Obi Toppin leads the New York Knicks in this advanced stat

The New York Knicks are starting to pick up some momentum and it’s been a fully collaborative effort up and down the roster.

With players in and out of COVID protocols, different Knicks have had to step up at different times. It feels like whenever he’s given the chance, 2nd year forward Obi Toppin.

Toppin’s play, although it comes in limited appearances, has popped in advanced analytics.

New York Knicks: Obi Toppin’s stock is rising

Obi Toppin’s playing time, or lack thereof, is a frequent point of discussion among Knicks fans.

The on/off stats for Obi Toppin has been brought up quite frequently. The team efficiency differential when he’s on the court versus when he’s on the bench is staggering.

Those on/off stats are typically true of most players on the New York Knicks bench. The 2nd unit as a whole has been the most consistent bright spot on the team this season.

Yet Toppin himself leads the entire team in one of the most popular advanced metrics in basketball — Player Efficiency Rating.

Player efficiency rating, or PER, was developed by noted statistician and former NBA general manager, John Hollinger.

While many metrics have come and surpassed PER since its inception, it still remains one of the most widely used stats to measure overall offensive performance.

Obi Toppin’s PER of 20.4 ranks as the best on the team. 2nd on the team is Mitchell Robinson, followed by Derrick Rose.

Toppin ranks 41st in the NBA in PER. 

So while this metric is imperfect (No one is saying Obi Toppin is the best player on the Knicks) it’s a very clear sign of identifying a player who is playing extremely well.

It’s reflective of not just individual play but how much better Obi Toppin makes the team as a whole.

I’ve talked about this before, how Obi Toppin’s presence on the court makes everyone around him better. He has become a major headache for defenses to track.

It’s a rare trait — Obi Toppin is able to initiate offense that isn’t normally there, but he does it without the ball in his hands.

It seems like there is always a “correct” or “efficient” play available for the offense when Obi Toppin is on the court.

He’s become too effective to be a minimal part of the team’s rotation.