Why pull-up threes could define Immanuel Quickley’s offensive endgame
Immanuel Quickley has flashed many skills in his rookie season, and many beyond his years. Perhaps the most important one for his future will the pull-up three, which he’s been hitting at key moments and putting himself in elite NBA company in the process. Could that shot be the one that eventually pushes IQ to superstardom?
Immanuel Quickley has knocked down two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of each of the New York Knicks’ last two games, both wins, against the Atlanta Hawks and the Houston Rockets. The rookie has an uncanny comfort level for hitting shots in the white-knuckle guts of NBA games. These last four made fourth quarter triples perfectly encapsulate both the short-term, low-hanging catch-and-shoot fruit he can immediately capitalize on playing alongside his new backcourt running mate Derrick Rose, and the longer-term, top-shelf pull-up fruit that may eventually define his offensive endgame.
His first 3-ball in the final frame against the Rockets — for this rookie, but not many rookies — was typical. Early in the fourth, with both the Knick lead and shot clock at 12, IQ had a straight up isolation on the right wing against David Nwaba. He took a rhythm dribble to his right, went through his legs with his second dribble, right to left in a flash, freezing Nwaba for an instant; stepped simultaneously backward and sideways, towards his right, exploding off his left foot to take advantage of the momentarily icebound Nwaba; gathered, and let it fly. All in one blink-and-you-miss-it motion. Before the ball had finished its upward trajectory, Nwaba had his hand inches from IQ’s nose, his feet almost under IQ’s body; equal parts contest and surrender. Splash.
His second triple of the quarter came four minutes later, with the Knick lead out to 18. He caught the ball in the corner, had a pocket of time and space, and let it fly, this time with a panicked contest from Eric Gordon. Splash.
It was deja vu last night against the Hawks, as the rook repeated his fourth quarter trick. This time he started with a catch-and-shoot look off a beautiful play drawn up by Tom Thibodeau on the first possession of the quarter. Some Spain pick-and-roll action with Taj Gibson setting a ball screen for Rose, following by IQ setting a back pick for a rolling Taj, before popping to the perimeter, where Rose found him wide open. Splash.
His second triple was a little spicier. With the Knicks up one in a nip-and-tuck fourth, with eight minutes left, IQ came up with the ball after a Hawk turnover. He pushed it up the floor only to find Danilo Gallinari cross-matched onto him in transition — our beloved OAKAAK decrepit Rooster didn’t stand a chance. Fearing Quickley’s first step, and the resulting ruptured ego, Gallo gave Quick a cushion. He may as well have laid out the red carpet, as the rook duped the Rooster, obligingly sprinting into a 3-ball a good few feet behind the line. Now Gallo knows what many around the league are finding out — giving IQ a cushion is death. Splash.
How and when these Quickley threes went down — in two fourth quarters, each pair of triples including a self-created, off-the-dribble pull-up and a catch-and-shoot look — continue to shine a light on why Quickley mania has Knick fans in such a frothy delirium of developmental endgames, of decade-spanning Breen-BANG! montages, of oh-so-sweet daggers in moments that matter.
Quickley is now third in the league for most made threes in the fourth quarter this season — one long-ball ahead of Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, and Malik Beasley. IQ is 23-49 from deep (47%) in 190 total fourth quarter minutes. First and second on the leaderboard are Terry Rozier and Tyrese Haliburton, with 27 and 26 made triples, respectively. Rounding out the top 11 are Kevin Huerter, Joe Harris, LeBron James, Zach LaVine, and Steph Curry. Of these 11 players, only Lillard, LaVine, and Curry have played fewer fourth quarter minutes than Quickley.
It’s not just the threes, though. IQ is 13th in total fourth quarter points this season, with 141, nestled in between Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic - and just a couple of points behind Julius “hard work is undefeated” Randle. He’s 18th in made fourth quarter free throws, with 32, nestled between Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron. This isn’t — obviously, I hope — meant to suggest that he’s as effective or efficient as this statistical fourth quarter company, rather that his game and his skillset is incredibly well suited to high stakes basketball; when points have to be manufactured from nothing, when having a nose for the free throw line — and shooting 94% when you get there — are invaluable offensive virtues.
No single shot in the NBA is more impactful than an off-the-dribble, unassisted, above-the-break 3-pointer. To take and make these shots is the remit of superstar offensive fulcrums. This season, pull-up 3-point shooting has accelerated talk of the demise of staple NBA defensive schemes like drop coverage, which prioritizes protecting the paint over contesting the perimeter.
According to Cleaning the Glass, there are only six players in the league who are assisted on less than 56% of their threes and shoot better than 39% from deep:
These shots — more than his already immortal floaters, his sacred floaters, his tear duct-tickling teardrops from somewhere far above — will define the heights of Quickley’s offensive endgame. This is the shot that defenses can only prepare for by bringing a second and third defender to the ball, or bringing a second and third pair of shorts to the arena.
Through 25 games, IQ has taken more than twice as many pull-up triples as catch-and-shoot looks. He’s 27-75 (36%) on pull-ups, and 16-37 (43%) on catch-and-shoot looks. Nine of these assisted looks have come in the last four games, since Derrick Rose’s arrival, which is a significant uptick on his rate pre-Rose. As they get more familiar playing together, he should get more of these on-a-plate looks at the rim, looks that he’s already started feasting on.
This split is unusual for a rookie, but is symbolic of the on-ball load he has carried off the bench this season, and the blindingly green light he has to shoot the ball when he’s on the floor. He’s taken by far the fewest catch-and-shoot threes on the roster of rotation players who aren’t bigs.
According to NBA.com, IQ is taking three pull-up triples a game this season in just over 19 minutes a contest. He’s one of 31 players in the league taking this many pull-ups a game. Of these 31, Jordan Clarkson plays the second-fewest minutes per game at 26, a full seven minutes more than Quickley. Twenty-four of the 31 play more than 30 minutes per game. In fact, in the last eight NBA seasons, nobody has come close to attempting as many pull-ups as IQ is taking, in as few minutes as IQ is playing. The closest competitor is — funnily enough — Lou Williams in 2014-15, who took 3.5 in 25 minutes per game. Unfortunately, NBA.com doesn’t have a per-36 filter for this type of shot, which would make the comparison easier.
The game has emphatically trended towards more liberal usage of pull-up shooting in the last eight seasons. Over the years, the number of players taking more than three pull-up triples a game has gradually increased. Seven for three seasons from 2013-14 and 2015-16, then 10 in 2016-17, 18 in 2017-18, 24 in 2018-19, 28 in 2019-20, and now 31.
Two things are clear:
1) This is the shot currently shaping and shifting the NBA.
2) Immanuel Quickley, as a rookie, has this shot in his bag.
That this is his starting point, his foundation to build on, the floor on which we can lay down and look up, is rightly giving Knicks fans the offensive feels. This view of conceivable IQ endgames is a view without a ceiling. It’s a view that’s full of stars. And it’s a view of stars taking and making the shots that IQ already thrives on.
Keep letting it fly, kid. If the beginning is this much fun, then peak offensive Immanuel Quickley, somewhere down the line, stands to be a spectacular celebration of cold-blooded splash.
