Brooklyn Nets: Re-signing Quincy Acy not an ideal option

The Brooklyn Nets struck role player gold in the middle of the 2016-17 season with the contributions of Quincy Acy. But the free-agent-to-be slid badly last season and the Nets may want to move on.

Quincy Acy joined the Brooklyn Nets on a 10-day contract in January 2017 following a stint with the Texas Legends in what was then known as the D-League.

After playing out two 10-day deals, Acy showed the Nets enough to get a deal for the remainder of 2016-17 as well as for 2017-18.

An undersized 4 known for a big motor, Acy showed a deft touch from beyond the arc in his partial season in Brooklyn, knocking down 43.4 percent from deep (36-for-83) in his 32 games with the club.

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He became a key part off the bench, starting just one of his 32 appearances and averaging 15.9 minutes, 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game on a .425/.434/.754 slash line.

Expected to play a larger role in 2017-18, Acy regressed to the mean. His per-game averages were similar to or less than the previous season despite averaging more time (19.4 minutes per game) and his shooting touch all but vanished.

Acy put up 5.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in those 19.4 minutes while recording a terrifyingly bad .356/.349/.817 slash line.

If the jumper isn’t falling, Acy can struggle to score because at 6-foot-7, he’s just not effective around the basket. Indeed, per Basketball-Reference, Acy made just half of his attempts at the rim and turned into much more of a catch-and-shoot player (80.6 percent of his shot attempts were of the C&S variety, per stats.nba.com).

Almost 82 percent of his attempts, meanwhile, were from 3-point range and he only shot 47.7 percent from inside of 10 feet, not ideal for a 4 — even a stretch 4.

With the Nets in 2016-17, Acy recorded a PER of 13.1 (not a great measure, but useful here) and played right at replacement-player level (a value over replacement player of 0.0).

Last season, his PER dwindled to a career-worst 8.2, true shooting percentage fell from 58.7 to 52.5 and he played at below replacement-player level slightly with a VORP of minus-0.1.

A minimum deal for Acy would start at $1,742,437, per RealGM.com. Not a salary-cap breaker by any stretch, and the Nets do have Early Bird rights on Acy, which means they could exceed the cap to keep him, but would need to do so on a deal of two years at a minimum, per HoopsRumors.com.

Acy had one night where everything worked, a career-high 21-point explosion on April 7 against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in which he was 6-for-13 from deep.

The thing with Acy is the diminishing returns in other areas of the game as his role as a stretch player has expanded. He has gone from a high of 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes in 2013-14, which he split between the Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings, to just 6.8 boards per 36 last season with Brooklyn.

The drop is akin to the real estate market — location, location, location. Being out on the perimeter and taking 80 percent of his attempts from 3-point range, Acy isn’t near the rim to be a factor on the offensive glass (1.1 offensive boards per 36 minutes, down from a career-best of 3.2 in 2012-13 with the Raptors).

But it also diminishes his value to the club, because he carved his niche initially as an energy player who crashed the glass and did the dirty work. If Acy isn’t rebounding and is shooting poorly from long range, his value becomes severely limited.

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For what he provides, there are likely options available this offseason that are younger, cheaper and offer more potential upside than a player who will be 28 by the time the 2018-19 season tips off.