When the Knicks lost Mitchell Robinson in the offseason, there was not only a sense of mourning for losing the services of the longest-tenured Knick right after a championship, but also in the sense of what he provided on the court.
Even with his injury-prone nature, Robinson was a premier rim protector and an anchor for the Knicks’ defense whenever he was on the court, which would be enough of an asset on his own, but the biggest asset he provided was something entirely different.
As we all came to
know and love, he is simply the best offensive rebounder of this generation and one of the best rebounders, period, in the NBA. His innate ability to gobble up boards helped turbocharge an offense that already had plenty of offensive weapons, but would sometimes struggle with inefficiency.
For several years now, the Knicks have built their offense around the expectation of extra possessions. They’ve game-planned to win games by simply getting more opportunities to score than their opponents by grabbing more rebounds and committing fewer turnovers. With Robinson gone, the former was in serious danger, even if the team signed Andre Drummond to bandage it.
Through 10 games this season, though, they seem to have not missed a beat.
The Knicks are impressively the No. 1 rebounding team in basketball so far. That’s powered by Drummond not missing a beat with his usual rebounding prowess, but also an elevation in the team’s process and scheme.
Karl-Anthony Towns, historically a great rebounding center, leads the NBA with a staggering 13.8 rebounds per game. While his defensive strides have been the most encouraging part of the start of this season, he’s been a huge part of winning the possession battle by hitting another level with a 36.6 DREB%, which also leads the league.
As a team, the Knicks have hauled in 55.5 percent of available rebounds, 73 percent of defensive rebounds, and 38.8 percent of offensive rebounds, all leading the NBA. They’ve done this despite routinely having smaller lineups on the court.
Over the last two years, the Knicks were an elite rebounding team, especially thanks to double-big lineups and versatility. They’ve gradually gotten smaller as a team, have played zero minutes with more than one player taller than 6’8” on the court, and are still dominating on the glass.
Towns, Drummond, and Josh Hart have combined to do a bulk of the rebounding on both ends, but it’s also been a group effort. OG Anunoby has been much more active on the glass, averaging 1.7 OREB/g. Mikal Bridges and Jordan Clarkson are grabbing more rebounds on a rate basis. Even Jalen Brunson is averaging a career high in offensive rebounds.
Everyone is feeding off each other. Of the Knicks’ 10 most-used lineups, nine of them have an elite rebounding percentage, with the lone exception being a shocker: the starting five (47.5%).
Their early-season struggles, particularly on offense, are worth monitoring, but some positive regression is due whenever Hart returns from his ankle/illness ailments, especially in the rebounding department. The team as a whole played poorly through five games and has only started to pick it up recently.
The synergy has allowed them to just take the soul out of teams in recent games, something that’s been pivotal to their success in recent years. Just look at last night’s game against Milwaukee, where, despite the plucky Bucks chopping a 26-point lead down to 11, they couldn’t overcome a 59-32 rebounding disadvantage.
Against Cleveland on Saturday, the Knicks took advantage of no Jarrett Allen to outrebound the Cavs, 49-40, to help stretch their second-half cushion. In the blowout of the Bulls last week, it was another 57-34 bludgeoning.
It even makes you think: was it the system that made Mitchell Robinson who he was, or was he just a superpowered cog in the wheel?
Let’s slow down. Robinson was always a generational rebounder, as evidenced by his work under previous head coaches, but his early struggles in Boston are notable.
As long as Towns continues to be consistent defensively and the team keeps rebounding like this… will they even miss him that much?
