If this is what workload management looks like, the Knicks may already have cause for concern.
Mitchell Robinson hasn’t played or practiced in nearly two weeks — including Monday’s workout in Tarrytown — with just two days remaining before Wednesday’s season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Head coach Mike Brown said both Robinson and Josh Hart were nonparticipants in practice, extending Hart’s absence to almost three weeks since suffering back spasms during the preseason opener in Abu Dhabi against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brown said Hart is at least trending upward.
“Before he wasn’t able to do anything. Now he’s out there — I can see him doing some stuff on the sidelines, going up and down,” Brown said.
Robinson’s case, however, is more complicated. The 7-foot center is one season removed from undergoing dual procedures to repair a stress fracture in his left ankle, and the Knicks are proceeding carefully given his injury history. The plan, according to Brown, is about preserving Robinson for when the games matter most.
Yet the timeline doesn’t quite align.
Before Friday’s preseason finale against the Charlotte Hornets, Brown said Robinson would have played “if it were a regular-season game,” implying his absence was strictly precautionary. But since Robinson hasn’t played since logging 13 minutes in the first half of the Oct. 9 matchup with Minnesota, his continued absence from practice just 48 hours before opening night is raising eyebrows.
“It’s workload management,” Brown said. “We’re just managing him right now. I’ve been in different situations where you sit a guy, you manage his workload and he does certain things — whether it’s sometimes shooting free throws, sometimes it’s watching, sometimes it’s walking through this, walking through that.
“I’ve been with a lot of guys that have done that throughout my career, starting back in the early 2000s with the [San Antonio] Spurs. We had a couple of older guys on the team, so to me it’s not odd — but I’m not saying it’s a bad question.”
Complicating matters further is Brown’s installation of new offensive and defensive principles — systems Robinson admitted early in camp were unlike anything he’d run before. The center even wondered aloud whether he’d be cleared for back-to-backs this season.
At the moment, back-to-back practices appear to be the bigger challenge.
“Everything we’re doing with him is about managing his workload, which we’ll do the whole year,” Brown said. “Usually if a guy is out for an extended period of time, I’d like him to practice. But a lot depends — sometimes we don’t have a practice, and if we don’t, we’ll get coaches and have him go against them. It’s situational.”
Elsewhere in the rotation, availability has been a similar storyline.
Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges led the starters with appearances in four of five preseason games. Karl-Anthony Towns played in three before sitting the last two — the first due to a quad issue, the second out of precaution.
“[I’m] just getting right for the season,” Towns said Monday. “That’s really all I’m thinking. [I feel] stronger, more experienced, and my body’s done a great job of staying young. It’s a testament to my team and my trainers.”
OG Anunoby missed the opener with a sprained hand and the final two games after tweaking an ankle in practice. Hart played just seven minutes before his back spasms forced him to the sideline — where he remains.
“Obviously you want nobody to miss any time at all, but that’s not realistic,” he said. “If somebody’s out, it’s next-man-up — that’s how we operate. Whoever can work today, they’re working, and you feel good about who’s on the floor, knowing the others will be back sooner than later.”
