Immanuel Quickley with his family on draft night
Mike Pratt has plenty of contacts in the NBA and most of his NBA friends told him to expect Tryese Maxey to be drafted anywhere from 14th to 18th in the recent NBA Draft. They also told him not to be surprised if Immanuel Quickley went in the final picks of the first round even if most mock drafts had him as a second round pick.
Maxey fell to 21st, a move that definitely surprised Pratt, but his former UK teammate, Quickley, went 25th to Oklahoma City and then was immediately traded to the New York Knicks.
“I have been a Quickley fan since he got to UK,” said Pratt, the UK Radio Network analyst. “I think Quick needs to sit down and make a (video) tape and talk about the trials and tribulations of his freshman year. Cal was doing all he could to get him to relax and take shots but Quick lost his confidence and just couldn’t get it back.”
That changed his sophomore year when he became the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and led UK in scoring and 3-point shooting.
“Last year he came loaded and ready to play,” Pratt said. “Get his comments on what he went through for future Wildcats and about not running from the struggle his first year.
“That’s why I am pulling for him and great appreciation for him and would go out of my way to do anything fo him.”
Pratt compared Quickley’s attitude to that of former Cat Kahlil Whitney, a higher-touted prospect who left the team last year midway of his freshman season after losing his starting spot. He was not picked in the draft.
“If Kahlil had the same attitude as Quick he would have been drafted. He just didn’t have that in him. For a young fellow, it is easy to get discouraged but Quick never did. I admire him for that,” Pratt said.
