MIAMI — If you are not going to play in the postseason, there are worse ways to end a long, trying regular season than with three-plus days in Miami. After shootaround Friday, the Toronto Raptors were collectively in a great mood, yelling and hollering during the end of their preparation session.
They were feeling so good that they were eager for some extra camera time. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, the two New York Knicks turned Raptors, went in front of the NBA TV Canada camera to goof around as they prepared to leave Kaseya Arena, maybe give a sound bite or two.
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“It’s his fourth year,” Barrett said, smiling broadly. “Someone pay this man.”
Well, they probably won’t be using that clip on the television station that is owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the same company that owns the Raptors.
Barrett does not face the uncertainty that his teammate does, having received a contract extension before his fourth season that will pay him through 2026-27. It doesn’t guarantee staying in the same place for the entirety of your contract, as Barrett knows, but it sets you up for life. Quickley and the Knicks had negotiations before the October deadline to agree to an extension, but The Athletic’s Fred Katz reported the sides were never terribly close, which makes sense given the Knicks’ ambitions and potential duplication in role and size with Jalen Brunson.
It is a different story with the Raptors, who need him. That doesn’t change how Quickley, who will become a restricted free agent assuming the Raptors extend him a $6.13 million qualifying offer, a certainty, delivers his message about his pending situation.
“Not anxious at all. God has everything in order, everything in plan,” Quickley said Friday morning before the Raptors lost 125-103 to the Miami Heat. “Sometimes we get so caught up in our own plans and agendas that we forget that we’re not in control.”
You do not have to share Quickley’s beliefs to understand the guard has put himself in a very good position to get a nice contract this offseason. Sure, being restricted versus unrestricted is a limiting factor for players, but the Raptors traded for him with the knowledge that they would have to go higher than the Knicks to get a deal done and have the incentive to do so given his fit with team tentpole Scottie Barnes. An annual salary in the range of $25 million seems likely.
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After a so-so start to his Raptors tenure raised questions about Quickley’s ability to thrive as a starter — he started just 27 times over his 3 1/3 seasons with the Knicks — he has looked every bit the part lately. He went to the free-throw line 33 times against the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets, averaging 29.3 points, 10.3 assists and 8.3 rebounds in that three-game span. Those teams all have weak point-of-attack defences, but Quickley exploited them prolifically and efficiently. He had a quieter night against the stingier Heat, with 15 points and five assists, getting to the line just four times.
Quickley shot eight or more free throws just three times in his first 24 games as a Raptor. Some of that had to do with sharing the floor with Barnes, who takes the biggest chunk of the Raptors’ attack, putting Quickley’s excellent perimeter shooting more in the crosshairs. However, a shift in officiating right around the All-Star break has been widely discussed, and even commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that nobody was thrilled with the nature of some fouls that were being called earlier in the year, with offensive players looking for a whistle rather than trying to score. Quickley said that impacted him, too.
“One of the refs explained that to me really good. ‘If the defender’s in (proper) position, you just probably won’t get that call, to be honest,’” Quickley said.
The Raptors badly wanted Quickley to get more time to build chemistry with Barnes, but that hope ended when Barnes broke a bone in his hand to start March. Quickley missed six games as he grieved the death of his uncle. Between all that and the long absence of Barrett and the season-ending injury to Jakob Poeltl, Quickley’s numbers are coming in more of a vacuum than anybody with the Raptors would like.
“I’m very confident it’s going to be a great fit, but it’s going to demand a lot of work as well,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said of Quickley’s pairing with Barnes. “It’s not just like (you can) put them on the court and let them figure it out on their own. They need to spend time together on the court. … I think it’s going to take the full year and next year for them to start really clicking in all of those areas. So it’s a process. But I’m very, very confident that they’re going to be a really good duo.”
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Before Friday’s game, Quickley was up to 39.4 percent from 3, right around where he was with the Knicks to start the year and ahead of where he was last year when he was runner-up for sixth man of the year. He is shooting 35.7 percent on off-the-dribble 3-pointers, attempting four per game as a Raptor. That is the skill the Raptors needed the most from Quickley, as even the shooters the Raptors had before the trade were more dependent on the creation of others. He shot 34.5 percent on those last year and a piping-hot 40.3 percent to start this season with the Knicks. If the Raptors were healthier, he might be able to cut down on some of the tougher looks he takes within a more functional context.
Perhaps most encouragingly, his assist percentage has shot up inside the Raptors’ pass-heavy attack with his turnovers merely nudging up.
“I think, even in the real world, anytime somebody gets a new job or they have to move to a new area and change their whole way of living, you only get more comfortable as you get more experienced. So, I think (I’m) a lot more comfortable,” Quickley said. “I would say being more comfortable, but not being satisfied and trying to find new ways to get better and new ways to improve individually and as a team as well.”
To that end, Quickley spends most of his time in Doral, Fla., a 45-minute drive from Miami, where Barnes is based. Perhaps South Florida will become for the next iteration of the Raptors what Los Angeles was in the prior era.
Quickley said the two haven’t made specific plans yet but is sure they will be together plenty given that they are so close to one another. Given Barnes is extension eligible this offseason, they will probably be getting together as two players with their financial futures secure.
Notes
• With the loss, the Raptors will finish with the sixth-worst record in the league and will have a 45.8 percent chance of keeping their 2024 first-round pick. If it falls outside the top six, it goes to the San Antonio Spurs as a part of the Poeltl trade. Because of how the odds work, the Raptors will have just an 8.6 percent chance of staying in the sixth slot, with a better chance to pick first (9 percent), second (9.2), third (9.4), fourth (9.6), seventh (29.8) or eighth (20.5).
• With 35 points, Barrett bumped his scoring average up to 20.1 points per game from 19.9. If he and the rest of the regulars play Sunday, Barrett would need 12 points to average 20 on the nose and at least 10 to get it rounded up to 20. He averaged 20.0 in 2021-22 and 19.6 last year. Rajaković said he would have liked Barrett to have more than three assists and criticized the team’s play as a whole but noted how special Barrett’s ability to get into the paint is.
Hesi ➡️ bucket 🪣 pic.twitter.com/5nP5Yfmd49
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) April 13, 2024
• Gradey Dick got the start in the game, despite Gary Trent Jr., Ochai Agbaji and Bruce Brown all being available to play. Agbaji has generally started alongside Trent when those players have been available for defensive reasons. Dick had 8 points and was part — just a part — of what I thought was one of the most disappointing defensive performances of the year.
• We didn’t get to see Brown’s point guard skills too often, but he had a slick move early against the Heat. I really love when players split defenders.
Split 'em 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/UsRnYGcIiH
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) April 13, 2024
• Each coach had an amusing quote before the game. Rajaković fielded a question about the Raptors showing more spirit on the bench lately, and he agreed with the premise while noting younger players have a difficult time expressing themselves in person. They generally need screens.
“I wish I could get them cellphones on a bench so they can text each other what they think,” Rajaković said. “But I don’t think that would be sustainable.”
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• Meanwhile, a reporter alerted Erik Spoelstra that with each team having played 80 games before Friday, only one of the 12 playoff spots — the top seed in the Eastern Conference — was determined.
“That’s probably one of the few things that’s given me great joy the last couple days, just knowing how miserable the video room is right now trying to prepare and figuring things out,” said Spoelstra, who worked in the Heat video room early in his career. “I’ve been there. It’s the small joys in this profession.”
(Photo of Immanuel Quickley and Tyler Herro: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
