Immanuel Quickley is Raptors' point guard of the future, but who will back him up?

BROOKLYN — Record aside, there have been some bright spots in the Toronto Raptors season.

Take your pick: Scottie Barnes emerging as an all-star, RJ Barrett playing the best basketball of his career in his hometown and through personal tragedy, the team identifying what should be a workable centre tandem in Jakob Poeltl and Kelly Olynyk, or rookie Gradey Dick turning his season around at the midway point.

But it could be that the development that matters most has been identifying a point guard who can anchor the team for years to come.

Immanuel Quickley was the centrepiece of the trade the Raptors made with the New York Knicks on Dec. 30, and Toronto gave up a lot to acquire the six-foot-three Kentucky product.

And the Raptors will have to pay a lot to keep him. The 24-year-old is a restricted free agent this summer and the Raptors will have the right to match any competing offer. But the mere possibility that a couple of teams with cap space and a need for elite shooting — San Antonio and Orlando come to mind — could swoop in will require the Raptors to make a serious offer. He’s eligible for a five-year extension and it’s unlikely it would be for less than $150 million. In theory, it could be for as much as $204.5 million if the Raptors felt compelled to offer Quickley the maximum he is eligible for.

That might be a stretch, given Quickley has only started 64 games over his four-year career, including as the lone regular Raptors starter to dress for Wednesday night’s 106-102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets that dropped Toronto to 25-55 for the season with two games to play.

Quickley showed his worth though. He led all scorers with 32 points and distributed nine assists while grabbing seven rebounds. He hit a go-ahead three with 49 seconds left but old friend Dennis Schroder — who scored 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter — got fouled on a drive and put the Nets up for good.

But Quickley’s value to the Raptors is hard to argue. They’ve won two games and been competitive in another in the last three he’s played, and he’s averaging 29.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists in that stretch.

Besides, having traded all-NBA defender OG Anunoby to get him, there is no chance the Raptors won’t find a deal for Quickley, who is averaging 21 points and nine assists a game since the all-star break, with a True Shooting percentage of 59.1, which is excellent.

As one pro scout was saying to me the other day: “The Raptors were really smart to get that trade done when they did. It’s given Quickley a lot of time to get used to starting, to get used to being a primary guard. He’s adjusted well.”

Dick had a career-high 24 points and six threes on 14 attempts to support Quickley and credited his point guard for most of it.

“I was definitely in rhythm, but that’s because of how much Quick does out there, opening so many gaps for me to go into and get my shot up,” Dick said.

Among several questions the Raptors will be facing this off-season, however, is who will be Quickley’s backup.

It popped to mind as I bumped into former Raptors guard Jose Calderon before the game. The Spanish national team star works for the Cleveland Cavaliers now, but at age 42 he looks like he can still play. He lives in Manhattan and has a weekend pick-up game with some former pros and D1 players in the city and still loves it.

But Calderon’s presence underscored the Raptors' absence. Most of the high points in Raptors history have coincided with quality depth at point guard: Alvin Williams and Chris Childs; Calderon and TJ Ford; Calderon and Kyle Lowry; Lowry and Cory Joseph and — ultimately — Lowry and Fred VanVleet, a pairing that coincided with the best seasons in franchise history.

Since Lowry left in the summer of 2022, backup point guard — or lack thereof — has been a problem.

Ironically, Toronto had the perfect man for the job in Schroder, who has been starting for the Nets since that trade deadline deal. It was nothing personal, but Schroder wanted to recreate his role as the centrepiece of the German national team he led to World Cup gold last summer. When the Raptors made the move for Quickley, Schroder wasn’t keen on being a backup and it was better for all concerned that the veteran moved on.

But Toronto still needs someone they can trust for 20 or so minutes a game when Quickley doesn’t play. Someone who can hold the fort as a starter for the 15 or 20 games in case of injury.

“Obviously you want to have three point guards on the team who have a clear vision [of what] is a point guard,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “It’s not just like, you have the ball in your hands but, is that your true mentality, to help the team? Do you know how to organize the team? You are the right hand to the coach.”

In that context, it’s interesting to monitor the progress of Javon Freeman-Liberty, who starred for Raptors 905 this season while on a two-way deal and earned a promotion to a regular NBA deal in March.

Starting in place of Quickley on Tuesday night, Freeman-Liberty had a career-high 20 points and eight rebounds. He was poised and patient looking for his offence in the seams and his energy defensively was palpable.

Freeman-Liberty came off the bench on Wednesday and had some good moments, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds and an assist in 24 minutes.

But there is more to the job than box score production and he knows it. Shy by nature, one element he has to develop is being more vocal.

“I’m kind of quiet guy, I don’t say too much,” Freeman-Liberty said. “In this league you’re going to have to talk and talk loud too. That’s one of my biggest things, is using my voice.”

I asked him if it was a matter of him being more comfortable to speak up or being confident about what he wants to say: “A mixture of both, honestly,” he said. “You always have to have confidence in what you’re saying, but you have to get them to listen, too.”

That wasn’t Schroder’s issue. The German veteran was plain-spoken to a fault at times. But he didn’t want the job that the Raptors ultimately had for him.

It would be a nice story if Freeman-Liberty could find his way into a backup role with the Raptors. VanVleet made it happen as an undrafted free agent, but the former Raptors all-star — now with the Houston Rockets — was an elite point guard by nature. He just needed someone to overlook the fact that he wasn’t very tall and didn’t jump that high.

Freeman-Liberty doesn’t have that problem. He’s six-foot-three and has speed and athleticism to spare, which is part of the reason he led the G-League in scoring this past season. But his challenge is channelling his skill and ability in a way that benefits the four other players on the floor at all times. It’s not a simple task.

Are point guards born or made? The Raptors are willing to give Freeman-Liberty the chance to find out.

"That's not an easy one [learning to play point guard]," said Rajakovic. "Like, that’s a long road, you gotta learn how to manage your team, how to run offence, how to communicate with your teammates. It's a long process."

"But he [Freeman-Liberty] is showing really good signs of willingness to be exposed, to be vulnerable, to learn, to fail and to grow through the process," Rajakovic added. "I think it’s just the question a lot, a lot of repetition. He is going to have amazing summer, amazing opportunity ahead of him, another summer league opportunities. So it's gonna be good opportunity for him to make that next jump."