The Toronto Raptors made the OG Anunoby trade to get something in return for a player who was likely going to test the free agency waters, but they also brought in names like Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to give one of the league's most vanilla offenses the shot of adrenaline they needed.
While the Canadian Barrett is coming to the Raptors with a ton of pedigree and hype, Quickley might actually provide the bigger boost on the offensive side of the ball in the short term. The Memphis Grizzlies found out just how lethal Quickley can be when he caught fire in the second half.
Quickley finished with 26 points, including 13 in the third quarter, as the Raptors pulled off a 116-111 victory against Darko Rajakovic's old team in Memphis. Pascal Siakam had 24 points and seven rebounds despite foul trouble, Scottie Barnes chipped in 20 points and eight assists, and Barrett amassed 14 points and seven rebounds.
After trying to make Malachi Flynn work for what felt like just short of forever and trying to win without viable guard depth in a league where that reigns supreme, Quickley has been a breath of fresh air. After just a few days with the team, the competency and confidence on offense has completely changed.
.@IQ_GodSon : 👌👌👌👌👌 pic.twitter.com/zlVEIOTKqa
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 4, 2024
Immanuel Quickley has changed the Toronto Raptors' offense.
Toronto has been playing much better offensive basketball in their last ten games, leading the NBA in assists per game during that time and shooting a much more efficient clip than their dead-last ranking prior to this span. Quickley's ability to shoot and make plays in space has accentuated Toronto in these key areas.
The Raptors haven't asked Quickley or Barrett to do anything too demanding. Instead, they've given them the freedom to make things happen on their own. With Quickley slicing and dicing his way to open looks inside and outside the arc and Barrett bulldozing smaller guards on his way to the basket, both players have found a role for themselves.
What makes Quickley's emergence with Toronto so encouraging is that this team has been crying out for a player with his exact skillset for years. The fact he's producing without eating into the per-game numbers of Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes beside him is yet another reason to be optimistic about this squad.
Toronto still has some uncertainty laid about before them, thanks to the whole Siakam trade circus. Irrespective of that, both Quickley and Barrett have performed as well as Toronto expected, with the former bringing a degree of electricity to this team that was needed in the worst way for so long.