A piece of bad news against the Knicks.
Recently, according to ESPN's Shams, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson will miss all games in 2024 due to poor injury recovery and is expected to return in January next year.
In Miro's case, we said not long ago that he underwent ankle surgery in May this year and was originally intended to return before the start of the new season, but due to the slow recovery process, he did not even attend training camp.
Miro's ankle could become the Achilles heel of the Knicks.
His ankle injury first occurred after the game against the Celtics last December, when the Knicks officially announced that Miro had suffered an ankle injury and would undergo surgery.
A few days later, Shams followed up with a report that Miro was reimbursed for the season due to injury, for which the Knicks also requested a $7.8 million injury exception from the league.
However, Miro's season did not end there, and before the end of the regular season, Miro returned early and made it to the playoffs.
If you look at it now, there was a hidden danger at that time, Miro, who played with an injury in the playoffs, was aggravated, and finally before the G2 game against the Pacers in the second round, the Knicks officially announced that Miro could no longer play because of a stress injury to his left ankle.
It is worth mentioning that at this time, Miro and his team were still trying to avoid surgery, but in the end he underwent surgery on May 13 local time.
Five months have passed since the end of the operation, Miro is still unable to participate in training, and this is not over, if calculated according to the return in January next year, it will take at least nearly three months of rehabilitation, and he will also be determined to miss 1/3 of the new season.
For Miro, this is obviously not a good sign, as ankle stress injuries are considered "giant killers", the most well-known example is Yao Ming, who retired early because of this injury.
For the Knicks, Milo's injury is also bound to be a loss.
As a second-round pick in the class of 2018, Miro has been with the Knicks since he was drafted, including last season, although he only played 31 games, he averaged 5.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, shooting 57.5% from the field.
The year before, Miro also averaged 7.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 67.1% from the field.
Even from the data, it can be seen that Miro is the most common blue-collar interior line in the league today, although he is highly functional, but he has achieved star-level both things in eating cake and defense.
In terms of eating cakes, Miro is one of the strongest interior finishers, shooting 76.1% and 74.2% from the field for two consecutive years.
Defensively, Miro's reduction rate reached 4.2%, and his masterpiece was the 2023 playoffs, when facing the twin towers composed of Cavaliers Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Miro alone blew up the Cavaliers' interior line, averaging 5.8 frontcourt rebounds per game, helping the Knicks succeed.
A slightly better thing is that not long ago, the Knicks traded away Randle, DiVincenzo, and then got Towns, and the center position is not without a suitable rotation, and even strengthened.
However, Towns alone is certainly not enough, in the context of Hatten's departure and Miro's injury, the Knicks now have two backup centers, one is this year's No. 58 show Hook Porti, and the other is the No. 58 show Sims in the class of 2021, both of whom are embarrassed.
Judging from Thibodeau's employment habits, Towns may be firmly nailed to the court - it is not an exaggeration, Towns has worked with Thibodeau with the Timberwolves for more than two years, including two full seasons, that is, the 2016-17 season and the 2017-18 season, Towns has played all 82 games, playing 37.0 minutes and 35.6 minutes respectively, both of which are in the top ten in the league.
Around 2017, Downs, after all, he was young and had not suffered injuries, but now Downs is different, in the past two years, he has missed 20 games and 53 games respectively, in case, we are saying that in case, Thibodeau still uses Towns as before, then Towns and Knicks, may be dangerous.
Finally, back to Mitchell Robinson, he's a really good player, he's been working very hard, and that's the biggest proof of that from the second-round pick to now, but he's a little too brittle.
This stress injury to his left ankle will be a great test for him, and if he does not fully recover, then he will likely fall.
As for the Knicks, the top priority is to find a better replacement for Towns, the core lineup of the Knicks in the new season is really good, and there is definitely hope of winning the championship, don't leave a bunch of regrets because of Thibodeau's employment and injuries at the end of the season.