I left my Hackberry in the ground with the bamboo pole still attached. What a lesson lerned. The tree grew nearly twice the height in one growing season but, needless to say, was not strong enough to stand it's 14 foot trunk erect after taking the pole out. I regret doing so, but I ended up topping it at about 8 foot so it can stand erect with no use of stakes or poles. Question: did I ruin it's natural height expectancy by topping it?
The main problem will be forking. You may have to follow up with some thinning. Much nursery stock sold is rootbound, that may be why it went over. Topping it will have merely added to its troubles.
I am familiar with root balls looking like a big knot and it was not. It's definitely a healthy tree doubling it's height in one growing season and looking great with all the new branches. I think the problem is that I left the bamboo pole secured to the trunk when I should have removed it after transplanting it from a pot. Leaving it, I believe, caused the trunk to have a false sense of rigidity and it did not strenghten. That is untill I topped it and removed the pole. The trunk has now nearly doubled it's caliper in just 3 months. I topped it leaving a single branch to become the new leader. Now, it seems confused because several new branches are shooting up acting like they all want to the leader. Should I trim all those off and leave just a single leader again? If so, should I do it just before the next growing season starts?