{"id":185437,"date":"2025-07-21T13:52:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T13:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/185437\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T13:52:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T13:52:19","slug":"knicks-could-put-shot-blocking-center-back-in-starting-five-next-season-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/185437\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks could put shot-blocking center back in starting five next season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> will have a new look next season with Mike Brown now as the head coach. Furthermore, there is already some rumbling about a significant lineup change coming next season.<\/p>\n

Knicks liking the idea of Mitchell Robinson starting<\/p>\n

SNY\u2019s Ian Begley<\/a> noted that there is \u201cinternal support for Mitchell Robinson to be in the starting five instead of Josh Hart next season.<\/p>\n

\"NBA:<\/p>\n

Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth noting that, during the free-agency process, the Knicks valued Yabusele\u2019s versatility off the bench behind a starting lineup featuring Towns and Robinson. Yabusele was signed before Brown was hired, and, obviously, the new head coach will ultimately decide the starting lineup\/rotation for New York. But the fact that the Knicks factored in Yabusele\u2019s role behind a starting lineup featuring Towns and Robinson tells you that there is some internal support for that starting five,\u201d Begley wrote.<\/p>\n

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Guerschon Yabusele signed a two-year, $12 million contract with New York at the beginning of the offseason after spending last season with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was initially brought in to back up Joel Embiid, but injuries to the 2023 MVP allowed Yabusele to get a lot more playing time.<\/p>\n

Knicks could benefit from Robinson starting<\/p>\n

As a result, Yabusele thrived, averaging 11.0 points and shooting 50% from the floor and 38% from three as a versatile floor-spacing big. The Knicks needed the additional size and physicality, along with the scoring ability, after employing a lackluster bench unit last season.<\/p>\n

\"NBA:<\/p>\n

Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Moving Robinson to the starting five would mean moving Hart back to the bench, a role that might be more suited for him. Hart\u2019s lack of aggression on offense was hurting the team\u2019s scoring output, and although Robinson can\u2019t space the floor, he provides them with elite rim protection and offensive rebounding to allow second-chance opportunities.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Ultimately, there are still lots of unknowns when it comes to next season\u2019s rotation, but it appears likely that Robinson will see more time with the starters at the very least.<\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks will have a new look next season with Mike Brown now as the head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[208,7,2683,9663,936,327,304,4164,1247,6,1136,191,3810,3806,5034,207,33405,1720,6783],"class_list":{"0":"post-185437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-david-butler","11":"tag-ian-begley","12":"tag-joel-embiid","13":"tag-josh-hart","14":"tag-knicks","15":"tag-mandatory-credit","16":"tag-mitchell-robinson","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-new-york-knicks","20":"tag-newyork","21":"tag-newyorkknicks","22":"tag-next-season","23":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","24":"tag-starting-five","25":"tag-towns","26":"tag-yabusele"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114891557831688517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}