The Knicks Need to Lock Up Immanuel Quickley. ASAP.

IQ is the type of player you don't let leave your organization once you have him in-house and have witnessed his worth...

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau doesn't often provide much insight into how he and his staff evaluate players. And he's been known to (at least publicly, in scrums with the media) denigrate the value of advanced statistics. Thus, I was surprised when Thibs gave some insightful answers about his evaluation process earlier this week. 

Per Ian Begley of SNY, Thibodeau was asked about how he evaluates individual players. Here was his response: "How do you make the team function well? That's the most important thing," Thibs said Wednesday. "To me, if you say, 'What's the number one stat?' I'd say Net Rating; how many points you're scoring and how many points you're giving up. When you look at that, you're getting true value. How do you fit into it? Are you playing smart? Do you have great concentration? Are we eliminating mental errors as a team? Those are the things that are important because in big games, all the little things matter."

Since arriving in New York in 2020, only one Knick has posted a Net Rating north of 6.0 in each of Thibs' three seasons as head coach: Immanuel Quickley.

IQ's cumulative net rating over the past three years (+6.6) is BY FAR the highest on the team. In fact, no other rotation player has a cumulative Net Rating north of +1.6.

Last season, New York outscored their opponents by 319 points with IQ on the floor. That was the highest +/- among all bench players in the NBA and the highest single-season plus/minus ever recorded by a Knick. The only other Knickerbockers to post a plus/minus north of 300 are Patrick Ewing (+315 in 1996-97) and Carmelo Anthony (+308 in 2012-13).

On the flip side, the Knicks were outscored by 78 points with IQ on the bench last season. No other Knicks rotation regular had a negative off-court Net Rating. 

And last season wasn’t an anomaly.

In 2021-22, while most of the roster struggled and the team slumped their way to a disappointing 37-45 record, Quickley posted a plus/minus of +264. In the process, he became the first and only player in league history to record a +/- above +250 on a team that finished a season with fewer than 40 wins.

Since the start of IQ's rookie year, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by a whopping 765 points with Quickley on the court. 

765. 

The only point guards in the league with a better +/- mark during this span are Steph Curry, Jrue Holiday, Chris Paul and Marcus Smart. 

For some context, here are the cumulative +/- numbers for all four current Knicks that have played in at least 30 games in each of the past three seasons:
Immanuel Quickley: +765
Julius Randle: +159
Mitchell Robinson: +103
RJ Barrett: -71

During this three-year stretch, dating back to the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Quickley is the only player in the NBA under the age of 25 with a cumulative plus/minus north of 750. 

The only other players currently 27 or younger with +/- above 750 are Jayson Tatum, Mikal Bridges, Donovan Mitchell, Michael Porter Jr., Jaylen Brown and Devin Booker.

The Knicks need to lock up Immanuel Quickley. And I have a feeling Thibs agrees. Let's see if Leon Rose and the rest of New York's front office are of like mind...

Rose and company have had a rather uneventful and relatively stress-free summer. Following a surprisingly successful 2022-23, New York decided to run it back, replacing just one rotation player (shipping out Obi Toppin and bringing in Donte DiVincenzo). 

However, the Knicks brass has a significant decision to make before the start of the upcoming season. New York has until October 23rd, the day before the regular season begins, to agree to a contract extension with Quickley. If the two sides do not reach an agreement by that date, IQ will become a restricted free agent next July. 

The +/- numbers highlighted above are undeniably impressive, but let's zoom out and look at IQ's overall stats.

Quickley took a massive leap in his development last season, posting career-highs across the board. He averaged 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists en route to finishing second in the Sixth Man of the Year award voting. Over the Knicks' final eight regular-season games, when he saw increased playing time, IQ averaged 27.3 points, 5.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 3.8 treys, while shooting 49% from the floor, 46% from downtown and 80% from the free-throw stripe. 

Over his first three years in the league, IQ is one of just four players in NBA history to tally a total of at least 700 rebounds, 600 assists and 400 made three-pointers while posting a True Shooting percentage above 55%. The other three players in this club are Damian Lillard, Trae Young and Luka Doncic.  

Yet, it has been IQ's unique ability to impact the game on both ends that have endeared him to Knicks coaches and fans alike. Quickley has consistently been the Knicks' best point-of-attack defender since arriving in New York, often tasked with guarding the opponent's primary ball handler down the stretch of close games. (If you are wondering if IQ has earned Thibs' trust, consider this: Quickley has led the Knicks in fourth-quarter minutes played each of the past two seasons). 

Quickley's high basketball IQ, paired with his defensive versatility, make him an incredibly valuable all-around contributor. Unsurprisingly, he posted the best individual Defensive Rating on the team last season. The Knicks allowed just 108.1 points per 100 possessions with Quickley on the court. That number ballooned to above 120 points per 100 possessions when IQ was on the bench. 

If you were looking to build an absolutely ideal combo guard in a basketball laboratory, you'd probably create something awfully similar to Immanuel Quickley. 

At just 24 years old, he has yet to enter his prime or come close to tapping into his full potential. 

The kid is a winner, and as Thibs' favorite metric indicates, IQ is incredibly valuable, both in the short and long term. He's the type of player you don't let leave your organization once you have him in-house and have witnessed his worth. (Ask the Mavs if they regret letting a certain undersized guard walk out the door.) 

So, if it's safe to assume the Knicks want to keep IQ inside MSG for as long as possible, how come a deal has yet to be reached? 

Well, there are a few probable explanations. We'll get into those (including what a fair-market-value contract extension might look like) early next week…

Enjoy your weekend, everybody!!