The New York Knicks are focused on the future. Team President Leon Rose stated that fact distinctly this past offseason. The club signed multiple players for inexpensive short-term deals rather than making wide-open layup shots in either free agency or the trade market. While Knicks fans should be encouraged by this new management era, having a good plan alone doesn’t win you NBA games.
The success of almost every professional basketball rebuild hinges on draft picks. Getting into the top portion of the lottery helps, but hitting on those picks takes a team from sputtering in irrelevance to accelerating towards contention. New York has five players who were top-ten choices in the last four seasons. 2021 is a tremendously significant year for those youngsters. However, the player who must eventually reach stardom for this rebuild to work is the third pick of the 2019 NBA Draft: RJ Barrett.
Nobody should expect Barrett to reach his peak in 2021. Still, the organization must see progress out of the highest Knick pick since Patrick Ewing. So what is a successful sophomore season for RJ? First, one must reflect on Barrett’s rookie season.
RJ’s Rookie Year
In 2019-20, the Duke alum recorded decent stats, but he struggled with efficiency. Barrett averaged 14.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 2.6 APG while shooting 40% from the field, 32% from beyond the arc, and 61% from the foul line.
Not great.
Note, though, that while the numbers don’t look impressive initially, it’s worth putting Barrett’s play into context. New York took the 29th most three-pointers in the NBA, and only three teams shot a worse percentage. That’s not an ideal environment for a young guard. However, Barrett did some actions significantly well despite the terrible spacing. Only 12 guards took more shots per game within five feet of the rim last year, and the only rookie who shot more foul shots than RJ was Ja Morant.
Barrett is a crafty offensive player with a knack for getting to the rim, and New Yorkers should be pleased with his production as a rookie. Even if the percentages weren’t shiny, RJ navigated a problematic situation with coaching turnover and played respectively on the NBA stage. No. 9 was also playing his best basketball right before the league’s shutdown. Through six games in March, Barrett averaged 18.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 3.3 APG while upping his percentages to 45/33/76. There were many positives to take away from RJ’s rookie campaign, so what do the Knicks have to see from him in year two?
Where does RJ need to improve?
First, he needs to shoot better. Barrett has to launch the rock more efficiently from all areas of the floor and, most importantly, from the free-throw line. RJ is an athletic player with crafty moves around the rim. He will surely draw many fouls, but 61% from the line doesn’t get it done. That number needs to jump to at least 70%.
New York should also put the ball in RJ’s hands more often as a primary ball-handler. He can read defenses and make exceptional passes, but he played off-ball for much of 2019-2020. The coaching staff should get RJ minutes with the second unit and run him as a de facto point guard. Barrett must also be better defensively. That side of the floor is always a hard adjustment for rookies, but with RJ’s physical talent, he should be a stellar on-ball defender against guards and smaller wings.
This season is vital for Barrett. There’ll be more opportunity for him to shine, but there will also be added pressure. RJ is the face of the franchise, and he has tremendous upside.
Knicks fans should be excited but also patient, as he is still only 20 years old. And as RJ said, “I’m built for this.” This is your guy, New York, and year two is here.
*All stats from Basketball-Reference and nbastats.com. Follow us on Twitter @KnicksLead for the latest Knicks news and insight.
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