Chandler wrote:just notices his initials are IQ. This is an omen!

ha nice!

John Calipari has sent some pretty good players to the NBA, but not just the can’t-miss, No. 1-pick types such as John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns. During a playoff bubble that turned into a Kentucky basketball infomercial, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said what his organization loves the most about drafting Calipari players is they’ve learned how to play a role. That most of them, what with their five-star talent, can do more than what they’ve shown on loaded UK rosters, but they’ve also come to grips with the reality of professional basketball: Almost everybody is a role player, and that’s a helluva living in a multi-billion-dollar league.

“Our guys leave here knowing how to play and knowing how to play with other really good players,” Kentucky assistant Joel Justus said. “Our guys play winning basketball because Cal demands it.”

The Heat made the 2020 NBA Finals in part because they stole a couple of undervalued Wildcats in the previous three drafts. There’s Bam Adebayo, who at 23 is already an All-Star, but also Tyler Herro, who was only the fifth-highest ranked recruit Kentucky signed in 2018 and then became the 13th overall pick in 2019 and an All-Rookie selection in 2020. Herro was ridiculously good in the playoffs, and now there’s an afterglow effect: teams wondering whether Calipari has any more of those underrated, cold-blooded, bucket-getting guards they might swipe at a bargain in this draft. Another guy like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the seventh-highest ranked recruit the Cats singed in 2017, the 11th pick in 2018 and All-Rookie selection in 2019.

Calipari thinks he might just. His name is Immanuel Quickley, the fourth-highest ranked recruit Kentucky signed in 2018, a deep reserve in 2019 and the SEC Player of the Year in 2020.

“The kid lives in the gym,” Calipari said. “He’s kind of like Tyler, he’s like Shai, those guys. He’s just like them.”

That’s what the New York Knicks are banking on after getting him as a result of a draft-night trade with the New Orleans Pelicans that involved the 25th overall pick, used to select Quickley.

“I’ve been watching a lot of Tyler from last year, because I’m going to be put in those same positions,” Quickley said during his breakout sophomore year. “The reads he makes, the pocket passes off the bounce, when he pulls up. Just trying to take those things and implement them in my game.”

Quickley was Herro’s teammate as a freshman and took a backseat to Herro, Keldon Johnson and PJ Washington. He averaged just 5.2 points. And Quickley didn’t exactly roar out of the gate in Year 2 — he started only 20 of 30 games for the Wildcats — but once he warmed up, he quickly (so to speak) caught fire. During an eight-game winning streak in February that clinched the SEC championship for Kentucky, he averaged 21.1 points. He scored 77 points and hit 14 of 23 3-pointers in consecutive wins over LSU, Florida and Texas A&M.

“You take a look at how Tyler played this year,” Justus said, “and I’m telling you that spacing will be really good for Immanuel. NBA spacing was huge for Tyler. It’s going to do the exact same thing for Immanuel.”

Like Herro the year before, something about hostile environments brought out the best in Quickley. He averaged 19.1 points and made 59.2 percent of his 3-pointers in 10 true road games. He hit eight 3s in a game, scored 30 points in a game, made 14 straight free throws in a game, grabbed 12 rebounds in a game. At 6-foot-3 with a 6-8¼ wingspan and strong defensive instincts, he also allowed just 0.48 points per possession in one-on-one situations. A five-star point guard coming out of high school but moved off the ball at UK, Quickley could do a little bit of everything. Mostly, though, he was a sniper.

He led the Cats in 3-point attempts, makes and percentage; free-throw attempts, makes and percentage; and scoring.

“On his wall, on his mirror in his bathroom in the lodge, his goal for this year was to be a starter. Was to be a starter!” Calipari said. “From that, he became player of the year, as voted on by the coaches who had to play against him. I’m so proud of Immanuel. One of the great kids that I’ve ever coached. One of the most grounded young men that I’ve ever coached.”

Quickley’s story is one of courage and joy. He chose basketball even when his deeply religious father, who has never seen him play in person, refused to support it. Quickley, a devout Christian himself, has slowly but surely shown Dad he can walk a righteous path and be a baller simultaneously. That maybe one day he can preach from this substantial platform that he’s building.

“He gave the team prayer. Normally I spread it around so that before we go out for a game, no one in the room would know who I was calling on,” Calipari said. “But with him, he was so good and the players had so much faith in his faith that I made it for him to do it. He did not force his faith on anybody, but you could see his faith through how he lived his life.”

That’s nice. It matters, certainly. A real bonus when drafting a guy. Maybe even a predictor of his work ethic. But it’s a distant second to the basketball. Plenty of fine humans have no place on an NBA roster. It boils down to: Can you play?

NBA Draft combine results suggest Quickley can. He ranked second in the 3-point star drill (20 spot-up attempts off movement) at 75 percent. He ranked second in the 3-point endurance drill (five straight minutes of game-speed spot-ups) at 76 percent. He sank 94 of 100 free throws – a distinctly Tyler Herro move. Those two friends rank 1-2 in school history for single-season percentage at the line.

“Quickley is a safe bet, because you’re getting a three-and-D guy,” one NBA scout told The Athletic. “You wish he was a little more athletic. You wish he was a much better finisher at the rim. I think everyone has come to terms with the fact he’s not a point guard right now. Maybe you try to develop him into somewhat of a combo, but he’s getting on the court because he can shoot and defend. The character stuff will help. The fact he’s been through adversity. He would handle it fine going to the G League for a little while, where other players you worry about in that situation. I think Immanuel has enough going for him that he’ll stick around.”

martin wrote:

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That’s awesome.

Once you get in to the mid-late 20s picks, I think you think hard about the player you want vs just value for the slot. I think about Donovan Mitchell - if you picked him #1 overall, the GM would have been the laughing stock of the league. He may have been a stretch at the #8 pick. (obviously he was when he dropped to #13) But at the end of the day, "value" only means something if a) the player turns out to be something special or b) you use that value in a trade.

I watched more highlights - he doesn't seem to have explosion on drives to the basket, but he draws a lot of contact (and gets to the line a lot) plus his floater seems pretty effective.

technomaster wrote:One of Quickley's comps is... Malik Monk. Let's see if he could become the Monk people saw in college vs the meh Monk that Charlotte got. If we think we have a 15+mpg rotation player cheap for the next 4 years, it's a pretty good signing.

Once you get in to the mid-late 20s picks, I think you think hard about the player you want vs just value for the slot. I think about Donovan Mitchell - if you picked him #1 overall, the GM would have been the laughing stock of the league. He may have been a stretch at the #8 pick. (obviously he was when he dropped to #13) But at the end of the day, "value" only means something if a) the player turns out to be something special or b) you use that value in a trade.

I watched more highlights - he doesn't seem to have explosion on drives to the basket, but he draws a lot of contact (and gets to the line a lot) plus his floater seems pretty effective.

I dont know IQ very well but all his comps (and his looks for that matter) he sounds like he can be Rondo with a jump shot.

Philc1 wrote:

KnickDanger wrote:

93BUICK wrote:Thank you guys with the Kool Aid IV- I can't wait to see him play. That's what this is all about.
Also- can't you already hear Clyde saying "Quickly" with delight-

"Immanuel...quickly to the hoop!"

"There's no stoppin' Toppin tonight!"

Now that’s what I’m talking about

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