Obi Toppin is suddenly one of the New York Knicks’ most valuable players

Why Obi Toppin’s role is so important for the New York Knicks

It doesn’t matter that Obi Toppin isn’t handling the ball, dishing out assists, or knocking down a ton of 3-pointers. That stuff can come down the line.

For right now, Obi Toppin’s impact as an off-ball, heat-seeking missile has been invaluable to the team’s success because, well, no one else on the team has anywhere close to his skillset.

What did the New York Knicks do this offseason? They added ball-handlers.

The team has the depth that if one of their ball-handlers gets injured, they have the depth to have someone else step up. Kemba Walker, RJ Barrett, Evan Fournier, Julius Randle, Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, Alec Burks, the list goes on.

No one can just step in and fill the role that Obi Toppin has.

He is on the court solely to benefit his teammates. He sprints down the court, he cuts hard to the rim, he flies around the perimeter, he makes extra skip passes — he does everything to keep the wheels moving on offense. 

You can see it even when he isn’t scoring. How many “almost alley-oops” have you seen from Obi Toppin this year?

Even when the pass doesn’t happen, Toppin is causing defenses to panic, scramble, and go into a frenzy trying to keep track of him. His gravity helps out whoever has the ball for the Knicks.

Why not make this role more consistent?

I mentioned earlier how streaky the New York Knicks shooters have been. Why not throw Obi out there at the small forward more? Or the 5? Or the 4? Wherever!

The Knicks offense will not suffer just because Toppin isn’t a ball-handler. If one of their perimeter players gets ice cold, take them out, and throw Obi Toppin out there to wreak havoc.

He’s been a net-positive player in 15 of the New York Knicks’ 18 games. 

This isn’t a call to get Obi Toppin on the floor more because he’s a young, hometown fan favorite. This is because he makes the team better every time he’s on the floor.