Mike Brown embraces ‘different dimension’ of Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson pairing

So far, Mike Brown has shown no hesitation when it comes to the two-man lineup of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

The duo has started together in the Knicks’ first three preseason games, and it appears Brown plans to use them regularly in the same frontcourt next season.

“It just brings another dimension,” the coach said on Sunday.

The previous coach, Tom Thibodeau, shied away from the duo during the regular season a year ago, mainly because Robinson played in only 17 games after ankle surgery.

They got some time together during the Knicks run to the Eastern Conference finals.

In 165 minutes, they posted a net rating of plus-4.4, meaning the Knicks outscored their opponents by 4.4 points per 100 possessions when they shared the floor.

“When you play with two greats, it’s going to be exciting to watch,” Robinson said. “We did a little bit of it last year and had success with it. So we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Brown likes the duo for a few reasons.

First, it allows him to move cities into different positions, making it harder for opposing defenses to set up against him as a starting point.

And starting Towns at the four makes the Knicks taller.

“The second [part] is just the length, the length on the floor is just incredible, when you play KAT on the 4, play OG [Anunoby] on the 3, Mikal [Bridges] at the 2,” Brown said. ‘That is a large, long team, with many interchangeable parts. And then offensively, not just for KAT, but for the rest of the group, it just gives you a different look. You would think that group should be able to rebound offensively at a high level, which is one of our core principles.”

Brown is very high on Robinson, the rim-protecting, offensive rebounding dynamo who is coming off a strong postseason.

He averaged 4.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and posted a plus-2.7 NET rating in the playoffs a year ago.

The coach believes the seven-footer can thrive in his up-tempo system.

To prepare for the change, Robinson changed his offseason training plan, running hills to get into peak fitness.

“First of all, he’s a great runner. Not a great runner, but a great runner,” Brown said. “And he – like all of us – has to play at this pace, especially all the time. We don’t want to do it most of the time, we want to do it all the time. That said, you know Mitch is a vertical threat. I’m just guessing off the top of my head. He might be the best vertical threat I’ve been around. Antonio McDyess was a huge vertical threat.

“But you can just close your eyes and throw it out there and he’d go get it. That’s something you can do with Mitch and some of the passes — I think, damn, that’s a bad pass — and he even catches it with one hand sometimes and throws it down. So with his ability to be a vertical threat, it’s going to help us in a lot of ways, but it’s definitely better than what I thought was coming in.”