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Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is finally hinting he’s set to remove rookie lottery pick Obi Toppin from the rotation – likely for Kevin Knox.
Tuesday’s resounding victory over Washington could have been the last straw for the Dayton dunker, which is regressing instead of advancing.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Thibodeau said after blowing the Wizards, 131-113. “It’s not unusual for beginners to experience things like this. We just want him to keep working. He was very good at the practice. He actually played very well in training. He just has to keep working. He will learn, he will grow. He will get better.
The seemingly lost power forward is now scoreless in five straight games – against Brooklyn, Philly, Orlando, Philly and Washington. The No.8 pick in the November draft is a minus-34 total in those 35 minutes. On Tuesday he was 0-2 in eight minutes, including a 3-point air balloon.
Toppin’s 3 air ball pointers are more and more common than brands. But he doesn’t look at the basket as much – having taken just eight shots in five games, missing them all.
Toppin, 23, missed March Madness last season due to the pandemic and now he’s going through an infuriating time in March.
All-Star Julius Randle gave it enough thought to console Toppin on the bench in the Wizards game after Knox out of the rotation got the final 1:40 of dump time.
“I’m just trying to give him confidence,” Randle said. “As a rookie it’s hard to learn the game, to see the game, the ins and outs of what you need to do to have an impact on the game. As a young incoming player, the most important is to know who you are as a player and how you can help the team. He happens, works extremely hard. He has to keep his confidence, keep going and he will be a very good player in this league.
Tuesday in the garden was Toppin’s background. The fourth quarter was a perfect stop for him to get minutes.
But Toppin lasted 4:28 before being taken out. He missed a 7-foot U-turn and made two fouls, and Thibodeau put Randle back into the blowout. Knox wiped himself off at the end while Toppin sat down.
Some NBA scouts believe Thibodeau stayed with Toppin that long for political reasons – loyalty to President Leon Rose, who hired him. It would be bad not to play Rose’s prized lottery pick, who is averaging 4.1 points.
In Toppin’s defense, he didn’t have any summer leagues or voluntary scrums a few weeks before training camp because of the pandemic. On the flip side, it’s impossible to say whether Toppin’s stock draft would have fallen if the NBA Scouts saw his holes in the Atlantic 10 tournament or the NCAA tournament – both canceled last March.
After the game, Thibodeau, discussing Randle’s emergence of 3 points this season, said, “Having a stretch four is a necessity in today’s game.
Toppin doesn’t look like that guy – and he didn’t in college either. Its percentage of 3 points is 29.8%. Worse yet, he managed seven of his 20 corner attempts 3.
Knox, the Knicks’ 2018 lottery pick, hasn’t been on rotation since late January. He was drafted by the old guard of former chairman Steve Mills, GM Scott Perry, former coach David Fizdale and Perry’s top scouts who were fired, Assistant GM Gerald Madkins and Chief of Staff Harold Ellis.
But the time may have come for Knox, even though, according to sources, Thibodeau doesn’t like his engine on the defensive end.
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