Hi,
i purchased a ficus microcarpa online and when I received it, it had a strange branch layout. Two branches about a third of the way up were really long and the tree looked funny, kind of imbalanced. I read a couple of books on pruning and per the advice of one, cut the lower branches pretty short, then sealed with cut paste. Minimal if any growth at the sites but now the crown is getting overgrown and the plan looks top heavy. I've attached a picture. Any advice on how to reshape the plant? Ideally I would like the bottom branches to be longer and the tops shorter. Is it okay to heavily prune the top branches? Or should I just let everything grow out? Thanks in advance!

Yes, absolutely. And you can probably thin out the top a little too (Reduce the nr of branches).

OK - not sure how thin to prune it. Like maybe 1-2 leaves on each branch? And reduce the number of branches on the crown by half or so? Is a valid strategy just to keep the top few branches looking like the way I'd want the finished tree to look, and hope that the bottom fills out?
Thanks in advance!