Young playoff stars should awaken Knicks on Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin’s potential

The Knicks must unlock Obi Toppin

Obi Toppin’s path to consistent playing time isn’t quite as clear-cut as Quickley’s. The Knicks have put themself in quite the conundrum, with Randle being paid a large contract and struggling while Toppin plays off of the bench. Neither player has a lot of positional versatility.

Toppin has also had more glaring struggles when he sees the court. That doesn’t mean he’s not deserving of a larger role in his third season.

We saw some real, big-time games from Toppin towards the end of the year. High-volume scoring from all three levels. Terrific vision and passing from the frontcourt. And as always, nonstop attacking the rim with or without the ball. Toppin the rim-runner has always been there. That’s his bread and butter.

The parts of his game such as his playmaking and shooting —  those have been some of the key areas where he’s flashed but hasn’t been able to put it all together. Until he started seeing consistent minutes at the end of the season.

Toppin turned in some absolutely monster performances that I’m not even sure his biggest truthers could have seen coming. It became painfully obvious that for Toppin, the biggest thing holding him back was his lack of consistent playing time.

The short leash that he’s had in his young NBA career has been holding him back. While it could be justified in his rookie season, going into year three, things are going to have to change.

Those other dimensions of his game: the shooting, playmaking, and overall scoring remain so vital to his success. Toppin has even spoken about how much easier it is for him to be consistent when he’s seeing the court frequently.

The Knicks cannot let their former No. 8 overall pick simply waste away, and they’ll have to get creative with how they use him next year.