{"id":127663,"date":"2020-12-07T02:44:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T23:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-obi-toppin-making-defense-priority-from-the-start\/"},"modified":"2020-12-07T02:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-12-06T23:44:49","slug":"knicks-obi-toppin-making-defense-priority-from-the-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-obi-toppin-making-defense-priority-from-the-start\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks’ Obi Toppin making defense priority from the start"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks’ Obi Toppin making defense priority from the start<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Setting conditioning-drill records is a solid start.<\/p>\n

But Obi Toppin, the 6-foot-9 forward selected No. 8 overall by the Knicks in last month\u2019s draft, knows the only thing that will get him on the court a lot is if he reverses his reputation as a mediocre defender. Coach Tom Thibodeau is already living up to his reputation.<\/p>\n

Day 1 of Thibodeau\u2019s first group practice in Tarrytown was highlighted by a lecture that began and ended with defense as priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly just playing defense,\u2019\u2019 Toppin said when asked about Thibodeau\u2019s main message Sunday. \u201cPlaying defense is going to help us win game<\/a>s. Everybody on our team has the ability to score the ball. We just got to lock in on the defensive side and stay connected. All of us are great players and we\u2019re here for a reason. If we lock in on the defensive side, the offense is just going to come.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The scoring forward from Dayton won several college player of the year awards because of his offense (20 ppg, 63.3 field-goal percentage). He entered training camp in magnificent shape and the hope is it will translate to the defensive end.<\/p>\n

The Post reported the Cavaliers, the NBA\u2019s worst defensive team the past two years, passed on Toppin at No. 5 to go with elite defender Isaac Okoro because they were concerned about Toppin\u2019s D.<\/p>\n

\"Obi
Obi Toppin<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The position Toppin can best defend in the NBA is a mystery and a looming issue in regard to his fit on the roster. The Knicks\u2019 best player, Julius Randle, plays the same power-forward position.<\/p>\n

Can Toppin defend the 3? Or the 5? Some scouts think he\u2019s not bulky enough to defend the interior or has quick enough feet to be a stopper at small forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like coach Thibs is a great coach and if he puts me at the 5, he believes I can play the 5,\u2019\u2019 Toppin said. \u201cI believe I can play the 5. If he puts me at the 4, the 3, he\u2019s a smart guy, he knows I can play that position. And he\u2019s not going to put me in position to fail. So I understand that him and the team is always going to make sure that I\u2019m successful.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Last week, the 22-year-old late bloomer revealed he set the franchise record for best time on a conditioning drill, which consisted of sprints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had to run up\/backs full court,\u2019\u2019 Toppin said. \u201cI believe it\u2019s like 10 times in under a minute. I\u2019ve done plenty of them doing it with [Kenny Payne]. So me running up and down with the guys, my wind is perfectly fine. I hardly get tired. I\u2019m pretty ready on the conditioning side.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a good sign Toppin is learning a new offense not dissimilar to the one he used in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s a lot, just because a lot of the things we\u2019re doing here is similar to Dayton,\u2019\u2019 Toppin said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely new plays and new terminologies that I need to learn. But coach Thibs and the guys we have here are helping me through that. I feel like when the time comes for me to step on the court, I\u2019ll be ready.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Knicks second-year man, RJ Barrett, believes the Nets hiring his godfather, Steve Nash, as head coach was a good move. It was stunning to everyone else. Nash and Barrett\u2019s father, Rowan, were Team Canada teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said congratulations, talked a couple times,\u2019\u2019 Barrett said. \u201cI\u2019m happ<\/a>y for him, I\u2019m excited. He really loves basketball and I feel like he\u2019s going to help them out a lot. He\u2019s always been a leader. He led all his teams in the NBA, a two-time MVP. So I think he\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players are learning about a lot of road restrictions because of COVID-19, including being discouraged from randomly leaving the hotel. Six of the Knicks\u2019 first eight regular-season games are on the road. The Knicks open their preseason with two games in Detroit starting Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard there\u2019s a lot of new rules coming out,\u2019\u2019 Toppin said. \u201cWe\u2019re all still learning from it. I heard that when we go on the road we\u2019re not going to be able to go to certain restaurants, leave hotels. There are certain protocols that we\u2019re not going to be able to do.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks’ Obi Toppin making defense priority from the start” Setting conditioning-drill records is a solid start. But Obi Toppin, the 6-foot-9 forward selected No. 8 overall by the Knicks in last month\u2019s draft, knows the only thing that will get him on the court a lot is if he reverses his reputation as a mediocre…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/George_Washington_Dayton_Basketball.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[82848,72932,77061,82878,46765],"class_list":["post-127663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-6-20","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-obi-toppin","tag-rj-barrett","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}