THE NUMBERS
THE SEASON
Quincy Acy’s modest stats don’t tell the complete story of his impact in his second year with the Nets. The 28-year-old served a variety of purposes within Kenny Atkinson’s system.
On offense, Acy was a floor spacer who could play at either the four or five positions, though Atkinson usually deployed him at center. At the five spot, Acy creates “gravity” as the head coach, forcing opposing centers to have to come out and guard him. It was an adjustment for the former Baylor star, who came into the league as a small forward. Prior to joining the Nets in the 2016-17 season, he had never taken more than 1.2 threes per game. In the 2017-18 season, he averaged 4.2 attempts from downtown.
“It’s a new role for me, it’s a lot different but I’ll do anything I can to help the team win,” Acy said back in January.
At times, Acy’s role definitely came with its challenges. His shooting often varied between hot to cold, with no in-between. He shot 52.2 percent from the floor in October before struggling in November. Still, Acy finished the season on a strong note, averaging 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds while shooting 48.5 percent (46.2 from downtown) in his final five games.
Defensively, Acy was one of the Nets’ hustle guys as he scrapped and did the dirty work needed to secure wins. Despite having to guard guys who were usually much bigger than his 6-foot-7, 240 lbs frame, Acy used his positional awareness to disrupt opponents and was seventh in the NBA in drawing charges (0.50 per game).
Overall, Acy provided the grit and spacing that Atkinson and the Nets expected from him. More importantly, he was an invaluable locker room presence and he was often the team’s hype man on the sidelines as shown below.
PLUS/MINUS
As previously mentioned, Acy’s expanded range provides plenty of value in Atkinson’s system. As the forward continues to grow more comfortable with his downtown attempts, his shooting average should get closer to his career number of 44.7 percent. Where the Nets would likely want to see improvement is in rebounding as he grabbed 3.2 per game.