The Quickley File
- 25th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft
- One NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection, 2021
- One SEC Player of the Year selection, 2020 (Coaches)
- One First-team All-SEC selection, 2020
- Nicknamed "IQ"
Immanuel Quickley Proved the Doubters Wrong
The NBA draft is a funny game. The top players get all the attention, with the right picks dubbed generational successes and the controversial labeled incoherent, inconsolable, and destined to fail. Yet, the talent pool in each class evaporates...quickly.
So when even deep into the first round, de facto lottery tickets outside the lottery selections get ridiculed, many might take offense. Why should one pick that probably isn't going to work out be graded highly, when another is graded poorly?
Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley knows this first hand. CBS Sports put out a graphic on draft night, loudly grading the selection as a D+. Knicks fans took notice, as did Quickley. When IQ energized a Knicks bench and repeatedly put on shows, Knicks fans took notice once again.
Deep threes, an incredible free throw record, and an infectious personality made him the most popular rookie of the year candidate in New York. To this day, Knicks fans are quick to let CBS Sports know the err in their ways. Mugs, shirts, and memes with the infamous graphic still get circled around whenever Quickley drills an arrogantly deep shot or a patently floater.
I think it's safe to say they got that one wrong.