NY Knicks: Immanuel Quickley in for an expanded role next season?

NY Knicks: Immanuel Quickley’s expanded bench role

For as great as Alec Burks was for the NY Knicks in 2020-21, he seems the least likely of the team’s free agents to be back. Someone else is going to pay him, and New York might be able to replace his production in different ways.

The type of shot creation that New York got out of Burks, well, they may be able to get a lot of that out of Immanuel Quickley.

There is no doubt in my mind that Quickley has high-end potential. I believe he has the skillset to be a CJ McCollum-level combo guard, one day…

For now, we know that he’s an elite shooter, period. Quickley shot 46.6% on catch-and-shoot 3s. His shooting alone will keep him in the league for a long time.

His next steps are going to be his evolution into a combo guard who can score at 3 levels. More advanced facilitating and pick and roll operation is one thing, but he also needs to add to his bag when it comes to finishing from different areas on the floor.

Everyone knows the sweet IQ floater, but his at-rim and mid-range shooting percentages were all below average for his position, per Cleaning The Glass. 

It’s not a reason to panic, because he has the tools to make strides in those areas. Quickley has the shiftiness, 6’9 wingspan, and soft-touch to become a better 3-level scorer, and that’s what the NY Knicks need him to do for him to jump into a consistent bench role. New York can add more talent to their starting giving more of the reigns to Quickley off the bench.

Quickley doesn’t have the height of Alec Burks, so while you can’t stick him at small forward (Where Burks played 31% of his minutes), the team can figure that out with their other players.

Conclusion: 

It’s premature to be talking about this, but I already miss breaking down Immanuel Quickley’s game. It’s premature because the front office could go in so many different directions with next year’s roster.

Still, if I’m guessing, I would say this team knows they need to add another dynamic guard into the mix. A guard who creates their own shot and makes smart decisions with the ball in their hands.

A trade for a superstar seems unlikely, and they’re not going to just “run it back” with the same rag-tag group.  Adding a high-level guard and expanding Immanuel Quickley’s role do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Quickley can grow into a potential 6th Man of The Year candidate in 2021-22. The key is consistency – make sure he’s getting those 20-25 minutes per night. Give him a large chunk of new responsibility as a leader of the 2nd unit while sprinkling him into some mid-game rotations with the starters. He’s going to thrive.

It’s exciting to think about just how deep the NY Knicks’ backcourt could become next season.

We saw how rookie Immanuel Quickley could dominate games even with sporadic playing time. Next, we should be watching sophomore Immanuel Quickley getting consistent burn while flirting with 14-17 points per game.