Immanuel Quickley needs to return to a high level of play for Raptors
Article content
Upon further review, the glowing reviews of Immanuel Quickley following his New Year’s Day return to the Raptors lineup were a bit over-inflated.
In today’s world of over-reaction, it’s easy to rush to a conclusion, even though Quickley did make it look pretty easy when the Raptors easily handled the visiting Brooklyn Nets in his first game back since being sidelined on Nov. 10 with an elbow injury.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Immanuel Quickley needs to return to a high level of play for Raptors Back to video
That familiar bounce to his game was noticeable, his boundless joy and smiling face hard to ignore. Quickley was getting into the lane, getting his teammates involved and providing that point guard prowess the team had been missing.
An 11-game losing streak ended against the Nets, as Quickley produced 15 assists and only one turnover, leading some to believe his play was sustainable.
The bump he provided was precisely what the reeling Raptors required. But since that New Year’s Day game, the Raptors have lost all four games and arrive in Detroit for a Saturday night tip having posted a 1-17 road record.
No team has suffered more road losses than the Raptors. While Quickley’s return and his immediate impact were necessary, he isn’t going to suddenly transform a team.
He did rebound from a couple of below-average games against Orlando and Milwaukee when he played his former team in the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
The following night, the Raptors were in Cleveland, where even with Donovan Mitchell unavailable for the home side, Darius Garland emerged as the star, clearly outplaying Quickley in a battle of point guards.
Garland posted a 40-point, nine-assist game, while Quickley had a pedestrian 10-points and six assists.
The Raptors played hard, for the most part played well and Quickley wasn’t the reason why another road win would prove elusive.
At the same time, he has to be better.
This exercise of assessing how Toronto’s core pieces and starting lineup fit as a unit sounds good in theory, but the key is Quickley and how he can operate with Scottie Barnes.
Against the Cavs, Quickley played off the ball. His skill is getting into the teeth of the defence and kicking out to shooters. He can pull up in transition, but the Raptors need to rein in his shot selection from beyond the three-point arc.
During his five-game return heading into the Motown tip, Quickley has heaved 65 shots with 33 launched from distance.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
In the two games against the Magic and Bucks following his New Year’s Day masterpiece, he went 2-for-14 from beyond the arc, owned a minus-26 rating in 30 minutes in the Milwaukee loss, a minus-13 in 30 minutes at Cleveland.
A 4:1 assist to turnover ratio is elite, but well below the 15:1 against the Net, an outlier that did have the effect of raising expectations.
The truth is the Raptors don’t know what they’ve got in Quickley.
They might think they do and their off-season investment, which had people in the NBA shaking their heads in disbelief, spoke to the franchise’s commitment.
Somewhere in between his game against the Nets and his outing in Cleveland is probably where one will find Quickley’s game, which isn’t exactly ideal for the Raptors.
The team needs more from him, including fewer three-point shots in the halfcourt.
In a rebuild season when accumulating the highest lottery odds for the draft, the loss in Cleveland could be tolerated.
Toronto bounced back and it’s time for Quickley to bounce back Saturday night in Motown.
Coincidentally, in the hours leading up to last season’s tip in Detroit came news of the trade with the Knicks that brought Quickley to Toronto.
Saturday also involves a battle of 2021 draft picks in Barnes and Cade Cunningham, who had 32 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a narrow loss to visiting Golden State Thursday night that snapped Detroit’s five-game win streak.
Cunningham went first overall, while Barnes went fourth. Evan Mobley went third overall to Cleveland. Each player would be coveted on any team.
As a team, Detroit appears to have turned a corner, despite the stinging loss of Jaden Ivey, who broke his leg on New Year’s Day against Orlando.
Against the Warriors, the Pistons trailed by 18 points and nearly sent the game into overtime when Malik Beasley’s three-point attempt just before the buzzer missed.
Still, the Pistons find themselves at .500 having won eight of their past nine games heading into their matchup with the Raptors.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.