2020 NBA Mock Draft: All 14 NBA teams in the lottery
Dayton Flyers. Obi Toppin. . Power Forward. 9. player. 142.
The Washington Wizards are embracing a pivot, rather than a rebuild. With Bradley Beal the top dog now, and then John Wall returning from injury in the last little while, they are embracing an offense only, run and gun style.
They are very short on big men still, and injuries have continued to hamper this team unfortunately. What they need at the four and five is consistent production from someone who can be physical and punish teams that go small.
In Obi Toppin, they will have the best player on the board, while also getting a high energy big that can fit into the run and gun style that this team will embrace when Wall returns.
Toppin, out of Dayton, is a real physical specimen. He is a beast in transition, finishing on a whopping 75 percent of plays in the open court. He shoots an excellent 63 percent from the field, and this year has just stretched his range out to three-point land where is he hitting on 39 percent of his attempts.
He can still attack defenses in the half-court, and even though his dribble isn’t the strongest part of his game, opponents do respect his drive game. He likes getting all the way to the rim and he is one of the best lob catchers in his class because of his great hands and leaping ability.
He is a muscular six-foot-nine and 220 pounds, and combines his strong physical profile with a high IQ. There are some concerns about his work rate, but hopefully these can be ironed out at the NBA level.
Toppin has already shown some ability as a passer, as a big man if he could work to be a secondary playmaker then he could get starters minutes on an NBA team.
Defensively he has a bit of work to do, he is a good rim protector at the NBA level but this is mainly due to athleticism not timing or great positioning. This is the same with his rebounding, with his size he should be a great rebounder, but he needs to use better technique and look to be more consistent.
Toppin can be a good defender if he works on developing strong fundamentals. This season the Wizards had many players who weren’t NBA rotation quality, Toppin can raise the floor of this team right away.