Moments after Hugo Gonzalez stepped down from the podium at Boston Celtics Media Day, the door on the righthand side of the Auerbach Center cracked open and Mitchell Robinson poked his head out.
“Oh my god,” he exclaimed, as he saw more eyes looking back at him than he probably expected. There was a special energy in the room from the moment that the monster-truck driving big man arrived (though he clearly hasn’t found a proper parking space for said truck).
His availability fittingly ended in jovial
fashion. As Robinson stood up to walk off the podium, he pointed to the yellow Gatorade on the desk and made sure we all knew how nasty it was.
It immediately became clear what sort of personality the Celtics had added when they signed Robinson in the offseason — a radiant one.
They also got quite the player.
“It’s a fresh start,” Robinson said months after leaving the reigning champion New York Knicks to join the rival Cs. “I just want to take the challenge to come here. We played against this team so many times, and they got on us multiple times. You know, and now that I can be a part of it and see how it is over here, I’m loving it so far.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Boston getting on New York. The battles went both ways and Robinson was a huge part of that.
I’m sure the Celtics hated to see that man checking into games — I know I did. His nose for the offensive glass puts an unmatched strain on opposing defenses. You can play 24 seconds of great defense, force a miss, and then Mitch just creates an extra possession with a big board.
Per Databallr, Robinson’s 21.1% teammate miss offensive rebounding rate was the best in the NBA last season. At the same time, the Celtics scored the fifth most points off of second chances. The two are a match made in heaven.
“Mitch is one of the best bigs in the league and super efficient, and you know his ability to impact games,” Joe Mazzula praised. “Yeah, I’m upset that we’re not going to be able to foul him anymore. But that’s just how it goes. So he’s ours, and I think he’s going to make a big impact for us, and also help our Luka [Garza] and Neemi[as Queta]. His experience, and obviously coming off of a championship we can learn a lot from him.”
Robinson shared that Mazzulla wasted no time fostering a connection. The Celtics head coach paid him a visit down in Nashville this summer. The two clearly bonded over Mazzulla’s use of the Hack-a-Mitch strategy in years past, and Mazzulla’s willingness to apologize for regularly exploiting Robinson’s 50.8% career free-throw percentage.
“At first we had a little issue because I’m like, ‘you got to say sorry for fouling me,’ but he apologized,” Robinson joked. “Now we’re on the same team. So you know, it’s going to be great. Just to build together and stuff like that.”
Robinson made it clear that he appreciates how the Celtics, as an organization, see their players as people instead of just players.
As for the free throws… he’s been working on them. A lot.
“I’ve been shooting a lot of free throws,” he emphasized. “A lot of free throws. I’ve been getting very confident with my free throws, my shooting touch, and stuff like that.“
