Knicks: 3 reasons they MUST diminish Elfrid Payton’s role

The Knicks need to let Immanuel Quickley play through mistakes, grow as a player

Immanuel Quickley has undoubtedly hit a rookie wall. Immanuel Quickley is also a significant part of the Knicks’ future: He’s a rookie who is already making an impact and earlier this year looked like he was on track to make an All-Rookie Team. He needs to learn how to play through his mistakes.

Quite frankly, the idea that Payton “Deserves” more playing time than Quickley because he doesn’t turn the ball over as much, is ridiculous. Quickley doesn’t need to be a 35 minutes per-game player, but the fact that has played less than 15 minutes in multiple games is utterly ridiculous.

Once again using stats from Cleaning The Glass, Elfrid is a decent defender, but he isn’t some sort of lockdown guard. He ranks in the 51st percentile in opponent 3-point field goal percentage. His ranking when defending shots at the rim is 4th worst among point guards – He really struggles with athletic, downhill guards.

I’m not even suggesting that the Knicks make Quickley the starter. In fact, I love the yin-and-yang of the two different units. The starters set the bully-ball, defense-first tone for the game, and then the 2nd-unit comes in hot on offense. Payton being the starter and him averaging less than 20 minutes per-game don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

We’ve seen it happen oh so many times this season – Late in the game, the Knicks cannot buy a basket. They need an injection of offense, and arguably their 2nd best offensive player, Immanuel Quickley, is rotting on the bench. Thibodeau’s reluctance to read the game and change his lineups on-the-go has played a major role in the Knicks’ recent disappointing performances.

Elfrid Payton is not the sole reason the Knicks’ offense has struggled, but he has been a huge part of it. Does he deserve a role with the team? Absolutely, but there is no argument as to why Payton should be playing sky-high heavy minutes with such a high usage rate. The Knicks need to recognize this soon because the offense has been holding them back from truly establishing themselves as a playoff team.