A lot has been made of Obi Toppin’s scoring from his time at Dayton and his early time in the NBA… but what about his playmaking? Stacy Patton breaks down perhaps Obi’s most underrated skill — his talent finding others for shots.

In this series, Prez and I will do a deep dive into Knicks’ draft pick Obi Toppin’s areas of impact, improvement, and development. Prez did an excellent job in Part 1 focusing on Obi’s ability and path to development as a shooter and scorer. Here, I will look at Obi’s passing and playmaking ability and potential.

Before I begin, I’d like to revisit an idea brought up by the great PD Web in his article on Patrick Williams (highly recommend you check it out here, lots of great philosophical insights on team-building beyond the evaluation of Williams), another 4. In his piece, he distinguishes between component skills and compound skills. I’ll quote him here:

“Component skills — Skills that exist in a relative vacuum. Putting a good dribbler on the floor doesn’t facilitate the expression of others’ dribbling. Post moves, on-ball defense, shot blocking, etc. There are connections within these skills, but they aren’t reflexive onto the same skill for others.

Compound skills — Create a ripple effect on the same skill, the clearest cases being scheme defense, passing, shooting. The more shooting gravity that is put on the floor, the better chance a player gets a better shot, better percentage, regardless of shooter. And the expression of these skills is rising tide that lifts all boats; a bad passer has an easier time passing on a team with multiple good passers, as the defense is always in rotation.”

In my opinion, this is an excellent way to look at a player like Obi Toppin. In many draft evaluations, people highlighted Obi’s ability as a lob finisher and vertical threat. Much of the logic behind the pick was that Obi could easily be a threat to get 20 points a night simply by finishing plays created by others. However, a player that’s mostly used to finish plays created by others isn’t having a huge compound effect. Sure, vertical gravity matters and opens floaters for driving players, but without a creator (something the Knicks are missing), this skill isn’t particularly reflexive on the rest of the offense. 

Now, of course, Obi adds value in one compound skill as well: shooting. But given he was mostly a low-volume stationary catch-and-shoot guy in college (with a few glimpses of more), the compound effect is limited; it creates space for driving lanes, but given it’s not as difficult to close out on low-volume stationary shooters, the effect it has on the rest of the offense is limited, and once again dependent on facilitation. A movement shooter provides more compound effects (creating more decisions for the defense, opening up counters and ways for others to get open off of the more dynamic shooting gravity), as does a pick-and-pop shooter (creating more decisions for the help defender in the screen action, taking away rim protectors from the paint, opening opportunities for close outs). 

I believe the player Obi can be has many compound skills. If he continues to develop footwork in pick and pop he can add volume 3-point shooting. If he can get his handle to the point where he can attack closeouts (and use his vision to find open shooters/cutters) his playmaking is a dangerous compound skill. And I think the Knicks recognize this; he has been used in dribble hand-offs, given a green light from deep, and allowed to freelance a bit, allowing him to showcase his ability to throw live ball passes with both hands. 

But this has caused some consternation; people see Obi being used as a floor spacer and perimeter player, consequently not putting up the kind of numbers we saw in college, and believe he’s being misused. But I think this misses the point: sure, we could get Obi to good counting stats and an easy berth on the All-Rookie team by using him strictly as a lob catcher and keeping him close to the rim. But is that really all we want out of the No. 8 pick? A player who can finish opportunities created by others but isn’t going to compound the skills of the entire team? The evidence for this being a limited impact in the grand scheme of things exists on the Knicks: Mitchell Robinson is already a dynamic vertical threat. Julius Randle is also a strong roll player off the pick-and-roll, with the strength and requisite athleticism to finish below and above the rim, even if he’s not the pogo stick Mitch is. You can find players who can finish above the rim; you can’t find players at the 4 who can create plays for others like a guy like Bam Adebayo. While Obi may not have quite that ceiling as a playmaker, what he can do is much more exciting, and I believe the Knicks are correct in highlighting these areas for his development. 

The results will be rough at first. Obi does not have great handle, and his lack of lower body strength prevents him from dislodging defenders like Julius Randle. But I believe he has the feel for the game and adequate handle to still be used effectively in creating opportunities for others off of dribble hand-offs, pick-and-pop, out of the post, and in transition. 

The first play I’m going to look at is from Obi’s first preseason game as a Knick against the Detroit Pistons. All clips I will highlight from this game are from this video by Erdal Onur Esen here.

Now, for many fans, it’s less than ideal for Obi to be dribbling seven times starting out from the perimeter. And it’s not like he’s creating a terrible amount of space. But what I want you to focus on is how he keeps his head up and hesitates at the 3-second mark. After being denied one way, he heads back to the sideline with Frank Ntilikina coming around for a potential dribble hand-off opportunity. By keeping his head up and hesitating, he forces the help defender to respect the threat of the DHO and freeze, which gives Obi all the window he needs to get to his spot, draw the foul and finish.

Now, of course, this is a scoring play in an article about playmaking, but it illustrates how Obi’s advanced feel and craft allows him to make plays off the dribble even if he can’t handle the ball like Bam Adebayo. Nikola Jokic is an expert at these kinds of maneuvers. Here’s a similar play:

Now, the floor is still pretty crowded and Jokic doesn’t create a ton of space with the hesitation, but Bagley’s responsibilities as a help defender cause him to freeze just enough to let Jokic get into his body, and at that point it’s game over. Obi’s craft and vision can be deadly if he’s used in these kinds of actions. Both of these were scoring plays, but it’s easy to see how this vision can add to the passing game. If the help defender sticks, the handoff becomes an attractive option. If the perimeter defender digs down, the shooter now has a look. And the offense can add counters, additional screeners, and cuts. But none of this can happen if Obi or Jokic puts his head down and tries to immediately post up and look for his own shot. Most players have that tendency, and lack the feel to keep all options open; the elite playmakers at the 4 do not. 

Here is Obi at Dayton making a similar DHO hesitation, but instead of scoring, he exploits the helping defense to find an open shooter in the corner (from NBA Draft Junkies’ excellent breakdown of Obi’s strengths on YouTube):

The hesitation helps Obi beat his defender, drawing more help. And of course how could I not mention the highlight-reel pass. Switching hands mid-air and casually flicking a bounce pass to the corner? Whew! That level of skill and coordination combined with his feel can make him a very dangerous playmaker. 

Obi’s feel also shows up in transition. Here, in a play that got many Knicks fans excited for his potential, he grabs the rebound, gets all the way down the floor, and finds Kevin Knox in the corner for an open three. Is his work done? Nope.

Obi reads Knox’s closeout and immediately starts heading to the corner. Once he realizes his help defender has opened up the dunker’s spot, he stops and comes back for the easy finish. Note that he doesn’t just stand and watch in the paint, allowing his man to defend two players at once. Excellent feel. And of course, the ability to grab, go, and read the defense is what’s special here. Obi brings the ball up; when a 4 can do this and push the pace, it forces defenses to scramble and allows guards who would normally be tasked with bringing up the ball to hunt for open spots on the floor for shots. It also opens up the possibilities of mismatches, as bigger players may not be able to recover to a hard-charging forward in time. 

However, many bigs who are termed “grab-and-go” guys are one-dimensional. Sure, they have the handle to go coast-to-coast, but once a defense recovers, they aren’t great at finding gaps or exploiting passing windows. Obi shows the ability to do just that. This isn’t a defense that is beat; the Pistons have five guys back. But Obi spots the opening on the sideline, keeps his head up and finds Knox in the corner. 

And of course, transition isn’t all about getting to the rim. The ball moves faster than the man, and Obi shows his ability to hunt passes. He’s truly looking to push the ball here and make the best play. And the most impressive thing about this is Obi’s accuracy on the move, threading a needle to RJ Barrett and making it look easy:

Although Obi isn’t a guy you want isolating on dribble drives from the top of the key (yet), we’ve seen plenty of glimpses of his ability to pass off drives as well, and it goes back to his Dayton days. In what should look familiar to Knicks fans after his first couple of games, Obi attacks and throws a beautiful pass to beat the defense:

Obi’s pump fake and shooting gravity give him just enough to get a step, but it’s the ability to read the rotating defense without stopping and make a quick cross-court pass that’s rare. Not many 6-foot-9 guys have the combination of shooting, ball handling, feel, vision, and passing accuracy to make this happen all in stride. The Knicks once drafted a player fourth overall who was a much better shooter than Obi, 7-foot-3, and a solid ball handler. But lacking Obi’s quickness, coordination, and (most importantly) his feel, you would never have seen him make this type of play. 

Now, this is a bit of a welcome to the NBA moment at first for Obi. In a play similar to the one above, he attacks a closeout, but this time cannot get a clean path to the rim. In time, you’d hope Obi can improve his lower body strength so that he’s not getting bumped out of bounds by D(ean) Wade, but the pass he’s able to make out of this is encouraging nonetheless. 

Here is another nice pass off the drive, with Obi once again showing his ability to switch hands mid-air and throw an absolute dime. You can see defenses already respect Obi’s shot to the point where he’s finding opportunities to attack downhill, and this is where I believe he is most dangerous as a passer:

Many players are accurate passers, but lack the vision to surgically take apart a defense. Many players have good vision, but lack the skill to throw quick, accurate passes with either hand. Many players have both these qualities, but lack the driving ability to create windows in the defense. Obi has all three and is 6-foot-9. You can see a lot of these driving opportunities come off of defenses closing out on him at the 3-point line; this is why I’m not mad at him taking a lot of threes this year, even if he’s shooting league average or slightly below. Developing that gravity long-term is going to unlock so much in his game.

And we haven’t even mentioned perhaps the best use of this potential combination of gravity and playmaking: the short roll. 

This appears to be a simple play, but once again Obi’s subtle abilities make it work. The defender at the rim is Tyler Bey, an excellent help defender and rim protector. The passing window isn’t open at first, but off the short roll, Obi has the ability to stop and pop, drive to the rim, or pass. Instead of wasting his dribble, he pauses on the catch, keeping alive all three threats. This freezes Bey long enough to create the passing opportunity, and that’s all Obi needs for the assist. The presence of mind to not immediately dribble, use his eyes to threaten the shot and drive, and the feel to sense the opening and make a quick decision are the big takeaways here.

Here’s a nice compilation from the great Spencer Pearlman of some of Obi’s best passes in college. You can see another nice short roll pass in traffic at the 0:43 mark. There is also another example of Obi using the threat of the DHO by keeping his head up to gain an advantage on his defender at the 0:19 mark. As his handle and shooting improves these opportunities are going to increase.

The last thing I’ll highlight is Obi’s post passing. I think — particularly early in his career — Obi will see more opportunities attacking closeouts and in the short roll. This is not because I’m such an anti-post-up guy, but simply because Obi’s lack of lower body strength makes it very difficult for him to establish deep position and draw double teams in the post in the NBA. In college, however, his vision and ability to throw one-handed cross-court darts out of the post popped. 

Obi is quick to recognize double teams and make the right read, not holding the ball, and not allowing the defense to recover and bottle him up.

Here, he finds the slightest window opened up by the big shifting down in the zone and throws a bullet. Of course, it helps to play on a team with shooters all over the floor like Dayton was; suffice to say, this is not the case on the Knicks. But Obi’s vision and accuracy, whether off the dribble or with his back to the basket, is great.

This is just a nice set play from Dayton using the cutter to screen the weakside defender. Obi is able to make the right decision and throw an easy dime for the open three. Again, this is against a zone, but as we’ve seen, teams will not be afraid to throw zone defenses at the Knicks, perhaps even if a shooter like Immanuel Quickley is playing point guard. Obi’s ability to find and exploit tight windows should translate against any kind of defenses, not to mention allow Tom Thibodeau to use him in a variety of creative sets.

Obi can pass on the interior too. Here, he draws the double and fits the ball through the trees for the open dunk.

Conclusion 

Obi Toppin is much more than a rim-runner on offense. He’s much more than a scorer on offense. Obi combines the feel, unselfishness, and skill to be an excellent passer who can stress defenses in myriad ways. We know he’s a guy that loves to throw down Sportscenter Top 10-worthy dunks, and this is what generated a lot of hoopla around him as a prospect. And he plays with a nastiness. But what was overshadowed was his high level of offensive feel and ability to identify and execute the right play consistently. He also is not a guy just looking to get his; in his interview with Mike Schmitz, one play that popped was a drop step into a highlight-reel reverse dunk. Schmitz praised Obi for the play, but Obi noted his cutting teammate is also a great athlete and the pass was open, too. It’s a small thing, but I think taking the time out of a play where he was being praised to recognize his teammate is notable and that unselfishness extends to the court. 

I recently wrote an article highlighting the requisite skills needed for a 4 to be a championship-level player: playmaking, shooting, team defense, and rim protection. Nearly every championship team has a guy who is either elite at two of these or above average in three. I’m not optimistic about Obi being an above-average defender; I do think he has the potential to be an elite playmaker, and I hope the Knicks will use him and develop him in a way that allows him to reach this ceiling. If they do, we are potentially looking at the kind of franchise cornerstone Knicks fans have been desperately seeking.