Quickley feels too chiseled in stone for this column: the classic smallish combo guard who can start in a pinch but will likely work as the sixth man for the bulk of his career -- at least on good teams.
That's probably what he is, but there are wide degrees of that player type, and how much more Quickley has in him could be a huge swing factor for the Knicks. Quickley is eligible for an extension now. Like it or not, the final number matters. If and when the Knicks trade for a star -- and they have been gearing up for years to do it -- Quickley could be a key sweetener alongside New York's bushel of future picks.
Quickley is a cagey, unpredictable player with creative bob-and-weave staccato to his movements on and off the ball -- a welcome jolt of slipperiness for a sometimes staid, isolation-heavy New York offense. Playing alongside Jalen Brunson, Quickley has gotten better flying off screens, catching on the move and then wrong-footing defenders with stop-and-start fakes:
At times, he is a very willing passer.
New York has generally been much better with Quickley on the floor, though in his first two seasons that was more of an indictment of the Knicks' punchless starting five. The Brunson-Quickley-
Josh Hart trio blew away opponents last season once the Knicks acquired Hart.
Quickley has shot well from deep and on midrangers and generates more free throws than you'd expect for someone who rarely gets to the rim. He thinks score-first, and sometimes misses available passes in traffic:
Quickley recorded assists on only 12% of his pick-and-rolls, 177th among 226 players who ran at least 100 such plays, per Second Spectrum.
The playoffs have overwhelmed him. Quickley has shot just 33% across 13 playoff games. His floater was on last season, but his 3-pointer deserted him; Quickley hit just 1-for-11 on pull-up triples and 9-for-37 overall. It was probably random noise, but the postseason trends have to shift soon -- for both Quickley and
Julius Randle.
Quickley is a rangy, active defender, but both the
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Miami Heat hunted him some in the postseason -- reinvigorating questions about whether the Knicks or any other team can win deep into the playoffs pairing two small guards for heavy minutes.
Talent answers a lot of those questions, and Quickley has been on a steady upward trajectory -- on both ends. He has more layers to add.
Tom got a big dikk, breh. Fukk that sensitive French fakkit for not accepting reality.
