New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson is good at providing sparks and bursts of scoring, but also tends to show questionable decision-making. And although he recently unleashed a wild scoring display late in a game against the Orlando Magic, the tiny leaper is on coach Mike D’Antoni’s bad side.
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reports:
Donnie Walsh didn’t give Nate Robinson a $2 million raise to have him turn into a non-playing reserve, but the Knicks’ president has no problem with Robinson being demoted six weeks into the NBA season.
“Mike is in charge of that,” Walsh said Saturday, referring to coach Mike D’Antoni. “I’m supportive of whatever he does. I think it’s been difficult with this team to come up with a rotation. I think he’s given everybody time, so at some point he’s got to come up with a rotation to win with. If a guy’s not in it, he’s not in it.”
With Robinson losing his minutes to rookie Toney Douglas, largely because of his showboating and other on-court antics, the Knicks have split their last two games. Since that’s what passes for success these days at the Garden, D’Antoni is not about to change his rotation for today’s home game against the Nets.
This season, Robinson is averaging 10.9 points and 3.2 assists in 22.0 minutes per game. He’s shooting a decent 44.3 percent.
The Knicks face the Nets Sunday in New York.