By Trading Away Immanuel Quickley, Leon Rose Has Instantly Become a Knicks Legend

For my entire lifetime as a New York Knicks fan, James Dolan has hired the worst front-office executives in NBA history.

In 2005, Isiah Thomas gave up a first-round draft pick and a pick swap to the Chicago Bulls for Eddy Curry—an obese, undersized center with a heart condition.

In 2010, the Knicks attempted to court LeBron James who was very much down to play in New York. Only for them to wheel out then-team president, Donnie Walsh, in a wheelchair—who not only looked like he was going to die before LeBron’s contract would be over but he was wildly unprepared for the biggest meeting in the team’s history.

In 2013, Glen Grunwald traded Marcus Camby, Steve Novak and Quentin Richardson for Andrea fucking Bargnani. If you were there, you know how disgusting this is.

If I sit down and reflect on the Phil Jackson era, this article will never get posted. I will spend the day trapped in my mind palace as I get lost in memories of Lou Amundson’s ponytail.

I don’t deserve that.

And on a random Saturday, while I was doing some New Year’s cleaning around the house, Leon Rose decided to make a move that will put his jersey in the rafters with all of the previous legendary Knicks team presidents.

Final trade:

Knicks Receive:
OG Anunoby
Precious Achiuwa

Raptors Receive:
RJ Barrett
Immanuel Quickley
second-round pick pic.twitter.com/uZgOnUUt9u

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 30, 2023

*rips vape until I pass out*

Let’s talk about the positives and negatives of this trade. Hm, let’s start with the positive. God, this is going to be difficult.

Leon Rose won the trade

It sucks that Immanuel Quickley was in this trade but if you look at it, RJ Barrett hasn’t gotten better and has singlehandedly dragged the starting 5 down so IQ was needed to sweeten the deal. If you look at this trade as an RJ salary dump, it makes more sense.

The Knicks defense has fallen off a cliff this year, especially once Mitchell Robinson went down. OG Anunoby is a big boy who can keep guys in front of him which is crucial when, according to Becky Hammon, Jalen Brunson is the size of a newborn.

OG is a better perimeter defender than RJ Barrett.

Most guys are.

But I think after a year and a half, we saw the truth about this team: Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson and RJ Barrett cannot play basketball together.

All three guys look for their own shot first and aren’t natural playmakers, although Randle has gotten a lot better and driving with the intention of getting guys open. RJ Barrett dribbled looking down at the ball with no clue where any of his teammates are.

OG Anunoby is better on the catch and shoot which is all the Knicks need from him playing next to Randle and Brunson. Donte DiVincenzo can put the ball on the floor if he has to and so can OG. There’s just one less guy who’s hurting the team with wide-open bricks and confusing decision-making.

As far as the loss of Immanuel Quickley, I don’t think the Knicks are done making moves.

Worst case scenario, Evan Fournier gets back into the rotation and we know he can get a bunch of shots up like Quickley can. But I feel like Evan Fournier sitting there making $18 million is the next piece that goes for a bench guy who can get buckets and play slightly more defense than the 0 defense Fournier provides.

I’m also interested to see Quentin Grimes with the ball in his hands more with the second unit. Grimes averaged 11.3 points last season. I can see him getting his confidence back and filling in the missing scoring.

OG Anunoby. Quentin Grimes. Josh Hart. The Knicks have some bulldogs to send at the opposing team’s best player. Jimmy Butler is never beating the Knicks again.

Also real quick, the Knicks desperately need a guy like Precious Achiuwa right now.

Taj Gibson should not be on an NBA court in 2024. Precious Achiuwa can protect the rim and muck up games with his physicality. The Knicks are at their best when they turn the game of basketball into a game of Red Rover.

Achiuwa and Julius Randle are going to send players to the hospital. (As long as the ball stays out of Achiuwa’s hands which shouldn’t be a problem for the Knicks. They hate giving the ball to their centers.)

Leon Rose lost the trade

OG Anunoby has been in trade talks for like, 19 straight months and no other team pulled the trigger. Uh, you never want to trade for the guy that has very publicly been available and no wanted.

Look at John Collins in Utah. Atlanta was trying to trade him for years and they finally found a sucker in Utah to take him. A few months into the season and Utah is ready to get John Collins the fuuuuuuck out of their building.

The Knicks might’ve traded for a lemon.

And it cost them Immanuel Quickley.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: good organizations don’t trade away guys like Immanuel Quickley. IQ is the best Knicks first-round draft pick since ~~Frank Ntilikina~~ Kristaps Porizingis almost a decade ago.

Quickley is shooting 40% from 3. He can create off the dribble and can beat most defenders. And he hustles on defense.

These are guys you want on your roster.

My biggest fear is he gets a real opportunity in Toronto and starts looking like Tyrese Maxey when James Harden left.

The only sigh of relief is remembering RJ Barrett is going to Toronto with him and Barrett absolutely thinks it’s his team now. Scottie Barnes and RJ are going to play keep away from Quickley for the rest of the year.

It’s also the final year of OG Anunoby’s contract. He has a player option but if he balls out, he’s going to cost the Knicks a shitload of money to keep him.

Sick.

1 year of OG Anunoby isn’t better than RJ and IQ. He’s a hypothetical player who hasn’t reached the potential that experts claim he’s capable of and having watched some Raptors tape for this article, uh, he kind of just is what he is

. Again, I think Quickley can turn into Tyrese Maxey and OG’s ceiling is like, Marcus Smart.

Sick.

This was bound to happen. Every Knicks team president has one terrible move in them that creates a domino effect of even shittier moves to make up for the original shit move.

Somewhere in the world, Leon Rose and Phil Jackson are lighting up cigars laughing at a photo of me.