Toppin bottoming out, could give Knox a shot
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is dropping hints he’s finally close to removing rookie lottery pick Obi Toppin from the rotation — likely in favor of Kevin Knox.
Tuesday’s blowout win over Washington could have been the final straw for the Dayton dunker, who is regressing instead of progressing.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Thibodeau said after the Knicks blew out the Wizards, 131-113. “It’s not unusual for rookies to go through things like this. We just want him to continue to work. He’s been real good in practice. He’s actually played very well in practice. He just has to continue to work. He’ll learn, he’ll grow. He’ll get better.”
The lost-looking power forward is scoreless in five straight games. The No. 8 pick in November’s draft is an aggregate minus-34 in 35 minutes over that span. On Tuesday, he was 0-for-2 in eight minutes, including an air-balled 3-pointer. Meanwhile, Israeli forward Deni Avdija, the Wizards’ 2020 lottery pick whom the Knicks passed on, dropped in 14 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3.
Toppin’s air-ball 3-pointers are becoming more commonplace than makes. But he’s also not looking at the basket as much — having taken just eight shots in the five games.
Toppin, 23, missed March Madness last season because of the pandemic, and now he’s going through a March maddening.
All-Star Julius Randle thought enough to console Toppin on the bench Tuesday after the out-ofthe-rotation Knox was awarded the final 1:40 of garbage time.
“I’m just trying to instill confidence in him,” Randle said. “As a rookie, it’s tough to learn the game, see the game, the ins and outs of what you have to do to impact the game. As a young player coming in, the big thing is, know who you are as a player and how you can help the team. He’s coming along, works extremely hard. He’s got to keep up his confidence, keep at it, and he’ll be a really good player in this league.”
Tuesday was Toppin’s rock bottom. The fourth quarter set up as a perfect stage for him to get minutes.
But Toppin lasted 4:28 before being pulled. He badly missed a 7-foot turnaround and committed two fouls, and Thibodeau put Randle back into the blowout. Knox mopped up at the end as Toppin sat.
Some NBA scouts believe Thibodeau has stuck this long with Toppin for political reasons — loyalty to president Leon Rose, who hired him. It would look bad not to play Rose’s prized lottery pick, who is averaging 4.1 points.
In Toppin’s defense, he had no summer league or voluntary scrimmages before training camp because of the pandemic. On the flip side, there is no saying whether Toppin’s draft stock would have fallen if NBA scouts saw the holes in his game in the Atlantic 10 or NCAA tournaments — both canceled last March.
After Tuesday’s game, Thibodeau, when discussing Randle’s 3-point emergence this season, said, “having a stretch 4 is a necessity in today’s game.”
Toppin does not look like that type — and didn’t in college, either. His NBA 3-point percentage is 29.8 percent. Worse, he has airballed seven of his 20 attempted corner 3s.
Knox, the Knicks’ 2018 lottery pick, has been out of the rotation since late January. He was drafted by the old guard, all of whom were let go other than GM Scott Perry.
But now may be Knox’s time, even if, sources said, Thibodeau doesn’t like his motor on the defensive end.