Knicks center frustrated with his role on team?

Oct 24, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) celebrates after scoring against the Orlando Magic during the second quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Knicks may have a seven-foot-tall problem on their hands.

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson turned heads this week with a curious tweet about the team. Responding to a fan who had asked him if he was considering working on his post-up game with former Knicks big man Amar’e Stoudemire, Robinson posted an interesting sentiment.

“The way we play is not set up for me to do any moves,” said Robinson in the since-deleted tweet, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

Robinson’s tweet came after a victory over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, albeit one in which he scored just six points on six shot attempts (both the fewest of any Knicks starter).

On the flip side, the 24-year-old Robinson came out on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks (after his tweet) with an aggressive mindset. He finished with 15 points and 20 rebounds (though still on only nine shot attempts and in what was ultimately a 109-103 loss for the Knicks).

Afterwards, Robinson was asked about his tweet but downplayed any issues.

“If I was unhappy, I wouldn’t be able to come out here and do what I did today, yesterday and last game,” he said, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. “I would’ve just chilled out and just [said], ‘Oh well.'”

From the outside looking in, Robinson probably does have reason to feel frustrated. His 7.6 points on just 4.6 field goal attempts per game this season are both the lowest since Robinson’s rookie season in 2018-19.

Meanwhile, the Knicks are a sub-.500 team (10-12) and are still struggling to integrate high-usage new addition Jalen Brunson with non-facilitators such as Julius Randle and RJ Barrett. That doesn’t leave very much room in the offense for Robinson to eat on top of all that.

To the public, Robinson will insist that there is nothing wrong. But given that he has already used Twitter to complain about the Knicks in the past, this may be a textbook case of “where there is smoke, there is fire.”