New York Knicks: Obi Toppin & RJ Barrett’s growth
Part of the upswing that is expected from the New York Knicks is the improvement from the team’s exciting young core.
RJ Barrett has struggled to get going offensively through the first couple of games and has even been phased out of the offense at times. However, there is still a ton to like about what growth can come from what we have seen from him in just 3 games.
Barrett has noticeably taken many shots he didn’t dream of taking as a rookie or sophomore. He is taking many jumpshots off of the dribble, mostly 3-pointers with a couple of pull-up elbow jumpers sprinkled in. The shots haven’t been falling, but the fact that he is confident in taking so many of those attempts is huge for a player looking to evolve that part of his game.
Barrett was able to become a knockdown shooter seemingly overnight last season. He shot 40% from three compared to 32% as a rookie. He was a sniper in particular from the corners, where he shot 43%. These growing pains of Barrett missing harder threes are necessary for him to one day hit them consistently. Given the immense success he’s had in becoming a good shooter, I think we can see those shots start to fall very soon which would do wonders for his game and the Knicks offense.
And I would be remiss to not mention Barrett’s defense, which has been the most obvious improvement he has made. RJ Barrett put Jayson Tatum in jail on opening night. Tatum shot only 3 of 16 from the field with Barrett guarding him during the Knicks 2OT thriller.
Barrett is now the New York Knicks’ top option as a perimeter defender and has already shown he can not just do an incredible job but he can even keep the league’s elite scorers honest. I gave the opinion that Barrett can develop into an All-NBA level defender as soon as this season in an article last month. If he can keep this up then he is well on his way to one day doing so.
And now for some words on everyone’s favorite high-flyer Obi Toppin. Toppin was electric off of the bench in the first two games this season. He scored 14 points (6-9) and 13 points (5-8) against the Celtics and Magic respectively. He was super impressive in the Celtics matchup, where he put on a fast break clinic.
Toppin was clearly a much-improved self-creator in Summer League and is thriving so far without that area of his game being on display. Many of those points have come from the Knicks spacing being much better. Toppin is a very gifted cutter and finisher so the court being so open should continue to do wonders for him.
Toppin has struggled with his perimeter and free throw shooting so far just like last season, but that part of his game will hopefully come in time. For now, it is awesome for New York to have a player like Toppin whose skillset fits perfectly with the playstyle the team is looking to implement. The Knicks want more fast break scoring and more points as a team in general now that there are more shooting threats on the roster. Expect to see Toppin’s success as a spark plug to continue in this new offense.