A year ago, at the hastily held Atlanta All-Star Game, Obi-Topping regretted losing to Anfenni Simmons and missed the dunk contest. A year later, in Cleveland, Topping made a comeback, and he defeated Juan Toscano Anderson in the final to win the dunk king, finally fulfilling his dream of winning the dunk contest.
"The dream came true," Topin said in an interview.
To be fair, this year's dunk contest is definitely not related to the "classic", the first round of 4 players completed 8 dunks, the final 2 players completed 4 dunks, and there was not a full score dunk. But there is no denying that Topin is the most prepared and the most complete one this year, and he deserves to be the title. For the sake of last year's regrets, Topping enriched his "arsenal" and came with more gorgeous dunks.
In the first round of the first dunk, Toping originally wanted to try the Yue ren crotch change dunk, but two attempts failed, and then he chose to change the dunk behind the Yue ren. The quality of the action was so high that the referee only gave 44 points, and even the fans on the spot couldn't look past it and booed.
Topping's second highest choice to throw himself under the crotch to change hands buckle, he completed it all at once, facing the judges' seat to get full points, but this year the judges' vision is too high, only one person gave a full score, and finally Topping scored 46 points.
In the final, Topping failed the first two times in the first dunk, and to be on the safe side, he chose to smash the ball to the rebound and throw himself under the crotch to change hands, and the referee gave 45 points.
Topin's second dunk completed the first two attempts in the first dunk of the final, changing hands in the crotch after the run, grabbing the ball with his right hand to touch the rebound first, and then dunking the ball into the basket. The ball was very difficult, but the judges still did not give a full score, and Topping finally scored 47 points.
The overall ornamentality of this dunk contest is indeed average, and it can even be described as "water", but Topping's performance is not watery at all. It is said that the dunk contest is not friendly to tall interior players, but Topping proves that as long as the preparation is sufficient and the strength is in place, the tall interior line can also win the dunk king.
Topping loves dunks, first, inheriting the sports genes of his father Obadiah, and secondly, being greatly influenced by Obadiah.
"People always ask me who I imitate, and I always say I imitate my father," Topin said, "and everybody says I play like him, but he also says I'm a better dunk than he is because I have more tricks." ”
Although Obadea has never played in the NBA, he is also well-known in the American basketball circle, playing in the professional league in the Dominican Republic and participating in many heavyweight events in the American street ball circle. In 2006, Gatorade shot an advertisement, and its three NBA stars, Chinese Carter, Dwyane Wade and Ben Wallace, appeared on camera, and Obadea was also invited to participate in the filming of the advertisement. In this 31-second ad, the first person to appear on camera is Obadiah.
How talented is Obadiah? Once, when Topping was warming up on the court to prepare for a game, Obadiah walked up to the court and grabbed the ball in civilian clothes to complete a 360-degree turn dunk. That year, Obadiah was 40 years old.
With such a basketball-savvy father, Topin fell in love with playing. After witnessing his father's frequent physical talent on the field, Topping also wanted to try, but because he was too young to buckle, Topping wanted to show his bouncing ability by crossing the 3-foot-high fence and so on. As a result, Toppin broke his arm more than once, and his mother, Ronnie, exaggerated: "My son is a regular in the emergency room, breaking his arm is commonplace, and if the airline allows it, he will even jump off the plane." ”
However, Topping's basketball career did not start smoothly, in the early years of high school, he did not have any highlights on the court, in the words of his high school coach, Toppin's body was very thin when he first arrived, his shooting and dribbling level was very average, and it was difficult to get playing time. Fortunately, Topping is also a late bloomer, and by the fourth year of high school, he has been able to average 20.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game under the careful cultivation of the coach, and this year he completed his first dunk in actual combat, leading the team to win the team's first division championship in nearly 10 years.
However, such a Topping did not attract the attention of any university, and the name of Top 100 High School Students in ESPN never appeared on the list of Top 100 High School Students. Coach Roderick Harrison believes ThatToping is talented enough to play in the NCAA and that he can't get the favor of the university simply because he doesn't play too many AAU games, and playing in the small market leads to his under-exposure.
In order to increase the exposure, Toppin's mother asked for help to promote Toppin through social media and other channels, and Topin went to Play at Mount Zion Preparatory School. There, Toppin's height has risen a lot, and with the increase in exposure, he finally waited for scholarships from schools such as Dayton University. In the end, Topping chose The University of Dayton.
At Dayton University, Toppin was unable to play for his first year due to academic problems, and he calmed down to precipitate, even during a wrist injury, he had to remove the cast to train, which is also a big reason why his left and right hands are very balanced. As he grew taller, Topping gained weight step by step, gaining 30 pounds and was no longer afraid to fight in the NCAA.
In the 2018-19 season, Topping finally represented Dayton University in the NCAA, averaging 14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and breaking the school record with 83 dunks in a single season. The following season, he averaged 20 points, 7.5 rebounds per game, shot 63.3 percent from the field, and developed good three-pointers, leading the nation with 74 dunks this season.
"He's not finished yet," said Dayton Coach Anthony Grant, "and that's just the beginning." ”
In the 2020 NBA Draft, Toppin was selected by the Knicks with the 8th pick in the first round. Unfortunately, Topping came to the Knicks at a bad time, catching up with Julius Randle in the fourth place, while he ran into coach Thibodeau, who didn't like to use newcomers. In the two years since entering the industry, Topping has only played two starts, averaging only 5.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.
For Topping's prospects, Harrison, who has always cared about him, believes that there is no need to worry about his future at all, because "late success" is the characteristic of Topping. Harrison said: "Apart from those few superstars, few NBA forwards have the ability to do the things that Topping did, and his future doesn't have to worry. ”