Immanuel Quickley’s appearance has changed since he joined Toronto Raptors last month.
For Toronto’s new starting point guard, the first 20 games have been peculiar. He entered as one of the top pull-up shooters in the league, possessing a deadly floater technique. The Raptors were drawn to Quickley because of his versatility as a scorer, as he could attack the rim from a pick-and-roll or space the floor with Scottie Barnes.
However, Quickley’s numbers thus far have been a bit strange. With the Raptors, he is only shooting 29.7% on pull-up threes, a sharp decrease from his previous mark of 40.6% before the move. Worse still, his floater has changed from being a lethal tool to a dubious attack in Toronto.
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Prior to the move, Quickley’s floater shooting percentage this year was 63.8%, up from 49.3% in a far larger sample size the previous season. With the Raptors, that percentage has dropped to 42.3% thus far. In terms of how many shots he has attempted from five to eight feet away from the rim since the beginning of the New Year, he is ranked 18th out of 25 guards. The amount of time Quickley has needed to get used to new teammates and Toronto’s offensive schemes may have contributed to his decline. Due to an ankle ailment, Jakob Poelt was unable to spend valuable time getting to know Toronto’s starting center.
“There are reads where the floater is best available shot and I think that floater allows some other things to open up,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said. “When he’s shooting the floater, a lot of times the big is the one that’s coming to contest shots which is opening up a lane for (the) roller to roll to the rim, maybe for a late drop-off, also it helps with offensive rebounding.”
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Darko Rajaković Discusses Quickley’s Development
But Toronto also needs more from Quickley. When it’s on, the floater is a good shot, but getting all the way to the rim should be even more effective. “You cannot just rely on that (floater) shot,” Rajaković added. “It’s definitely something we talk about for the next layer of him in player development is the ability to get all the way to the rim and be able to score, being able to play through a lot of contact, and being able to finish.”
That should be aided by an offseason that Toronto’s programs are developing. The Raptors have already begun putting together a developmental plan for Quickley’s offseason and the hope is he can improve his attacking inside. If he does, it’ll be a lot easier to see why Toronto was so enthralled with Quickley as the long-term fit next to Barnes moving forward.