Nate Robinson is at once the most exhilarating and most frustrating player on this year’s Knicks. Listed at five foot nine but probably closer to five seven, his combination of explosiveness and strength is freakish even among the collection of athletic freaks known as the NBA. And he has the explosive, willful personality to match, which can help and hurt the team in equal measure.
As Coach Mike D’Antoni once said, “The best thing about Nate is he can get his shot anytime he wants. The worst thing is he can get his shot anytime he wants.” Thus, Nate Watch: After selected games throughout the season, we’ll break down Nate’s performance and rate him on two ten-point scales: one for pure spectacle and the other for contributions (or damage) to the Knicks’ chances of winning. The spectacle scale will run from Routine (zero) to Spectacular (ten); the quality scale from Headache to Nate the Great. We’ll plot his composite score on our nifty Natrix; below, some explication and examples of where past games might go:
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First up: Knicks versus Heat, tonight, 7:30 p.m.