3toheadmelo wrote:mpharris36 wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:we need more from rj than Randle at this point or we’re just going to rely on Randle to bail us out with tough shots to win like he did last night. that was basically all we did last season as well. rj doesn’t look like he’s taking any leap this year. people hate it when we say this but it’s the truth, he’s just a good role player. i don’t see star
More so than his offense. I think the jump we need to see from RJ is on the defensive end. With the new acquisitions we are lacking a true perimeter defender in our rotation. I think guys like Kemba/Rose as well as Fournier/Burks and potential someone like IQ on some nights which you mentioned can hopefully bridge that gap to Julius just playing hero ball at the end of the game.
But I liked what I saw from RJ defensively so far. I think he had some great moments vs Beal and I think he defended Josh Jackson pretty well too.
Game 1 its likely like RJ will be either on Brown (if he's back from COVID) or Tatum. So his value this year IMO will be of a 2-way player.
his defense looks better but offensively he pretty much looks like the same player. i was hoping he would improve on that end so he can take a bigger role and take off some of the load off Randle but it doesn’t look like it’s happening. i hate that we have to rely on an aging kemba so much to help out Randle. we look like the same Knicks as last year with no kemba. just Randle bailing us out with extremely tough shots which is not how you want to win ideally.
Honestly though if we get 16-18 ppg again with +40% from 3 from RJ with him being relied on being our top perimeter/wing defender I think that is a pretty good step.
I mean we did pay Fournier a good chunk of money to be an additional scorer too. So if its not Kemba, fournier also has to pull his weight.