Restricted free agent Immanuel Quickley agrees to 5-year, $175M deal with Raptors: Report

Restricted free agent Immanuel Quickley has agreed to terms on a five-year, $175 million contract to remain with the Toronto Raptors. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:.

Quickley, the No. 25 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, spent his first 3 1/2 seasons with the New York Knicks, primarily playing as a backup point guard for head coach Tom Thibodeau. Quickley became a fan favorite at Madison Square Garden due to his quick transitions, quick bursts from three-point range, excellent offensive and defensive side skills, and his tendency to help the team win whenever he was around.

There was also the skip:

New York’s net rating was 8.1 points per 100 possessions is better With Quickley being on the field more than off it in 2020-21, 12.2 points per 100 Better in 2021-22 and 8.5 points per 100 is better In 2022-23 – A standout third season in which the Kentucky product averaged 14.9 points on 45/37/82 shooting to go with 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and one steal in 28.9 minutes per game and finished second for Sixth Man of the Year honors . Vote. (Full disclosure: I put it first on my ballot.)

Quickley’s per-minute and per-possession production and stellar advanced analytical profile have suggested he’s a player who could prove to be a star hidden in the open, given his starting minutes and heavy workload. But with Jalen Brunson establishing himself as a true star in New York — and Thibodeau is clearly uncomfortable with the defensive drawbacks of pairing two smaller guards, regardless of… brilliant Lined up Data For the duo — Quickley was unlikely to get that kind of runway on Broadway. And with a costly decision on his future in the form of his impending restricted free agency, the Knicks opted to cut Quickley loose, trading him to Toronto with forward RJ Barrett in exchange for 3-D wing OG Anunoby, backup big man Precious Achiuwa and backup guard Malachi Flynn (who would go on to produce one of the best plays of the season). The 50 Most Random Balls in NBA History).

Much of the attention and analysis following the trade focused on the role Anunoby played in transforming the Knicks into a 50-win team that briefly looked like a title contender. On the other side of the trade, Quickley took over as the starting point guard for the first time, averaging nearly 35 more touches per game. As a raptor From what he did As a nick His average time in possession of the ball nearly doubled.

He was nervous, at times, in his first attempt to shoulder the shot-making workload on a team without a lot of offensive talent. The Raptors scored just 112.6 points per 100 possessions With Quickley on the fieldright in line with Toronto’s full-season offensive efficiency mark of 24th.

But for the most part? Quickley looked the part:

In 38 games for a Raptors team struggling to find a new normal after moving Anunoby and longtime Pascal Siakam around in an effort to rebuild around new cornerstone Scottie Barnes, Quickley averaged 18.6 points, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game. He shot 39.5% from 3-point land on 7.1 attempts per game and 84.1% from the free throw line on four attempts a night. His assist rate soared, with him making a team-best 29.5% of his teammates’ baskets. His turnover rate remained low, coughing up just over 10% of the possessions he used.

Only four players In the NBA, he averaged at least 15 points per game while recording a high assist rate and a low rebounding rate over the course of a full season. The roster: eventual MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, NBA All-Star selection (and Quickley’s former teammate) Brunson, NBA champion Jamal Murray… and Fred VanVleet, the Toronto veteran whose role Quickley assumed with the revamped Raptors.

The 6-foot-3 guard has room for improvement. A look at the standings shows that those strong individual stats haven’t necessarily translated into wins; Toronto went 12-26 in Quickley’s 38 games and outscored him by 5.7 points per 100 in his minutes, according to cleaning the glasses.

As Quickley’s usage increased, his scoring efficiency declined, especially inside the arc; He lost his record Only 34.8% between the restricted area and the three-point line. In Toronto, while he was shooting hard, 70% at the edge After joining the Raptors, he did just that. He struggled to generate shots at the cup Throughout his career. (the Increase patience in keeping the dribbling alive. He has to become more comfortable with the kind of fast attacks and traps that a player adept at shooting from three-point range and shooting down the hill would have to deal with as a full-time point guard. He also has to develop the athleticism and consistency that will allow him to remain a useful defensive contributor while doing the heavier lifting on the offensive end.

But overall, the early returns on the big ideas behind the deal – Let’s try to find a good partner for our huge striker who does everything And We believe this fast sixth man is capable of expansion. —It was very strong. Over the course of the entire season, the Raptors performed He got 528 points in less than 4000 minutes.. In the 600 minutes that Barnes and Quilley shared the floor? They were plus 15.

This is no guarantee of future greatness, but it is He is Decent place to start. Heading into last season, the list of players averaging 19 points, four rebounds and four assists per 36 minutes on league average or better true shooting over their first four campaigns is: Full of stars;Quickly Now On that listIt remains unclear whether the 25-year-old will join his predecessors in collecting the league’s top awards, but what this new deal means is that he will get the chance to earn his place in their company.