How the Boston Celtics Are Asking Mitchell Robinson To Evolve His Game

Mitchell Robinson has widely been seen as a critical pickup for the Boston Celtics, shoring up what used to be a weakness at center. He’s been a hit with the team so far, and it’s already evident after one preseason game that what he brings to the team is enough to help in a lot of ways. 

At the same time, Joe Mazzulla’s offense relies on centers in a, no pun intended, big way, maybe more than Robinson is used to. 

“One of the most important positions in the league is your center position,” Mazzulla said on media day. “They're involved in every single pick and roll on both sides of the floor. They control your offense and defensive rebounding numbers, and most adjustments run through them. So those guys carry a lot of pressure, expectation, and responsibilities.”

That means as good as Robinson is, and as obvious as his usual screening and rolling will help the Celtics, there's more to unlock with him. 

“Mitch is just used to being a pick and roll screener,” Mazzulla said after Boston’s win over Philadelphia on Saturday. “Here, we're asking to be a little bit more dynamic as far as reading and off-ball and playing through. So, just habits that we have to be able to just work on.”

To be clear, and this is a distinction Mazzulla has made too, what Robinson does is really good. We’ve seen his gravity on a simple pick-and-roll suck in a defense and create an opening on the wing. 

This alone will create a lot of points for the Celtics this season. 

But the Celtics are looking for their centers to assess the offense and be aware of the entire floor. It’s not always just set a pick, roll, and get out of the way. The Celtics are not the Knicks, and their personnel requires a bit of a different approach from the bigs. 

“Every time they’re coming down the floor, information is given to you on what gives us the best chance to win that possession,” Mazzulla explained before the team’s Monday practice. “Is it a rim run? Is it a pick and roll? Is it an off-ball screen? Where are Jayson [Tatum] and Paul [George] or Sam [Hauser]? How can we set screens for them to get open?”

Neemias Queta understands that dynamic well, and it showed against the Sixers. This play is a good example of the mentality, even though it ended with a shot the Celtics didn’t want.

Like I said, forget the end result for a second and focus on Queta and this progression: 

I think Queta was expecting Pritchard to run a hand-off (which I think he should have), because that could have turned into an empty-side pick-and-roll and, potentially, an alley oop or a dump off. 

Regardless of the very preseason ending to that play, Queta gave his teammates every opportunity to spring free for a good look. That's the kind of dynamic play Mazzulla is talking about.

There are also plays like this that go very unnoticed, but which will pay off from time to time. 

Queta is reading the play, reading Hauser’s man, and setting a screen to spring Hauser for an open three. If Tatum decided to drive baseline rather than shoot, he could have slung a pass down the line for Hauser in the corner. Robinson tends to get himself into position for offensive rebounds in cases like this. 

And once again, to be clear, that's also something that will help. Robinson is maybe the best offensive rebounder around, so of course he’s going to lean on his strengths. He just needs to evolve his game a bit to also do these other dynamic things the Celtics need.

He’s not making mistakes. As Mazzulla said, he’s just leaning on the habits he’s had for his whole career, which have served him well. The Celtics want him to do more things, and as he grows his game, he’ll elevate Boston’s chances to win with it. 

“It’s not that he’s not working on that and it’s not that he doesn’t have that in him. It’s just a different system,” Mazzulla said. “There’s really not a wrong answer, it’s more just being able to get to doing it and being more dynamic in that. So I’m excited for him. He has a really high basketball IQ and I’m excited to see where he takes that.”