Knicks Center Rotation Feeds Into Growing Trend

It took a month, but Mike Brown's grown wise to the best way to deploy the New York Knicks' talented combination of centers.

Both of his big man options, between the star scorer Karl-Anthony Towns and defensive stalwart Mitchell Robinson, offer obvious starting intrigue in a vacuum. Towns, a 6x All-Star who's set to average north of 20 points per game for the 10th consecutive season, is the sort of bucket-generator who the other key players can greatly benefit from for floor-spacing purposes, while Robinson does the defensive and rebounding dirty work that keeps the Knicks alive between the gaps.

They haven't gelled as well as starters as Brown may have hoped, as he'd spent his preseason preparing to move Towns to the four. He hasn't had as much space as he's grown used to with Robinson hanging out down low, and the defensive anchor has been too unhealthy to lock down a full-time starting job.

Experimenting with Size and Versatility

The coach has instead experimented with alternative starting lineups, taking him right back to where his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, left off. Though he eventually pulled the plug on Josh Hart as the fifth starter a little but too late in the Knicks' failed bid to advance to the 2025 NBA Finals, he demonstrated that the two massive contributors could co-exist.

And that's backed up the game-changing impact that's felt through their gargantuan presences entering December, with their 10.12 net rating still scoring an impressive 123.49 points per 100 possessions when both Towns and Robinson share the floor. Still, Brown's started reverting to the classic starting lineup of Hart in Robinson's place in recent games, with Hart's durability and revitalized wing defense offering an inspiring new look.