What Mitchell Robinson blames for his worsening Knicks free-throw woes as he dismisses ‘silly as hell’ idea for fix

TORONTO — Mitchell Robinson isn’t going to shoot his free throws underhand. In his view, form isn’t the problem and granny style “is silly as hell.”

The issue, as Robinson laid out Tuesday, is the lack of outside shooting opportunities in practice, which negatively impacts his foul-shooting rhythm.

“I don’t get shots up like that [in practice]. I just do a lot of layups, hook shots, stuff like that,” Robinson, who is down to 39 percent from the charity stripe this season, said. “If you don’t get shots, you don’t know how it is. You’re not comfortable with it. So it’s just like — you’ve got to get some shots up. I do it in the summertime, and I’m straight. And I just get away from it.”

Robinson pointed at the proof of his rookie season, when he shot a career-best 60 percent and apparently there was more of an emphasis on his outside shot. His free-throw efficiency has been declining ever since.

“Like I said before, when I was getting up shots, rookie year, I was 60 percent,” Robinson said. “So if I get shots up, everything will be all right. Until then, it is what it is.”

To be clear, Robinson isn’t talking about practicing free throws. He does that plenty. He also slightly altered his shooting form before this season, believing that dribbling once before the shot instead of three would help with the mental aspect.