It looked as promising as any development in this poor season. Immanuel Quickley charged the ball down and saw Obi Toppin sprinting step by step with his defender. Aware of his teammate’s explosiveness, Quickley threw a lead pass expecting Toppin to break free, and he did it for an easy third-quarter dunk on Sunday.
Unless the sight was a mirage, the past few weeks have painted a potentially rosy picture for the Knicks’ future.
Without Derrick Rose or Kemba Walker to block him, and with a longer leash from coach Tom Thibodeau whose Knicks are gone from the playoff picture, Quickley – and maybe that’s the operative word – walked away with the opportunity and looks as if he were comfortably orchestrating the offense after a rookie season in which he played mostly offball.
Without Julius Randle blocking him and getting his first extended minutes in months, Toppin has maintained his energy levels and even glimpsed a jump shot that has never been in his arsenal.
Obi Toppin (left) celebrates with Immanuel Quickley (right). NBAE via Getty Images
Do the Knicks need a point guard this offseason? Maybe their money is better spent elsewhere if Rose and Quickley can be the answers.
Do the Knicks need to get rid of Randle? His regression has made him expendable, and Toppin may be helping the Knicks have another power forward that should start.
It looks like the Knicks’ haul from the 2020 draft could be legitimate parts of the 2022-23 season and allow the front office to direct its resources elsewhere — but the steps forward also come at the end of a lifeless season.
The Knicks have to decide what’s real. What does Quickley’s triple-double in Sunday’s win in Orlando mean for his future?
“I thought he was making a conscious effort to move the ball from side to side – that was the biggest thing,” Thibodeau said after Quickley’s 20 point, 10 rebound and 10 assist performance. “Any time a guard bounces back like that, you can go to the open ground and run.”
The aptly named Quickley adds another dimension to a slow team. His speed has always been there, but his shot feeling let him down for most of the season. Last year it shot up 38.9 percent from the depths, which had fallen to 32.9 percent by February.
Immanuel Quickley reacts after hitting a 3-pointer. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
But as he played more, his shot returned. In the 18 games since the start of March, he’s lost 40 percent of his 3-point attempts and shot 44.4 percent from the field, including significantly better when he gets clear looks.
Thibodeau isn’t the only one to challenge his game since the All-Star break, and his teammates note that his shooting and ability to lead offense have improved.
“He’s gotten a lot better at reading and now he’s getting the opportunity,” said RJ Barrett. “You see it – with 10 assists, 20 points, 10 rebounds. He’s really out there doing everything. He is ready. He’s been great for us.”
But he and Toppin are excellent for a team that’s out of the playoff chase.
Toppin, No. 8 overall, only played more than 20 minutes once in his rookie campaign and has been relegated to roughly 15-minute bursts of energy for most of this season.
Obi Toppin duns the ball. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Tanking the Magic, most of Toppin’s 20 career points on Sunday came against Chuma Okeke and Moe Wagner. It’s difficult to gauge what he can do against some of the better forwards in the game, especially given that he’s rarely faced Randle in the last two seasons.
In the eight games since Randle first left the lineup on March 22, Toppin has posted numbers worthy of a starter: 14.3 points on 58.1 percent shooting with 5.3 rebounds in 25.7 minutes per Game. He was never a threat from outside the suit but he has started to show a better knight and sank 4 of 10 from beyond the arc on Sunday.
“I liked the way Obi has played over the last two months,” Thibodeau said of the 24-year-old, who is set to get three more games from Wednesday at the Garden against the Nets, to make a statement when Randle is likely to finish is the season. “So just keep doing the same things, brings energy. It’s more about how the team works when he’s on the floor. I think he brings great energy to the group, gets the ball moving, runs across the floor and gets us some easy baskets.”
The energy was never in question. But is Toppin’s level of play sustainable?
Before rebuilding the team, the Knicks’ front office must decide whether they need a new reserve point guard or start forward.