NY Knicks: The key stats behind Immanuel Quickley’s “Elite potential”

NY Knicks: Quickley’s long-term outlook

Focusing again on Quickley’s guard skills — What we’ve seen so far is that he is a serviceable, but inconsistent playmaker. He can make some simple reads, but a lot of the time, Quickley’s assists come as a result of a last-resort effort from being bottled up in an attempt to score. He doesn’t always know where open teammates will be before the play happens – and that’s fine. The playmaking will take time for someone who played more 2-guard in college, and perhaps that’s what Immanuel Quickley’s NBA future will be: An elite combo guard.

It was one of the big question marks in his draft profile – He seemed to be a “tweener guard”. In today’s NBA,  positional labels don’t matter too much. Here we are in March of 2021 and Quickley has the 2nd highest player efficiency rating among all rookies.

There are many combo guards in the league who have always had special talent at creating their own shot (Like Quickley) and later developed into effective playmakers. They may not be identical matches with Quickley from a physical or athletic profile, but combo guards like Devin Booker, CJ McCollum, Donovan Mitchell all showcased a similar ability early on in their careers to create space and take NBA defenders off of the dribble. They’ve all increasingly grown as playmakers at the 2-guard spot, and it seems like the ideal trajectory for Immanuel Quickley.

Quickley’s frame sometimes leads people to believe that he’s smaller and weaker than he really is. Quickley can still add weight as he gets older. At 6’3, his 6’9 wingspan has served him well in creating extra space from defenders.

Immanuel Quickley will be a key part of the Knicks’ playoff push this season, but as the team continues to grow and improve their roster, look out for Immanuel Quickley to play his way into an even bigger role. The NY Knicks have an electric scorer waiting to be unleashed.