Pensacola will be represented in the NBA finals.
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who played his freshman and sophomore high school seasons at Pine Forest, helped lead the team to The Finals for the first time since 1999. The Knicks will clash with the San Antonio Spurs, with game one of the best-of-seven series tipping off June 3 at 7:30 p.m. CT in San Antonio.
Robinson has been with the Knicks since the organization drafted him 36th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, seeing the organization’s rise from 21st century laughingstock to championship contender.
Below is more on Robinson.
What are Robinson’s roots in Pensacola?
Robinson was born in Pensacola and played his first two years of high school basketball at Pine Forest before playing his final two high school seasons in Louisiana at Chalmette High School.
Robinson showed pro potential in middle school, standing six-feet-8-inches in eighth grade. He bypassed the Eagles freshman team and was named PNJ second team all-area as a sophomore.
“One thing I can say about it is that he was dedicated to getting better,” Clayton Brown, Robinson’s AAU coach, told the PNJ in 2018.
How did he become an NBA player?
Robinson blossomed into a five-star prospect by his senior season, when he averaged 25.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and six blocks a game while leading Chalmette to the state semifinals for the first time in 32 years.
He was a McDonald’s All-American and ranked the No. 11 overall player in the class of 2017 according to ESPN, but never played college basketball.
Robinson initially committed to Texas A&M, before decommitting to follow head coach Rick Stansbury to Western Kentucky. He enrolled at Western Kentucky for the 2017 summer semester and practiced with the team before leaving campus.
Robinson was then suspended indefinitely for violating team rules before deciding to sit out the 2017-18 season and prepare for the NBA Draft. He was Pensacola’s first NBA Draft pick since 1984, when the Philadelphia 76ers took Booker T. Washington grad Tom Sewell 22nd overall.
What is his role on this Knicks’ squad?
Robinson has been a reserve big man, averaging 5.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game. He played in 60 regular season games and started 16 games.
He’s played in 13 of the Knicks 14 playoff games, averaging 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Will Robinson play in The Finals?
Robinson recently underwent surgery for a broken right pinky finger, but is still trying to play.
He didn’t arrived at practice ahead of Game 1 on June 2 without anything on his hand, according to the New York Post’s Jared Schwartz.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown said he wasn’t injured during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 25 or in practice, though video showed Robinson grabbing and shaking his right hand with 5:35 left in the third quarter of Game 4 after coming down from attempting a rebound. He played on and off from then on until the Knicks emptied their bench for much of the fourth quarter.
If Robinson is unable to go, the Knicks frontcourt depth will be tested against the Spurs 7-foot-4 22-year-old superstar Victor Wembenyama.
NBA Finals schedule
All games are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET, will be broadcast on ABC and can be streamed on the ESPN App or any streaming service that carries ABC live.
All games marked with an asterisk (*) are if necessary.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola native Mitchell Robinson chases NBA title
Reporting by Justin Fitzgerald, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
