30th in games played and 42nd in total minutes - below Jalen Brunson despite being here for twice as long. He had some incredibly impactful postseason moments, but also some very quiet ones, and we’re still talking about someone who started only 15 of 53 playoff games while averaging under 20 minutes a night, including 14 minutes during the title run.
The stat that gave me the most pause putting Mitch this low is his 41.0 win shares as a Knick, good for 15th in franchise history, and 11th among players who didn’t play in the 1950’s. Whatever you think of advanced numbers, all you need to know is that this places him just below Earl Monroe, Carmelo Anthony and Dick Barnett, and just ahead of Kurt Thomas, Bill Bradley and Anthony Mason. Where the fancy stats are concerned, Mitch stands among the greatest Knicks of all time.
Ultimately, this ranking is a reflection of the whole package. Mitchell Robinson was a vitally important role player on one of the greatest teams in franchise history, as well as someone who could change a game or even a series. He was also injured a lot, was somewhat inconsistent for long stretches of his career, and as loath as I am to admit it, was an extremely limited offensive player.
Thus, he looks up at the following group:
