Obi Toppin to the Knicks @ #8

[Gravy]

Catch and shoots will be crazy

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[Clyde_Style]

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This kid is just dying to be Amare.

Obi, please stay away from fire extinguishers and wine baths...

You rang?



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[Clyde_Style]

Catch and shoots will be crazy

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What I like is he is a guy who won't hesitate and with his height and quick release those catch and shoots could be "phenomenal"

Since he can put the ball on the floor and drive defenses will have to sag enough to stay honest so he should get a fair amount of clean looks from three

[Clyde_Style]

Dude is all legs. He's a Giraffemire

[Gravy]

Catch and shoots will be crazy

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What I like is he is a guy who won't hesitate and with his height and quick release those catch and shoots could be "phenomenal"

Since he can put the ball on the floor and drive defenses will have to sag enough to stay honest so he should get a fair amount of clean looks from three

That's what I'm intrigued by, we haven't had someone who could work inside and outside like that since Melo. Randle cant shoot effectively, KP was a good shooter but too tall and stiff to put the ball on the floor and drive well enough. RJ can drive and slash but his shooting needs work.

[Clyde_Style]

Catch and shoots will be crazy

Read on Twitter

What I like is he is a guy who won't hesitate and with his height and quick release those catch and shoots could be "phenomenal"

Since he can put the ball on the floor and drive defenses will have to sag enough to stay honest so he should get a fair amount of clean looks from three

That's what I'm intrigued by, we haven't had someone who could work inside and outside like that since Melo. Randle cant shoot effectively, KP was a good shooter but too tall and stiff to put the ball on the floor and drive well enough. RJ can drive and slash but his shooting needs work.

KP was a few inches too tall for his own good. He doesn't have Mark Eaton's frame. Obi is very leggy. He won't have the fastest first step, but he will cover ground like nobody's business once he's in motion. When he flashes on the outlet pass he's going to already be halfway to the basket. I think he may do it sometimes to the detriment of his defensive rebounding, but it will result in quite a few easy fast break points. Anyway, his body type is not typical and it will give him strengths and perhaps some deficiency in terms of lateral defense, but overall I think his physique should be good for his game. His skill set already looks more advanced than any of our recent rookies. He better MF'ing start.

[Triple C]

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[Deeeez Knicks]

I hope Obi pans out, but the Amare comparisons really are not fair. It's just a lot to expect and Amare was on another level.

[K_ick_God]

Amar’e actually could pass.

[K_ick_God]

The reason nobody has a really clean draft record (or very few) is that it’s sort of impossible to know what translates. Looks to me like Obi has the skill and athleticism but you don’t know. He is past the threshold of talented enough but it depends on IQ and confidence and whether the guy gets it.

You couldn’t look at Knox and say he’ll be a bust. He has plenty of size and talent but it’s a lot of other little things.

Yeah I’m basically saying you can’t really figure this out easily. And that luck is always a big part. And it’s a black box.

[zappafrank]

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we are hoping Obi + Mitch start together.
but I wish I could see practice when they go head to head.
lets see how they can score against each other. + Noel can guard both of them too.

[K_ick_God]

When you see this workout ... which yeah isn't worth much ... I don't get any sense that he will occupy the same lanes as Mitch. He looks more like a SF. He has a Tobias Amar'e hybrid game perhaps.

[RHODEY]

Obi's passing and court vision are way overlooked.

Check out the 5 mins mark

Watch on YouTube

[blanko]

If you look at this trust, which player do you think can be a consistent 20+ ppg player? It's Obi. Ironically, some people said the same sh.it about Knox.

Not really

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[K_ick_God]

Obi's passing and court vision are way overlooked.

Check out the 5 mins mark

Watch on YouTube

Very good stuff. Will help a lot with him playing with Mitch.

[robillionaire]

obi needs to be pretty good right out of the gate since he's turning 23 this season, obviously he can still improve but that window is much narrower seeing as how he's older than Frank for example who is heading into his 4th season in the NBA and he is older than Mitch, Knox, RJ as well who have 1-2 years under their belt in the NBA. So if he's unimpressive it's not a good sign

[robillionaire]

I hope Obi pans out, but the Amare comparisons really are not fair. It's just a lot to expect and Amare was on another level.

i feel like it's more a knock on him with the amare comparison since we had him on the knicks in his decline and after injuries but prime amare was a great player and we could only be so lucky if he's that caliber. I mean if we get a 6x all star out of this pick I am jumping for joy

[Clyde_Style]

When you see this workout ... which yeah isn't worth much ... I don't get any sense that he will occupy the same lanes as Mitch. He looks more like a SF. He has a Tobias Amar'e hybrid game perhaps.

That's what I've been saying. The spacing issue is fiction. Some of it is written by people looking for an excuse to downgrade or trade Mitch, the rest are just making a specious blanket assumption based on the two players' sizes. They are quite different and will have different roles and could be awesome together, particularly since they may be our two best talents.

[cgf]

When you see this workout ... which yeah isn't worth much ... I don't get any sense that he will occupy the same lanes as Mitch. He looks more like a SF. He has a Tobias Amar'e hybrid game perhaps.

That's what I've been saying. The spacing issue is fiction. Some of it is written by people looking for an excuse to downgrade or trade Mitch, the rest are just making a specious blanket assumption based on the two player's sizes. They are quite different and will have different roles and could be awesome together, particularly since they may be our two best talents.

That's not a fair representation of the concerns that some of us have. It's not that Obi can't shoot or pass, and so has to be around the hoop to make an offensive impact. It's about Obi being able to make full use of his skillset and make the full impact that he is capable of with someone else packing the paint. Cause yes the kid can shoot and yes he can pass -- both very well for a big -- but those weren't the main things that made him such a promising prospect, that was what he did attacking the rim, whether with the ball in his hands or as the roll man.

I've argued that his defensive limitations are being overstated, but his primary impact is still always going to be on the offensive end of the floor...so getting the most out of him on that side of the ball seems like it'll be important to this new regime, given how thirsty for him they were in this draft. That's why if Mitch can't learn to shoot they're going to have a tough time playing together without it limiting a lot of what Obi does...especially with our poor shooting around those two promising young bigs.

[Clyde_Style]

When you see this workout ... which yeah isn't worth much ... I don't get any sense that he will occupy the same lanes as Mitch. He looks more like a SF. He has a Tobias Amar'e hybrid game perhaps.

That's what I've been saying. The spacing issue is fiction. Some of it is written by people looking for an excuse to downgrade or trade Mitch, the rest are just making a specious blanket assumption based on the two player's sizes. They are quite different and will have different roles and could be awesome together, particularly since they may be our two best talents.

That's not a fair representation of the concerns that some of us have. It's not that Obi can't shoot or pass, and so has to be around the hoop to make an offensive impact. It's about Obi being able to make full use of his skillset and make the full impact that he is capable of with someone else packing the paint. Cause yes the kid can shoot and yes he can pass -- both very well for a big -- but those weren't the main things that made him such a promising prospect, that was what he did attacking the rim, whether with the ball in his hands or as the roll man.

I've argued that his defensive limitations are being overstated, but his primary impact is still always going to be on the offensive end of the floor...so getting the most out of him on that side of the ball seems like it'll be important to this new regime, given how thirsty for him they were in this draft. That's why if Mitch can't learn to shoot they're going to have a tough time playing together without it limiting a lot of what Obi does...especially with our poor shooting around those two promising young bigs.

Obi scores on the move. He is not parking his butt in the paint. We're talking about two agile and athletic bigs as if they are too clumsy to get out of each other's way.

People talk about Mitch as if he is clogging the paint and getting in the way of Obi which is not at all how Mitch typically functions. To date, on offense, he has mostly been following the action and reacting. When one of our guys shoot he heads to the rim for the board and put back. Or when one of our guys drives he trails or heads to the rim at a bi-secting angle to receive the lob. All of this happens with him anywhere inside the perimeter, but it does not mean he's parked in the paint at all. He's watching the action from outside the paint and closes on the rim as the play develops.

Obi thus far appears to operate from anywhere on the court, including a face up game from the perimeter that he can take inside. Like Mitch, he can follow the action to convert at the rim, but he is not parked there either.

In general, Mitch's set up occurs between the paint and the perimeter and Obi's is from the perimeter going in. I don't see any conflicts here unless they are stubborn or blind or dumb and unable to adapt to each other's movements. Considering how Mitch is super reactive I doubt he'll have that issue. And considering how Obi faces the basket mostly, he'll see where Mitch is.

TBH, having two lob threats on the court at the same time could be lethal and not the logjam some claim it will be. And with Obi having a passing game, he's going to be one of the people finding Mitch from the top of the key.

Frankly, I think Mitch is a force whether he develops shooting range or not. If he literally did just what he does already with more efficiency (not just FG% of course, but foul trouble in particular), he is already a game changer. His defense is highly balancing with Obi.

Sorry, I'm not buying any of this. I trust Thibs to figure it out.