Knicks: 3 reasons to believe Immanuel Quickley is legit

Did the New York Knicks find a steal in Immanuel Quickley?

It doesn’t take much to get New York Knicks fans excited. And I say this as a compliment. Imagine a team that is the butt of everyone’s jokes, who hasn’t been competitive in nearly a decade, and who has been downright awful of late, and they are still somehow one of the most popular teams in the league?! That’s the New York Knicks for you.

And the latest reason for hope among the unwavering fanbase is a young guard named Immanuel Quickley.

After making a series of trades on draft night, the Knicks ended up with the Kentucky product via the 25th pick originally owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder. New York gained an extra first round selection by trading Marcus Morris during last year’s trade deadline. They essentially turned that pick into the sharp-shooting Quickley, who is proving in the preseason that he can do more than just knock down a perimeter shot.

In New York’s 119-83 drubbing of Cleveland on Friday, the Twitter darling scored 22 points, while adding 5 assists and 5 steals.

His strong play has coach Tom Thibodeau considering him as a starting option to begin the season.

Is everyone getting too excited over a few preseason games? Or is there reason to believe Immanuel Quickley can be a legit prospect? Let’s explore.

1) Reasons to believe in Immanuel Quickley: Pedigree

While everyone pays attention to mock drafts in evaluating a player’s potential NBA talent, we forget these players were once top recruits out of high school. Some pundits were surprised the Knicks took Quickley with the 25th pick, but if you look at his recruiting ranks from just two years ago, he was one of the best 20-25 high school players in the country before signing on with Kentucky.

• Rivals had him ranked 22nd
• 247Sports had him ranked 19th
• ESPN had him ranked 25th

Of course, a lot can happen in two years. And Quickley suffered a bit from joining a stacked Kentucky team where coach John Calipari didn’t want to feature him right-away in a three-guard lineup. But instead of letting a challenging situation get to him, Quickley bought into the program. He was rewarded with more playing time and turned into the SEC Player of the Year during his sophomore season.

This is a sign of maturity. And no NBA team has better intel into Quickley’s work ethic and professionalism than the Knicks do with Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne joining the staff and the front office’s strong ties to Calipari.

Draft experts called the 2020 NBA Draft a crapshoot after the first few picks. There were wide-ranging views on where each prospect should be slotted. So just because Quickley wasn’t the name on everyone’s mock draft at #25, it doesn’t mean he isn’t worthy of that selection. Something he is proving early on.

2) Reasons to believe in Immanuel Quickley: His floater

Knicks fans are quickly (no pun intended) learning that Immanuel Quickley has a pretty good floater, which he has featured in several preseason games, most notably, in New York’s blowout win over Cleveland this past week.

After the game, Quickley even mentioned the Synergy stats from college that should have made it obvious to anyone paying attention that this is a strength in his game.

During his sophomore season, Quickley scored 0.94 points per possession with his floater, which ranked him in the top 81st percentile in college basketball. Combined with his lethal outside shooting, he is able to keep defenders on their toes as he pump fakes, drives, and either draws contact to get to the free throw line, or pulls up short and converts using his floater.

You can see examples in the video above. As help defenders take an extra step forward to defend against his runner, it allows him the ability to set-up his teammates over the top in alley-oop plays.

While the mid-range game has been weeded out of the NBA, it doesn’t mean it can’t still be part of a player’s game when they are efficient and use it to open up other areas of the court.

3) Reasons to believe in Immanuel Quickley: Playmaking

I have been most impressed by Immanuel Quickley’s playmaking abilities in the preseason. While he is far from a polished point guard, his unselfish play opens up opportunities for him to grow in this area.

Simply by being a threat to shoot from the perimeter, opposing teams need to compensate for that, whether it’s trapping him off screens or cheating toward him on the weakside. This allows him to find teammates for open shots as he takes advantage of the defense respecting his range.

Quickley is probably best creating for others in transition when he can react within the flow of the game. We have seen him several times turn a transition play into easy points around the basket or a pull-up three by a trailing teammate.

The Kentucky guard is also sneaky with his dribble, changing pace, keeping it live, giving himself plenty of chances to make a play for himself or others. How many times have we heard Clyde talk about keeping your dribble? The Hall-of-Fame Knick must be happy with what he has seen from Quickley so far.

It’s way, way to early to anoint Immanuel Quickley the surprise of the draft, but there is definitely promise in the things he has shown during the preseason.