NY Knicks: Immanuel Quickley shines — what is his potential?

NY Knicks: What the stats say about Immanuel Quickley

Immanuel Quickley played an important role for the Knicks in 2020-21, although many wished he would have gotten more consistent playing time.

Still, I wouldn’t say that Thibodeau “stunted his growth” whatsoever — Quickley played 19 minutes per game for a team that finished 4th in the Eastern Conference and of course, finished with an All-Rookie 2nd team selection. He certainly exceeded his pre-draft expectations.

So while Quickley’s per game stats are obviously not going to stack up with LaMelo Ball or Anthony Edwards, there are some indicators that he can grow into one of the best guards from his draft class.

B-Ball Index absolutely loves what the advanced stats say about Quickley. He was their rookie of the year.

One of B-Ball Index’s most popular metrics is their LEBRON tool, which is meant to track both offensive and defensive impact per 100 posessions.

Of all players who played 1000 minutes in 2020-21 and were 22-years-old or younger, only Luca Doncic, Zion Williamson, Michael Porter Jr., and Trae Young had a higher LEBRON rating than Immanuel Quickley.

We know him primarily as a scorer. He has a nice array of 2-3 dribble combos, a lethal stepack, and a knockdown floater. His shooting is nothing short of spectacular.

While his 3-point shooting percentage of 38.9% is great, it’s still doesn’t do justice to how excellent of a shooter he really is. In the same way that Devin Booker is a 34% 3-point shooter and Bradley Beal is 34.9% 3-point shooter, those percentages aren’t the full story.

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Quickley takes a lot of deep, difficult jumpshots. As he grows as a scorer, he’ll be able to find better looks. It takes some guards a few years to incorporate 4-5 different moves to get buckets. You don’t need to be Luka Doncic and have multiple elite moves for every level of scoring, but you want to be able to keep adding to your moveset to the point where defenders can’t always predict how you want to score.

When he doesn’t have the ball, Quickley is a knockdown shooter. His shooting is the bread and butter and is what opens up his whole game.

The real question that could dictate what his ceiling in the NBA is: How effective is he with the ball in his hands?  Is he… a point guard?