Is NY Knicks’ rookie Obi Toppin already a bust?

The NY Knicks’ Rotation

The NY Knicks are still in need of a playmaker at the guard position and unless that void is filled, Julius Randle will continue playing heavy minutes under Thibodeau’s offense. The current point guards on the roster are comprised of Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, and Elfrid Payton. While Rose and Quickley have taken the occasional playmaking duties, most of their effectiveness has come from their scoring. Quickley’s assist percentage is 19.6% to his usage rate of 27.8%. Roses’ assist percentage is 32.2% to his usage rate of 24.9%.

Now say the NY Knicks had opted to select Tyrese Haliburton instead. He sits at an assist percentage of 23.8% to his usage rate of 17.1%. Tyrese Haliburton actually has a higher ratio of assist percentage to usage rate than both of the Knick guards. This means that he assisted more while not needing the ball in his hands as much as the other two. The assist ratio of Haliburton is especially impressive as he shares the court with De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.

But even if the Knick’s were to add another playmaker to the mix, that does not guarantee that Thibodeau will make room for Obi Toppin to play. At this point of the season, Julius Randle provides the scoring, playmaking, rebounding, and spacing that are extremely important to the team’s success.

This team’s construct also heavily depends on their ability to defend as the Knicks stand first place in defensive rankings. They are in fact, ahead of last year’s champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. Obi Toppin was not known to be a strong defender in college and he hasn’t shown any significant improvements on that end.

So we come to the question, should the Knicks have taken a chance with Tyrese Haliburton at the 8th pick? Perhaps, but that may mean the NY Knicks opt for a player other than Immanuel Quickley at 25. Obi Toppin still seems like he has a lot of talent and there had been plenty of older rookies that blossomed a few years in (like Pascal Siakam).

But can we call Obi Toppin a bust yet for the Knicks? Time will only tell but from where we stand currently, it is hard to assess Obi without Obi Toppin given a fair chance at playing meaningful minutes. For Toppin to do so on this team, he will have to show Tom Thibodeau that we can keep up with the defensive intensity of the current squad.