New York Knicks: Player Grades For Summer League

New York Knicks Summer League Grades: Immanuel Quickley

While Obi Toppin was soaring right out of the gates, the Knicks’ first 2021 Summer League was a challenge for a lot of the players. It was an especially disappointing day for Immanuel Quickley.

Without a doubt the best player on the Knicks Summer League roster, Quickley needed to shake off the rust before finding his shot. He scored 15 points on a ghastly 5-17 from the field and an even worse 2-11 from three. To be fair, he wasn’t the only player shoot poorly as nearly the entire roster was failing to hit a jump shot. If not for the team’s shooting woes vs the Raptors, Quickley definitely would have finished with double-digit assists. He had eight in Game 1 with just one turnover.

One of the biggest questions many had about Quickley heading into Summer League was can he be a true point guard? In today’s NBA, a true point guard isn’t as necessary as it once was, but some playmaking improvement was still something that was desired of Quickley and for good reason. With how much the Knicks offense struggled last year and because playmaking ability would be great for such a talented scorer and ball-dominant player like IQ, fans were hoping he would show out in Las Vegas as the lead guard.

He certainly put the doubters to rest. In Game 2 he once again had an 8:1 assist to turnover ratio. He also went ballistic for 32 points. Here are his stat lines from the remaining three games:

Game 3 – 25 points, 7 assists, 3 TO
Game 4 – 10 points, 9 assists, 3 TO
Game 5  – Didn’t play due to injury
Game 6 – 14 points, 7 assists, 2 TO

IQ’s play as the lead distributor was admirable. IQ shot poorly in Game 4 and 6 just like in Game 1, but it didn’t stop him from making winning plays finding his teammates. If you watched just one of the games he played in, it was clear Quickley’s vision and passing is in a very good place. Once he can become a consistently efficient shooter, he’ll be one hell of a duel threat.