RJ Barrett could fill in at the four with Obi Toppin out
New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett and forward Obi Toppin against the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden in October. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There are times when a question has to be asked but the answer already is known. So when RJ Barrett was asked this one Friday morning, the interviewer and the interviewee both knew the answer already.
With Obi Toppin sidelined for what figures to be at least a month with a non-displaced fracture of the right fibula, could Barrett — who already is playing more minutes than any other Knick — shoulder even more of the load, as coach Tom Thibodeau suggested?
“Remember when I was playing 37 [minutes per game]?” Barrett answered with a smile. “Yeah, so I’m good.”
Barrett is playing 33.5 minutes per game this season and, as he noted, he was second only to teammate Julius Randle in minutes played in the 2020-21 season. It actually was 34.9 minutes per game and he played every game that season, but point made — he is a workhorse.
Friday night's game against the Hornets represented the first opportunity for the Knicks to indicate how they will handle the absence of Toppin, who was injured Wednesday in the win over Atlanta.
With the rotation pared down to nine players before the injury and the team actively shopping some of the players moved out of the game plan — Cam Reddish, Evan Fournier and Derrick Rose — the Knicks now need to find a way to make up for the 17 minutes per game that Toppin was playing.
Thibodeau’s first option after that game: “We’ll figure it out. I like the idea of RJ being there some. I think he showed us last year how effective he can be at the four, so I think that can be a possibility.”
But Barrett is a 6-6 wing who would be asked to face off against bigger opponents and help more on the boards than he has.
“I’ve done it before,” he said. “A lot of teams go small nowadays. I don’t think it’ll be anything too crazy. It’ll be fun. We’ll pick our spots and we’ll see how it goes.
“I do what I’ve got to do. Whatever it is it doesn’t matter where Coach puts me. I’ll do what I’ve got to do . . . Today’s NBA is different. It’s having another wing out there. You see Julius — he’s a wing. He just happens to be a monster.”
“It just makes our ability to score probably going to go a little easier,” Immanuel Quickley said. “Just because you have somebody who can shoot it like RJ at the four, can get downhill, can attack, can create plays for others. Really, just have to be aware of the rebounding if he's playing the four. Everybody's got to box out a little bit more, try to help on the boards.”
The easy solution could be a few more minutes for Randle and a few more for Barrett. Thibodeau has held tight when he has removed players from the rotation, but Reddish certainly could help with his size and defensive ability. He would have to find his way out of the doghouse, which could be difficult considering the team already has been discussing trade possibilities. But the Knicks could up the minutes on Barrett and Randle as they face a favorable schedule with only one back-to-back set this month.
“When you are in the schedule, you take everything into consideration and then you try to determine what's going to give you the best chance to win,” Thibodeau said. “Some of it is where you are in the schedule, obviously who you are playing, what the makeup of their team is, what's their bench look like, how do we match up. Can there be an advantage gained one way or the other. Sometimes it's best to match up with what they have, sometimes it's best to go opposite with what they have.''
With Toppin out, though, it’s more than minutes that the Knicks need to replace. While his play has been spotty, he delivers one thing that seems irreplaceable.
“Missing Obi is a big thing,” Barrett said. “He’s such a ball of energy, man, going out there. When he’s out there, we just play faster. We play so much better . . . That’s a guy, his energy and spirit, you always know he’s going to have a smile on his face. He’s going to bring positive energy. So that’s going to be missed for sure.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
