Taking advantage of the incompetence of the Knicks
Sam went on to talk about how the Pacers were able to completely fleece the Knicks out of one of their former lottery picks.
"“They went on to steal Obi Toppin from the Knicks for two second-round picks. Toppin played only 14.7 minutes per game in three seasons in New York, but he clearly had more to give than Tom Thibodeau allowed him to show. In 15 starts across those three years, he averaged 20.6 points per game. Tyrese Haliburton is the perfect point guard for him. They’ll be among the NBA’s best transition duos and Haliburton will throw him plenty of lobs.”"
Toppin will be in a perfect situation when he arrives with the Pacers, playing alongside of Tyrese Haliburton. And Haliburton is really pumped to have Toppin on the team (see his twitter feed here to read about his excitement).
Toppin, as a former winner of the dunk contest certainly is an exciting pickup. But when he is given the opportunity to play, he does well. His shooting needs to get better and he’s an average defender at best (actually that’s a pretty generous statement), but there are certainly things to like about Obi’s game.