Obi Toppin has been the Knicks‘ more productive rookie in the playoffs, while Immanuel Quickley is struggling to find his game, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Toppin is coming off a career-best 13-point outburst in Game 4, and there’s talk of playing him and Julius Randle together to help turn the series around.
“I just really feel like I’ve just been locked in, studying a lot of film, paying attention to every little detail possible that I need for each game,” Toppin said. “I feel like the more details I know on the defensive side, I feel like the offensive side will just come to me if I just play my basketball and play team basketball.”
As a lottery pick, Toppin was expected to be a difference maker right away, but Quickley, who was taken at No. 25, had the better regular season, averaging 11.4 points per game and becoming a regular part of the backcourt rotation. His shot has deserted him in the playoffs, as he’s hitting just 29.6% from the field and scoring 4.5 PPG.
“I love it when people count me out,” Quickley said. “I feel like that’s how my whole life in basketball has been, when people say you can’t do something or you’re not good enough or that’s not possible. I feel like that kind of drives our team as well. When we came into this season, everybody was expecting us to be in the lottery.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Derrick Rose will likely remain in the starting lineup for Game 5, but coach Tom Thibodeau sidestepped a question about playing Frank Ntilikina, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Ntilikina has only been used for three defensive possessions throughout the entire series. “I think Derrick is proven to be a very good player in this league for a long time,’’ Thibodeau said. “As a team we have to play better. We know that. In terms of Frank, he’s an important part of the team.”
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic examines the adjustments the Hawks have made to slow down Randle, who averaged 37.3 PPG against them in the regular season. Randle, who is in the playoffs for the first time in his career, has been forced to deal with two and sometimes three defenders every time he catches the ball.
- A fan accused of throwing a beer at the Knicks’ bench during Game 2 has been permanently banned from Madison Square Garden, Berman writes in a separate story.
Should the Knicks offer 4 year $96 million to Schroeder?
Should the Lakers resign Caruso and Tucker at market price 10 million per year each player？
I don’t think Sign and Trade is a realistic idea
If they wish to remain competitive in the West next season then it really doesn’t make sense for the Lakers to let Schroder walk for nothing.
THT is an interesting case
Pros – Upside….boy that word can get you in trouble tho
Cons- Cant shoot
Plays outta generation basketball taking tough 2’s
Not a great facilitator (High Turnovers)
Defense seems to have regressed from last year tho still good
And then you circle back to BUT damn he’s still only 21 !!
Interesting case, he’s basically been ghosted this playoffs, and for good reason- A team Like Hou should put in a good offer just in case, these are the medium- ish gambles they should be looking at as they wont be using cap for netting wins next year neway
HOU already has a THT type in JTate. Tate is better IMO. If TOR wants him for Lowry and Shroder wants $24 per, S&T.
I don’t like the 4/$60 idea… he is not that quick; more reliable
“Upside” trouble? Did that word get stolen from usage? I do not use it, no huge loss. Not sure what it means exactly. Either high ceiling or smart. Football term
And Tate’s backup is KJ Martin, who has quite a different skill set.
Both are on very team-friendly contracts. Re-signing Kelly Olynyk to a reasonable contract shouldn’t be too difficult. Those three guys, plus Christian Wood, gives them a very solid front court at PF/C.
Team * like Hou. Sub in Orl OKC Cle anyone with cap basically
Upside- Room for growth basically ; and yes usage or a clear runway to minutes sure helps.
He looked like he could be a good defender last yr, now, not so much. League has also adjusted to him and he hasn’t made the re-adjustment {yet?}.
He needs a better floater (or one at all tbh ) and a mid range game couldn’t hurt ….Im just not x % sure what he’s worth when adding it all up, he’s a unique case that could go a multitude of ways
I agree the 4/60 is probably not a good idea…it might be down to 4/50 with his bad 2nd half but still plenty risky
I agree on Lowry, kinda throws Raptors a bone (if they want it) while getting to go to a wider net of teams via S&T …Pick 22 could be thrown in as well if they squeeze tight enough {Lakes will be vulnerable}
Start Quickley and Toppin w/ Bullock Barrett and Randle.
If you can’t stop Trae at least put a team on the floor with enough spacing that MAYBE Randle can operate.
Let Rose man the second unit, as opposed to him and Randle taking turns initiating in the same lineup.
Grit and vet leadership got us the 4 spot. But it’s also got us in a 3-1 hole. Thibs needs to adjust. Can’t continue to bang his head against the wall here.
Randle is thick, but I always thought he liked space, might even be a 3, but ATL has made good plans.
If Quickley gets an edge from believing he’s been doubted his whole life, great. Of course, reality is that he is 21 years old, and 3 years removed from being named a McDonald’s AA. Still, someone should tell him that there are many out there that doubt he’ll ever prioritize facilitating for his teammates vs taking his first available shot.
I always yawn at the “gonna prove this team wrong that didn’t draft me ” narrative by player as well….It had nothing to do with the team faulting you; maybe they were just overly infatuated by the guy they did draft.
But yea I can only Imagine being a pro athlete any mental edge you can gain is a plus, even if they really never exist and are based in fallacy
Definitely. Particularly younger athletes, many of whom only seem comfortable being intense when they can make it personal. Advancing to the second round apparently isn’t enough.
I kept saying I think we let the wrong guy go the 1 with the heart and fight until the end was Austin rivers. This guy payton is taking up space Randle is thinking too much might need to have a talk with his son. Hopefully that will light a fire under him you done too much this year to fold like this. I definitely think capela started something saying they coming to send us on vacation it’s gonna be a game. Hope this gives us what we need to bounce back either way I’m happy for them to get back to winning. Die hard knicks fan but I will root for Brooklyn if we lose ♂️ 25 min from Barclay’s just grew up a knicks fan go knicks.
Knicks focus’ should be on D. Old school, hard-nosed basketball, defense and physical play, running the floor, and letting D-Rose run the show on offense. If Randle and Rj show up, that’s a big plus, but as a team got to focus on shutting down Trae and I would say Bogi.
Defensive stops win this game. We gotta run the floor more also; if 5×5 baskets are hard to come by, get high percetage shots before the defense is set (Obi Toppin runs the break and is a great finisher).
There focus needs to be shooters and offensive playmakers. Thibs is a great defensive coach, but a horrible offensive coach. He needs good shooters and playmakers that he can teach how to defend. Simple as that.
We definitely need a strong asst coach to join this offseason. This coaching job from Thibs was ATROCIOUS.
Look at Dallas. Starting Boban. Going to Powell. Making adjustments.
Thibs makes essentially one change all series. Going to from playing Payton the first :30 of each half to starting Rose.
The fact he didn’t give Quickley any run until the 4th qtr of Gm 5 is a nearly fireable offense. He just stood there with a puss on his face game after game watching the same junk lineups do nothing. Pathetic.