Immanuel Quickley sagely compares gelling with Raptors teammates with courting a new girlfriend
Immanuel Quickley is settling into his new home with the Toronto Raptors. The guard has become a fixture in the starting lineup after being traded from the New York Knicks on Dec. 30, but he wants to make it clear that he is not moving too fast. Getting adjusted to a new team is a lot like a new girlfriend, or, at least, that is how Quickley feels.
“It’s like meeting a new girl," Quickley said to Sportsnet in Canada. "You got to take the time to get to know her. You got to take her out to eat, stuff like that. You ain’t gonna just walk up to her and say, ‘Let’s get married.”
Quickley has a unique outlook on settling in with a new team. It is more difficult when finding a new team midseason.
The guard and his former Knicks counterpart RJ Barrett are still adjusting to their new roles. The Raptors (16-27) are 4-7 since acquiring the pair for OG Anunoby.
Quickley has put up solid numbers. though, averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game since arriving in Canada.
He has shown flashes of his potential role as a contributing scorer. He put up at least 20 points in five of his games with Toronto. That includes a 26-point outing in a 116-111 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 3.
He does not take too many 3-pointers with only 6.0 attempts per game. However, he is making a solid percentage of them. Quickley is hitting 45.5% from downtown since donning a Raptors jersey. He is also reliable at the line, hitting 85.5% of his shots from the charity stripe.
Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett get warm welcome in New York return
On Saturday the Toronto Raptors played in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. That meant a return to the Big Apple for Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. The two were traded from New York to Toronto on Dec. 30 in a deal for OG Anunoby.
The Knicks organization made sure to honor the two guards. The players also received warm rounds of applause during their player introductions. A tribute video was shown for the two during the first timeout of the game.
The Knicks (26-17) easily won 126-100 to move to 9-2 since the trade.
Quickley put up a stat line of 12 points and 11 assists in 31 minutes. He was still happy to return to the Garden where he spent the first portion of his NBA career.
"It was great, just to come back," Immanuel Quickley said. "Obviously, didn't get the outcome we wanted, but just to see everybody where I started my professional career was pretty cool."
Barrett, who had 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists, was also appreciative of the welcome return.
"Thank you to the fans, for sure," Barrett said. "We got a tribute video. ... I didn't think we were going to get that. That was cool. I'm very appreciative of my time here. To come back had a lot of emotions, for sure. But it was fun to come back and play basketball again."
The Raptors and Immanuel Quickley will try to get back to winning ways. They host the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.