The New York Knicks suffered a terrible loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The Magic have four wins on the NBA season and two of them have come at MSG against the Knicks.
If there was any positive to take away from the loss on Wednesday, it was the performance of Obi Toppin. Toppin, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, looks like a different player during his sophomore season.
Being afforded the chance at a near-normal offseason, including Summer League and a full training camp, Toppin looks a lot more confident and comfortable on the court. He was starting to come on during the 2021 postseason and has carried that over into this regular season.
Every night Toppin brings energy to the team. Whether it is his otherworldly athleticism leading to some high-flying dunks or his infectious hustle plays, he is always getting the crowd and his teammates going.
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Against Orlando, Toppin provided plenty of highlight plays and stuffed the stat sheet. He scored a season-high-tying 14 points, pulled down five rebounds, added two assists and one steal for a strong stat line. Making it even more impressive was the fact he did it in only 18 minutes.
Toppin has performed well enough to receive more playing time and the fans clamor for it chanting his name in the arena. But, no matter what he does, his minutes do not increase. While he has earned it, head coach Tom Thibodeau says it’s more of a team thing that dictates minutes than an individual thing.
“It’s all based on performance. It’s not an individual thing. It’s a team thing,” Thibodeau said of the 23-year-old’s playing time. “It’s how the team is functioning and there has to be a balance to offense and defense. That factors into it as well.”
Toppin has certainly earned more playing time as part of a second unit for the New York Knicks that is vastly outperforming their starting five. Against Orlando, Toppin recorded a plus/minus of +11. The player ahead of him on the depth chart, Julius Randle, was -21 in 32 minutes.
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Maybe if Toppin started cutting into Randle’s minutes, it would light a fire under the reigning Most Improved Player of the Year. Randle has looked lackadaisical and disinterested at times this season on the court, leading to some poor performances on both ends of the court. On Wednesday night, Randle attempted only one shot inside the 3-point line.
Finding more playing time for Obi Toppin, especially when he is playing as well as he is, is imperative for Thibodeau. Even if that means playing Toppin and Randle together for a few stretches of the game, something needs to be done.
The starting five continuously puts the team in a hole that the second unit has to climb out of. Cutting back some of their playing time might just be the motivating factor they need to get going again.
