The Boston Celtics entered the offseason knowing full well their desperate need for a frontcourt upgrade. TLDR: they got one. Mitchell Robinson is the Celtics' newest addition, which is good news for obvious reasons while simultaneously being bad news for the New York Knicks.
By bringing in an ex-Celtics killer, the Celtics essentially did to the Knicks what the Philadelphia 76ers did to them back in 2019 when they poached Al Horford. It wasn't just about making themselves better, but also about making their toughest opponent worse.
For two consecutive years, Horford proved to be the one player the 76ers dreaded facing because of how much of a pain he was for them to go up against. That's why when he agreed to join them, many believed that despite what Horford could do on the floor, the Sixers brought him in primarily just to get him away from Boston.
If that was their MO, it was good thinking because Horford's departure may have been the difference between losing in the Eastern Conference Finals and winning Banner 18 back in 2020. That's what the Celtics signing Robinson away from New York should do.
Boston finally has a playoff-tested, game-changing big man, but that also means New York just lost one too. Even worse for them, the options they have to replace him are quite limited. Even if they find a replacement, most optimistically, it might be like when Boston tried to replace Horford with Daniel Theis as their starting center.
He'll do his best, but it will be clear one way or the other that he's not Mitchell Robinson.
Here's to hoping Robinson's Celtics tenure isn't like Horford's in Philly
For every way in which Horford's first departure hurt the Celtics, him joining the Sixers hurt them even more. They added him believing he was the final ingredient of their title team, only to find out he was unintentionally(?) a trojan horse.
Horford was so bad as a Sixer that even when the Celtics brought him back two years later, many thought it was going to fail (LOL) because he looked genuinely washed up in Philadelphia. That's how infamously bad he was when he joined the City of Brotherly Love.
Could Robinson follow the same path in Boston? Well, technically, that is a possibility, though the odds are low. Robinson is one of the best offensive rebounders in NBA history joining a team that, at least in the regular season, loved that kind of effort on the boards.
Boston may have invested in him, but didn't max him out like Philly did with Horford, which led to them having to throw in a pick just to get off his deal. All of this is to say that Robinson could fail in Boston, but it's not likely, and even if he does, it won't be to the same degree Horford did in Philadelphia.
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