'I love family environments': Why Obi Toppin is so excited to join the Pacers

DAYTON, Ohio -- Obi Toppin didn't know what to expect when he visited Dayton as a recruit because he knew nothing of the Midwest.

Toppin was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., moved to Florida during high school, moved back to New York for his junior and senior years and then did a prep year in Baltimore when he didn't get the offers he'd hoped. After that season, he got attention from Power 5 programs and some offers, but Dayton won him over with the way it treated him.

"When I came here, it was like a totally different world," Toppin said. "Going from New York City to Dayton is totally different. But the atmosphere here is amazing. Everybody shows love. Everybody is so welcoming. That's what drew my attention to the school coming on my visit. Once I came on my visit and interacted with everybody, met everybody. I was like, 'Yeah, this is definitely the spot for me.'"

That's why he still treats Dayton like a second home, even after he spent his first three NBA seasons close to his childhood home with the New York Knicks. That's why he still holds the CareSource Obi Toppin Basketball Camp on Dayton's campus, as he did this week. And that's a big part of the reason why he was so pleased to learn he was traded to the Pacers last month. Geographically, Indianapolis is the closest NBA city to Dayton, less than two hours away on Interstate 70. Toppin sees it as very culturally close as well.

"I love family environments," Toppin said. "I feel like that's what Indiana has, too. I think Indiana has that family type environment where they're very welcoming."

It was clear at Toppin's camp Tuesday that Dayton still views him as one of its favorite adopted sons, which is to be expected because he authored one of the most successful individual seasons in the history of a program that has historically punched above its weight. Toppin averaged 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2019-20, making 63.3% of his field goals and leading the Flyers to a 29-2 record and an Atlantic-10 championship with a perfect 18-0 conference mark, which earned him just about every national Player of the Year award a player could get. The Flyers were ranked No. 3 in the nation when the outbreak of COVID-19 ended the season, and they most likely would have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament had there been one. Toppin was taken by the Knicks with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 draft, which made him the Flyers' first first-rounder since Jim Paxson went No. 12 in 1979.

All of that success still makes him a huge draw, even if his great Flyers team didn't get to experience the postseason glory it was due. Tuesday's camp brought more than 140 young players in grades 1-8, selling out the event for the third straight year. The kids already look up to him, and the 6-9, 220-pound power forward got even more into their good graces by lifting some of them up in the air so they could dunk.

"They don't get to dunk a lot," said Toppin, the 2022 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest champion. "Having that opportunity to lift a kid up and see their excitement in dunking the ball is amazing. I'm going to do that a lot more, but I have to lift a little bit more weights."

The trade to the Pacers brings Toppin closer to the people of Dayton who revere him, and it also brings him to an organization that very much desires his services and has a vision for his role after three years when he was somewhat buried on the depth chart in his hometown.

Toppin was drafted by the Knicks the year after they signed power forward Julius Randle as a free agent, and Toppin's rookie season was the first year Randle was an All-Star. Randle has averaged at least 20 points and 9.9 rebounds in each of the past three seasons and has in turn averaged at least 35 minutes per game in each of those years. The Knicks and defensive-minded coach Tom Thibodeau don't like having two offensive-minded power forwards playing together when it means taking a rim protector off the floor, so Toppin hasn't averaged more than 17.1 minutes per game in any of his three seasons.

The Pacers, however, needed help at power forward even after they drafted Houston's Jarace Walker with the No. 8 overall pick, and they like to run so they love Toppin's effectiveness in transition. They have a role for him to play, and that alone is a refreshing change for him.

"That's my game," Toppin said. "Everybody knows my game. In the open floor, I run the floor really hard. We're gonna play with a fast pace. That what's the league is. We're not slowing it down. They're trying to get a bucket in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. I feel like that's good for us, getting us as many easy buckets as we can. I just feel like Indiana's vision is going to be playing me to my strengths. I feel like they're going to allow me to get back to what I do best, which is put pressure on the rim, attack the rim."

Since he was acquired, the Pacers have tried to be just as welcoming to Toppin as Dayton was. Players have been in near constant contact with him, and as soon as the trade became official on the first day of NBA Summer League, he got to work out with new teammates Aaron Nesmith and Jordan Nwora in Las Vegas. All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton came back to Indianapolis last week to work out with him and brought Toppin with him to the Dizzy Runs Pro-Am in Noblesville where they teamed up with Kyle Guy and several other pros and former college players.

More: Tyrese Haliburton, Obi Toppin, Trayce Jackson-Davis put on show at Dizzy Runs in Noblesville

He's also been in steady contact with coach Rick Carlisle.

"It's been more personal things," Toppin said. "We've been having more personal talks, about basketball too, but just about life. We've been talking about when I'm moving, where I'm moving. I'm excited to get back and talk to everybody."

And he's excited to be close to Dayton. He still has a close relationship with Flyers coach Anthony Grant, so he knows he's free to stop by whenever he wants.

"Being in Indiana close to here is amazing," Toppin said. "I've always said this is like my second home. It might be a bad thing that I'm only an hour and a half away because I might be here every single day with the team and the coaches. The environment and the atmosphere is amazing. Everybody shows love here. ... I didn't get to choose where I wanted to go (when he was traded), but for me to have this opportunity, I enjoy it. I'm glad it happened."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers: Why Obi Toppin is so excited to join Indiana