No Stoppin’ Obi Toppin: Knicks NBA Draft Recap
The rim rocker Toppin had over 100 dunks in his final season at Dayton
What Went Down: The Knicks started the day of the 2020 NBA Draft with three picks: 8, 27, and 38. In the morning, Leon Rose and his front office made a trade with the Utah Jazz packing the two later picks for the 23rd pick in the first round. They also picked up the rights to overseas player Ante Tomić in the deal, who’s nothing more than just a salary filler/trade piece to make the money work. Despite rumors during the day that the team would be trading up, they sat back at the eighth pick, and drafted Obi Toppin, the explosive front court player from Dayton. Then with the 23rd pick, the Knicks took an Argentinian prospect, Leandro Bolmaro, only to flip him to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 25th and 33rd pick. For those doing the math at home, that’s basically the 27th and 38th picks turning into the 25th and 33rd picks with some clever maneuvers in between. At 25, the front office selected Immanuel Quickley, the combo guard from Kentucky, and did one last trade when they chose Daniel Oturu, the Minnesota big man at 33, and exchanged him for a 2023 2nd round pick. That is what went down on an extremely eventful day for the New York Knicks.
President of Basketball Operations, Leon Rose, and the rest of the front office celebrating their pick.
Who is the Skywalker, Obi Toppin: Toppin is a hometown kid, born in Brooklyn, and went to Ossining High in Westchester, NY. He nearly ended up at Monroe Junior College before doing a post-grad year in Maryland, and eventually ending up at Dayton University. A redshirt year followed by two dominant seasons for the Flyers raised Toppin’s profile from an unknown recruit to a lottery pick. This past season, he led college basketball in dunks, averaging more than three per game. He was a man among boys, often the first one down the floor for easy transition baskets, en route to earning National Player of the Year honors. He also shot an impressive 39 percent on 2.6 3s a game, and most scouts expect that number of attempts to increase with NBA spacing. Toppin has impressive touch around the basket, combining floaters, turnaround jumpers, and crafty finishes to go with his thunderous dunks. On the offensive side of the floor, he is an NBA-ready prospect who should have an easy transition.
Where the concern comes with Toppin is his defense, or lack thereof. Per Sam Vecenie of the Athletic’s scouting report:
“Real defensive concerns, although it’s tough to tell how much was role versus talent. He was not a particularly engaged defender this year. He didn’t kill Dayton on defense by any stretch, but he wasn’t good in ways that look problematic, particularly for NBA translation. Was that because he needed to conserve energy for offense? Or does he just struggle to diagnose offensive sets? Think it is a bit of both. Generally, has tight hips when dropping them in order to cut off drives, which means he can get blown by. Has a tendency to try to go for the big block in recovery as opposed to stay solid in front. Did have moments of enormous blocks and shows some weak-side rim protection upside. In general, seems to have feel. But it was too few and far between as he seemed to be conserving energy for offense. If you play him at the four, is he good enough to defend solidly away from the basket? May be better off there as it’s easier to hide him. But in today’s NBA, which is as mismatch conscious as it is, can you really hide someone?”
The main takeaway is that the Knicks front office, led by Leon Rose (president), Scott Perry (general manager), and Walt Perrin (assistant GM), along with head coach Tom Thibodeau and the coaching staff, felt Toppin was too good of a prospect to pass on. Whether he fit a need or not can be debated, but this was the best available prospect at 8. The coaching staff must believe they can improve Toppin’s weaknesses, or at least hide them alongside other strong defenders (see: Mitchell Robinson).
Who is the Sniper, Immanuel Quickley: The 6-3 combo guard was the 2020 SEC Player of the Year at Kentucky, a conference that saw 12 players taken in the 60 picks last night. Coach John Calipari, who has made a name for how successful his players have been at the next level had this to say about Quickley: “The kid lives in the gym. He’s kind of like Tyler [Herro], he’s like Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], those guys. He’s just like them.” Quickley should help the Knicks with their spacing. He shot 42.8 percent from 3 as a sophomore, and was trending up over the final 19 games of his college career, when he shot 48 percent on 5.3 3s per game. One of the many new assistant coaches added to Thibs’ staff is former Kentucky assistant, Kenny Payne. It should come as no surprise that Coach Payne vocalized the Knicks land Quickley, a player he has a close relationship with. Fans can be excited about Quickley being a specialist off the bench, offering movement shooting that the team sorely lacks. He’s also got a 6-8 wingspan, so fans can start to envision a defensive-minded backcourt of him and Frank Ntilikina. According to Vecenie’s scouting report, Quickley also possesses some ability to put the ball on the floor when he attacks close-outs: “His floater game is superb, having hit 45 percent on 67 attempts on such shots last year. In fact, finished in the top-10 players nationally in points derived off of floaters in 2019-20, according to Synergy. Once he moved more into a more primary role, he also excelled at drawing fouls in SEC play. SEC officials tend to be a bit more whistle-prone, but Quickley averaged 7.1 free throw attempts per 40 minutes in SEC play.”
As a Fanbase, What did We Learn About the New Regime:
As a fan, who’s been waiting for any signs since March of what’s next for the Knicks, last night served as a first glimpse into this new chapter. Adding an entirely new front office, with an upgraded analytics team and scouting department, in addition to a new coaching staff with more emphasis on player development than any staff of the last 20 years has been exciting for fans. But these intriguing new members don’t play in the World’s Most Famous Arena, and last night, the Knicks added two new members to the roster who should both contribute right away. After years of seemingly ignoring development (and the need for a young core), the Knicks now have their future at the wing, forward, and center positions in RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, and Mitchell Robinson. The guard spots still remain murky, with the fanbase divided on what the future holds for Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. Perhaps the team brings back Elfrid Payton on a smaller contract for stability purposes? Or they pursue Fred Van Vleet in free agency? Maybe try to land a guard in a trade (seems like the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans both have logjams at the position)? With about a month until the 2020-21 NBA season starts, lots of questions remain to be answered about this Knicks roster.
One critique that’s already been floated around by Knicks Twitter and the beat writers has been the team’s connections to CAA and Kentucky. See the tweet below from Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic:
The Kentucky connection is the aforementioned Payne, as well as the roster having former Wildcats Julius Randle and Kevin Knox. My counter argument to these “concerns” would be that the decision makers are going with people they trust and feel comfortable with. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, having people in your building who you can count on seems extremely important. To that point, SNY’s Ian Begley, one of the most respected local reporters on all things Knicks and Nets had this to add: “By drafting a CAA client and Kentucky player, the Knicks have left themselves open to criticism if the picks don’t pan out. Just my opinion: it doesn’t make sense to critique Rose and the club for taking a player with a CAA or Kentucky connection until you have a chance to see how that player performs for the club.”
In the coming weeks, as the dust of free agency and trades has settled, and the Knicks report to training camp at their facility in Tarrytown, we will have a better sense of the expectations of the team. Most of the fanbase hopes this is the beginning of a patient rebuild, especially with the loaded 2021 Draft looming. Any moves by the new front office will signal their plans. It’s going to take a long time for the phrase “Knicks going to Knick” to lose its luster, and their moves last night didn’t necessarily make a dent in that reputation. To bring the Knicks brand back to glory, it’s going to take a lot of effort from those in charge, and especially from the players themselves. After 20 years of solidifying themselves as a laughingstock, and seeing their next door neighbors becoming the epicenter of NBA news, one thing can’t be underrated. Two lottery picks in a row being extremely excited to represent the orange and blue. It’s the small things that can uplift a fan base. New York or nowhere.
