Immanuel Quickley: The Knicks’ Precocious Neophyte

The Knicks and Immanuel Quickley molly-whopped the Kings.

There’s nothing like a game against the league’s worst defensive team, the Sacramento Kings, to help break out of an offensive funk — and break out of a funk they did…

The Knicks scored a season-high 140 points including 77 in the first half.

Elfrid Payton missed his first game of the regular season with a hamstring complaint and Derrick Rose was inserted into the starting five in his place, leaving the rookie IQ as the primary ball-handler and offensive initiator on the bench unit.

Rose looked great with the first unit, making each of his first 7 shots on his way to an efficient 18 points and 6 assists.

Julius Randle did what we have come to expect of Julius Randle with another strong game, Alec Burks drained 5 three’s and heck, we even got a Frank Ntilikina sighting (he looked fantastic btw).

But perhaps more importantly (in the context of this article) Immanuel Quickley bounced back from his recent cold stretch in a big way.

Quickley started the game on fire, scoring 18 points in just 9 first-half minutes.

He got to the free-throw line with ease, his floater was falling again and his three-point shot looked smooth as ever.

Immanuel Quickley finished the game with 25 points on only 10 FGA (Elf could never) including a perfect 12/12 from the line.

All of that coming in only 20 minutes of game time, talk about efficiency!

So in concluding, Quickley, much like any rookie before him, is going to go through his ups and downs as he adjusts to the rigors of an NBA schedule and as defenses start focusing more attention on him.

He’s already shown he has the mindset, determination, and hardworking nature to bounce back from rough stretches and not-so-great moments.

It’s likely his role going forward will continue to be playing alongside Rose on the second unit, which should create some pretty great open looks for him, naturally one would expect his shooting numbers to improve too as the pair get more accustomed to playing off one another.

However, an interesting thought…

Perhaps separating Quickley and Rose would actually work to the benefit of both and the team.

Playing Rose with the first unit would certainly help a starting unit that at times lacks offensive firepower, and letting Immanuel Quickley take the reins full time of the offense with the second unit could help to unlock some more of his offensive potential.

Coach Thibs seems set on a circa 20 minutes a night allocation for IQ at this point so a role as the primary ball-handler could help him find his offensive rhythm on a more consistent basis, allowing for the Knicks to utilize his scoring ability and creativity to the fullest.

All in all, the Knicks got a good one with Quickley, the kid is going to be great.