DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MARCH 27: Immanuel Quickley #5 of the New York Knicks shoots the ball against the Detroit Pistons during the second quarter at Little Caesars Arena on March 27, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MARCH 27: Immanuel Quickley #5 of the New York Knicks shoots the ball against the Detroit Pistons during the second quarter at Little Caesars Arena on March 27, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Knicks News

What does Immanuel Quickley’s path to a larger role look like?

by Adam Kester
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How will the Knicks get Immanuel Quickley more involved?

Bringing in an emerging and already-proven young point guard in Jalen Brunson certainly takes away a large chunk of point guard minutes. It seems as though the “safe” assumption to make is that the Knicks’ starting lineup on opening night will be: Brunson-Fournier-Barrett-Randle-Robinson. That’s the same lineup as last season, but with Brunson at point guard instead of a mishmash of non-PGs.

As far as the starting shooting guard job, Evan Fournier will likely be penciled in on opening night, but it doesn’t mean that the job is safe. Everyone should know what the Knicks have in Evan Fournier right now. He’s a lights-out shooter and a microwave sniper that can go nuclear when he gets hot. He is also a slow, molasses-like defender who doesn’t have many other “plus” attributes. Fournier’s lack of side-to-side quickness at the shooting guard position doesn’t favor New York’s perimeter defense.

Even if RJ Barrett continues to grow as a defender, he’s at his strongest guarding wings. He struggles keeping up with shiftier players. The Knicks’ other perimeter defender in the starting lineup? Six-foot-one Jalen Brunson. No matter how you slice it, that starting lineup can get diced up by all of the star guards in the Eastern Conference.

This can be a pro-Quickley argument or even a pro-Quentin Grimes argument: Injecting some actual defense, athleticism, and speed into the starting SG position. Grimes and Quickley have also shown to be great shooters as well, so you wonder just how much of a hit the Knicks would take, if at all, in their long-range shooting.

Even if Immanuel Quickley doesn’t take the starting job, the team can adjust Fournier to becoming more of a 20-25 minutes per game player than some sort of surefire 30+ minute per game starter. And for Quickley and his strongest supporters, it’s not just about what we’ve seen already, it’s about how much more potential there could still be.

Next: The real reason Quickley could get more minutes

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