The two Knicks first-round picks received major validations before and during Friday’s pre-season finale.
Debutant striker Obi Toppin was ranked third in the voting for the Rookie of the Year 2020-21 award in the annual survey of general managers at NBA.com.
Also, goalkeeper Immanuel Quickley seems to intend to force himself into that conversation, moving to the starting line and scoring 22 points with five assists and five steals, while the Knicks ended a 3-1 preseason with a fleeting 119-83 victory. over the Knights in the Garden.
“I liked his approach from the moment I wrote it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Quickley before the game. “He is a great worker, he is a smart child. A great shooter. I still haven’t seen him do what he does best, which is to shoot the ball. Just a confident guy.
“Many people felt that he could not play on the ball and he showed that he is very confident in the ball. And so it grew. He played point increasing. He didn’t play that much in Kentucky, but they played a three-guard system. So I think by the way he approaches things, the challenge will be great every night. I think that the practices of the Summer and Autumn League are missing and all this, he answered very well. He is preparing well. He is a student of the game. It was great. “
Kevin Knox scored 6 of 7 3 points and 20 points, RJ Barrett finished with 15, and Mitchell Robinson contributed eight points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for the Knicks, who open their regular season Wednesday in Indiana. . Reggie Bullock added 17 points, and Julius Randle had 11 with eight assists in the team.
Toppin, the eighth overall pick in the Dayton draft, was relatively quiet, with six points and six rebounds in 27 minutes.
However, earlier in the day, 22-year-old Toppin was third in the general managers’ Rookie of the Year predictions with 18% of the vote, especially ahead of No. 1 overall leader Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves ( 7) percent). Hornets goalie LaMelo Ball finished 39th with 39 percent, followed by Warriors center James Wiseman (29 percent).
“These polls and predictions are pretty pointless. I just want them to continue to approach it as it came – come in every day, work as hard as you can, try to improve every day, ”said Thibodeau. “Often there are small incremental steps that a player takes and that’s how I want to approach him. Then he looks back and sees that he has made a quantum leap. “
Toppin also received votes in the category in which the debutant will be the best NBA player in the last five years, finishing in seventh place, with Wiseman occupying this list with 36%. And he was ranked fifth for “the biggest steal where he was selected in the draft,” behind Kings’ Tyrese Haliburton (12), Pistons’ Saddiq Bey (19), Pelicans’ Kira Lewis Jr. (13 ) and Tyrese Maxey of the 76ers (21).
Toppin and Quickley were part of a youth quintet – also with Barrett, Robinson and Knox – that ended Wednesday’s comeback victory over the Cavs. Quickley, Kentucky’s 25th pick, finished with nine points and seven assists on Wednesday.
Quickley started Friday with goalkeepers Elfrid Payton (hamstring), Dennis Smith Jr. (quad), Austin Rivers (groin) and Frank Ntilikina (Achilles), all resisted for what Thibodeau said were precautions.
The rookie started quickly, burying two early triples and scoring 15 points, while the Knicks outscored 72-35 at the break and never looked back.