Immanuel Quickley: The Knicks’ Precocious Neophyte

Knicks’ PG Derrick Rose has helped elevate Immanuel Quickley’s game.

On February 8th, the Knicks completed a trade to acquire former MVP and Coach Thibs’ favorite Derrick Rose from the Pistons.

The addition of Rose looked set to bolster the Knicks backcourt, complimenting IQ by taking some of the defensive focus away from him and allowing him to play a bit more off the ball, utilizing his ability as a spot-up shooter.

Daily Knicks quickly (again, no pun intended) sang the new backcourt tandem’s praises and fell in love shortly thereafter.

In a small sample size so far (8 games) the Rose/Quickley backcourt has had its moments, looking like an efficient & productive second unit pairing, creating easy shots for one another.

Equally, they have also had their moments where they struggled to make an impact, poor shot selection, and ball movement at the core of those struggles.

The pair would certainly benefit from some more time to adjust to playing together.

Since the Rose acquisition, (and prior to Thursday’s Kings game – more on that later) IQ has struggled to find his shot consistently, shooting a lowly 31% from the floor (albeit his 3-point shooting has remained steady at 37%), his points and assists output have also decreased somewhat (11.1 points and 1.9 assists).

Derrick Rose has also struggled, averaging just 10.9 points (on 38% shooting) and 3.9 assists per game.

So what has been the cause of Immanuel Quickley’s recent struggles?

Is it inconsistent minutes? Opposing teams adjusting more to his game? The ‘rookie wall’? or learning to play alongside Rose?

It’s most certainly a combination of all of those things:

1. As we all know, Coach Thibodeau loves his vets and has a short leash when it comes to rookies. In a recent 6 game stretch, Immanuel Quickley’s playing time went from 21 minutes (4 games straight) to 9 minutes and 13 minutes in the next two – It’s tough for a player to get something going consistently with fluctuating minutes, IQ has managed this well so far.
2. Defenses are absolutely adjusting to his game, teams are putting more focus on him, taking away his floater, forcing the ball out of his hands, and doubling him when they can (a pretty nice compliment for a rookie).
3. The ‘rookie wall’ is a very real thing. IQ played a total of 30 games for Kentucky last season at college, he’s already played 29 games for this Knicks this season and we’re not even halfway done – Adjusting to an NBA schedule isn’t easy for a rookie.
4. Sharing the court with Rose. Adjusting to playing and developing on-court chemistry with a new teammate isn’t easy in the middle of a season, learning to play with one another effectively will take some time and they’ve shown glimpses already. I think they’ll figure it out. (more on IQ and Rose below).

To get a better look at how IQ has fared next to D-Rose in the small sample size so far, let’s have a look at some of his stats prior to the Sacramento game:

The Floater

• All-Season: 40/93 (43%)
• Post Rose Trade: 4/20 (20%)

All Field Goals and Three Pointers:

• All Season: 82/200 FGM (41%) & 33/91 3PM (36%)
• Post Rose Trade: 21/66 FGM (32%) & 13*/35 3PM (37%)

* 46.15% (6/13) of IQ’s 3PM have come off Derrick Rose assists since the trade (per NBA.com/stats)

The overall shooting numbers aren’t too pretty for IQ playing with Rose, however, the attention that Rose naturally draws from defenders should be of big benefit to Immanuel Quickley as the two get more comfortable playing with one another.

We have already started to see some of this in effect with IQ’s three-pointers assisted by Rose.

It should be noted that the struggles haven’t been isolated to just IQ and Rose alone, the entire Knicks bench unit has had its struggles of late, failing to provide that offensive spark the team desperately needs from its reserves.