Quincy Acy

Offensively, Acy is seemingly a shooter now; 80% of his shots last season came from beyond the three-point line, and 34.9% of them went in. If that number was 5% higher, he would probably have a job by now; it is not as though those shots were contested. Acy's hustle, strength and effort saw him play a stretch-five role, despite standing only 6'7 and entering the league as awing player, and while he does not contend shots much above the rim, he does counter this by taking charge. He is thus a candidate for a stretch four role somewhere. The stretch five thing, though, was sub-optimal.

Quincy Acy
SF/PF - 6’7, 240lbs - 27 years old - 6 years of experience

As a player who entered the league as a sort-of combo forward (small forward’s body type, limited perimeter skills), who put together a few NBA seasons by being a scrappy and defensively engaged athlete, Acy has undergone a weird transformation in his season-and-a-smidge as a Net. He essentially this season was an undersized centre, and one who offensively almost exclusively took three-pointers. 4.2 of them a game, in fact, whereas once he could rarely hit them.

However, Acy did not hit them particularly well. The overall percentage is pretty average, but they weren’t contested threes, and not all of them were shrewd attempts. Going away from the running and cutting that previously formed the basis of his offence has seen him not flank the threes with any efficient looks from elsewhere, and thus offensively, Acy has reduced himself to being a mediocrely efficient shooter of only one kind of shot. Not handling, passing, posting or creating – just gunning.

Acy got some of that back defensively, where he continues to be versatile and play enthused. Although he gives up a lot of size to most stretch bigs, he is strong and hustles about, and does not back down, all virtues worth having. If he is however going to continue to ply the second half of his professional career as a stretch big in this way, he will have to start rebounding again. Without doing so, he is an overall net negative as a player – other plays shoot better, rebound better and have more favourable defensive match-ups, and, usually, some combination thereof.

Intangibles and chemistry only go so far. Quite far, certainly, but not enough for this year’s numbers to last for long. Acy should get more NBA looks, and was of some benefit to the Nets this year, but more is needed.

Player Plan: Entering unrestricted free agency. Possible as a minimum salary contract returnee, yet not a priority. Better value elsewhere, possibly.

Quincy Acy
SF/PF, 6’7, 240lbs, 26 years old, 5 years of experience

No more skilled than ever, yet gritty, tenacious, athletic, defensively driven....everything a young team should aspire to be. Having played for five teams in five years, it is easy to forget he is still only 26 - that is to say, younger than Hamilton and Kilpatrick. Signed through next season for the minimum and well worth bringing back for that amount. He never seems to get credit for the fact that he can shoot now.

Player Plan: Unguaranteed minimum salary for 2017/18, final year. Guarantee date of July 16th. Keep and guarantee.

[...] However, they might not. And there is logic to support it. As capable of a role player as Thompson is, it is seen above that he is not the perfect fit for Sacramento that he could be for another team. The Kings require an athletic rim-protecting mid-range shooting power forward to compliment the grounded interior play of Cousins - ideally, they require the next Serge Ibaka (or indeed the actual Serge Ibaka). Thompson is not this. Carl Landry is not entirely this player, either, yet he brings the range and athleticism that Thompson does not, making him a better fit. And while Landry is yet to play this season due to injury, he will return one day - until that time, Derrick Williams could use the minutes to audition and develop, while Quincy Acy is a decent role player himself, bringing athleticism, toughness and efficiency from the deeper parts of the bench. Thompson, then, is a very good candidate to be moved