RJ Barrett

[N Y K]

lmao man, you don't know much about stats, guys make leaps surely, but your season is your season as a whole, this could very well be a hot streak and his inefficient start his real level, you are as good as your total, it is how it works

"extremely efficient" 57TS% is basically league average

And I follow these guys' seasons from beginning to end, it just simply ain't true, you are just choosing to follow the angle thaat most benefits you because you are a fan and biased, I am not

That's basically what I said, that for a 2nd scorer he has a low usage and that his low efficiency is even worse news because of that, had he the ball in his hands more and low efficiency it'd be more understandable/better

Fans like this who don't can't be objective are THE absolute worst to have a discussion with

the inverse of the above could be possible too... RJs been fairly consistent lately, which is much nicer to see. His up and downs early on were most troubling honestly.

[clyde21]

referencing RJ's efficiency numbers are pointless right now, he's a down hill player playing on a team stacked with PFs and a C clogging up the paint in front of him, RJ has been doing this and improving at this rate without actually being able to use his best asset offensively, but when you watch him play it's actually incredible how it's helped him improve his other parts of the game, from shot selection, to breaking defenses down and then making a secondary decision at the top of the key when defenses close the lanes, he's a legitimate secondary playmaker at this point who can defend multiple positions and give you 20 semi-efficiently at his age, which is insanely valuable moving forward if again he can continue improving on his efficiency and decision making.

it's actually weird how underrated he's become now, and Spurs Demar as a median outcome for him is a huge success for any #3 overall pick, especially one that follows Zion and Ja.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

lmao man, you don't know much about stats, guys make leaps surely, but your season is your season as a whole, this could very well be a hot streak and his inefficient start his real level, you are as good as your total, it is how it works

"extremely efficient" 57TS% is basically league average

And I follow these guys' seasons from beginning to end, it just simply ain't true, you are just choosing to follow the angle thaat most benefits you because you are a fan and biased, I am not

That's basically what I said, that for a 2nd scorer he has a low usage and that his low efficiency is even worse news because of that, had he the ball in his hands more and low efficiency it'd be more understandable/better

Fans like this who don't can't be objective are THE absolute worst to have a discussion with

Thank you for proving my point, there's no way you're watching him play, you're a slave to stats on face value because you're not watching. It's why you used his season stats at first, because you're only going by the boxscore to try and argue your position. If I wanted to be unfair, I could have said his TS the last 8 games was 64%, which is above league average, it's 62% the last 10 games and has been improving all throughout the season. He shot 49% and 48% from three over those 25 games, that is not a hot streak, anyone with an ounce of intelligence would know his TS is brought down by his freethrow shooting which does need to improve, but within the flow of our offense he has been efficient. That is the type of context you're lacking here, because you want to be right.

Bringing up his usage rate provides even more insight into how little you actually watch him play, we don't utilize him like he's a 2nd scorer which is my point, you'd know that if you watched us. He has the 4th highest usage rate on our team and Elfird Payton is only 0.7 behind him there, he is 4th in touches per game on our team. For all intents and purposes he is not used as a 2nd scorer, he's simply ending up as our 2nd leading scorer because he's been efficient at it. Watch more games.

[Chanel Bomber]

lmao man, you don't know much about stats, guys make leaps surely, but your season is your season as a whole, this could very well be a hot streak and his inefficient start his real level, you are as good as your total, it is how it works

"extremely efficient" 57TS% is basically league average

And I follow these guys' seasons from beginning to end, it just simply ain't true, you are just choosing to follow the angle thaat most benefits you because you are a fan and biased, I am not

That's basically what I said, that for a 2nd scorer he has a low usage and that his low efficiency is even worse news because of that, had he the ball in his hands more and low efficiency it'd be more understandable/better

Fans like this who don't can't be objective are THE absolute worst to have a discussion with

Everybody's biased, you included. I don't know what your opinion of RJ was as a draft prospect, but surely it impacts the way you read those stats and his progress on a subconscious level.

I agree that you're as good as your total, and I personally put a lot of stock into TS%, but stats are meaningless without context, especially when it comes to 20 year olds. RJ's been inefficient overall as a scorer this season, but here's some context:

> He's been on an upwards trajectory since the beginning of the season, and he's only gotten better since his rookie season. Does that mean that he's great or whatnot? No. But that means that it's plausible if not entirely probable that he will keep improving. His work ethic - which Thibodeau has been raving about - further helps this belief. See the early career TS% of the Lavines, the Beals etc for reference.

> He's in the worst possible situation in New York in terms of spacing because he plays most of his minutes with the worst starting point guard in the NBA who's ball-dominant and who can't shoot (teams consistently play zone whenever Payton's on the court). With a rim protector and Randle in the frontcourt, and a PG who can't shoot, RJ's slashing game is hardly unlocked. What did everyone say before the draft? If you're gonna draft RJ, give him some spacing around him. The Knicks have put him in the opposite situation. In fairness, it's also up to him to be able to contribute regardless and maybe provide some spacing himself, which he's done a better job of the past 2 months.

> He reworked his shooting form over the summer with Drew Hanlen. After a rocky start, his FT% has improved, his 3P% has improved, his 2P% has improved, so he's slowly starting to reap the rewards of the work he put in. And maybe adapting to this new form is what actually caused these early season struggles but is now actually driving his progress.

> His all-around game has improved too. Better defense (he's good), better decision-making, great movement off-ball.

He still needs to get better, and needs to stay north of .530 TS% for his 2nd year, but he's not done growing as a player.

[Ruzious]

lmao man, you don't know much about stats, guys make leaps surely, but your season is your season as a whole, this could very well be a hot streak and his inefficient start his real level, you are as good as your total, it is how it works

"extremely efficient" 57TS% is basically league average

And I follow these guys' seasons from beginning to end, it just simply ain't true, you are just choosing to follow the angle thaat most benefits you because you are a fan and biased, I am not

That's basically what I said, that for a 2nd scorer he has a low usage and that his low efficiency is even worse news because of that, had he the ball in his hands more and low efficiency it'd be more understandable/better

Fans like this who don't can't be objective are THE absolute worst to have a discussion with

Everybody's biased, you included. I don't know what your opinion of RJ was as a draft prospect, but surely it impacts the way you read those stats and his progress on a subconscious level.

I agree that you're as good as your total, and I personally put a lot of stock into TS%, but stats are meaningless without context, especially when it comes to 20 year olds. RJ's been inefficient overall as a scorer this season, but here's some context:

> He's been on an upwards trajectory since the beginning of the season, and he's only gotten better since his rookie season. Does that mean that he's great or whatnot? No. But that means that it's plausible if not entirely probable that he will keep improving. His work ethic - which Thibodeau has been raving about - further helps this belief. See the early career TS% of the Lavines, the Beals etc for reference.

> He's in the worst possible situation in New York in terms of spacing because he plays most of his minutes with the worst starting point guard in the NBA who's ball-dominant and who can't shoot (teams consistently play zone whenever Payton's on the court). With a rim protector and Randle in the frontcourt, and a PG who can't shoot, RJ's slashing game is hardly unlocked. What did everyone say before the draft? If you're gonna draft RJ, give him some spacing around him. The Knicks have put him in the opposite situation. In fairness, it's also up to him to be able to contribute regardless and maybe provide some spacing himself, which he's done a better job of the past 2 months.

> He reworked his shooting form over the summer with Drew Hanlen. After a rocky start, his FT% has improved, his 3P% has improved, his 2P% has improved, so he's slowly starting to reap the rewards of the work he put in. And maybe adapting to this new form is what actually caused these early season struggles but is now actually driving his progress.

> His all-around game has improved too. Better defense (he's good), better decision-making, great movement off-ball.

He still needs to get better, and needs to stay north of .530 TS% for his 2nd year, but he's not done growing as a player.

I'm not as convinced as you are about Barrett, but I love your last 2 posts here, and I'll try to keep a more open mind on him.

[Chanel Bomber]

lmao man, you don't know much about stats, guys make leaps surely, but your season is your season as a whole, this could very well be a hot streak and his inefficient start his real level, you are as good as your total, it is how it works

"extremely efficient" 57TS% is basically league average

And I follow these guys' seasons from beginning to end, it just simply ain't true, you are just choosing to follow the angle thaat most benefits you because you are a fan and biased, I am not

That's basically what I said, that for a 2nd scorer he has a low usage and that his low efficiency is even worse news because of that, had he the ball in his hands more and low efficiency it'd be more understandable/better

Fans like this who don't can't be objective are THE absolute worst to have a discussion with

Everybody's biased, you included. I don't know what your opinion of RJ was as a draft prospect, but surely it impacts the way you read those stats and his progress on a subconscious level.

I agree that you're as good as your total, and I personally put a lot of stock into TS%, but stats are meaningless without context, especially when it comes to 20 year olds. RJ's been inefficient overall as a scorer this season, but here's some context:

> He's been on an upwards trajectory since the beginning of the season, and he's only gotten better since his rookie season. Does that mean that he's great or whatnot? No. But that means that it's plausible if not entirely probable that he will keep improving. His work ethic - which Thibodeau has been raving about - further helps this belief. See the early career TS% of the Lavines, the Beals etc for reference.

> He's in the worst possible situation in New York in terms of spacing because he plays most of his minutes with the worst starting point guard in the NBA who's ball-dominant and who can't shoot (teams consistently play zone whenever Payton's on the court). With a rim protector and Randle in the frontcourt, and a PG who can't shoot, RJ's slashing game is hardly unlocked. What did everyone say before the draft? If you're gonna draft RJ, give him some spacing around him. The Knicks have put him in the opposite situation. In fairness, it's also up to him to be able to contribute regardless and maybe provide some spacing himself, which he's done a better job of the past 2 months.

> He reworked his shooting form over the summer with Drew Hanlen. After a rocky start, his FT% has improved, his 3P% has improved, his 2P% has improved, so he's slowly starting to reap the rewards of the work he put in. And maybe adapting to this new form is what actually caused these early season struggles but is now actually driving his progress.

> His all-around game has improved too. Better defense (he's good), better decision-making, great movement off-ball.

He still needs to get better, and needs to stay north of .530 TS% for his 2nd year, but he's not done growing as a player.

I'm not as convinced as you are about Barrett, but I love your last 2 posts here, and I'll try to keep a more open mind on him.

I appreciate the kind words, much respect for keeping an open mind. FYI I don't expect him to become a "good" player (at least statistically including efficiency) until year 3 or 4.

[N Y K]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[King Ken]

Proud of R.J. Struggled in the playoffs but his ceiling is still very high.

[Marcus]

Was always gonna work harder than his talent level. Enough dog in him to force his way into those elite convos at some point. Very Jimmy Butler in that way.

[Nazrmohamed]

Proud of R.J. Struggled in the playoffs but his ceiling is still very high.

Yo Ken, what would it take for us to pry your buy Reddish from you? Surely he's not in that upper tier core of young ayers you guys got. I'd love to get a crack at his potential.

[King Ken]

Proud of R.J. Struggled in the playoffs but his ceiling is still very high.

Yo Ken, what would it take for us to pry your buy Reddish from you? Surely he's not in that upper tier core of young ayers you guys got. I'd love to get a crack at his potential.

Zero-shot. He has the highest ceiling of all of our players and he's the one that we need to get to the next level so we can be consistent contenders. Reddish, Hunter, and Trae are critical to our future success. Okongwu, is a wait and see, he could join that big 3. JC, Bogi, and Capela are needs for now. Gallo is fine but this upcoming season will be his last in Atlanta. Kevin is someone we would love to have for the next 10 years but he might end up being hard to keep. Ideally, we would love to lock him and Trae up this offseason for the future.

Our big board looks like this:

1. Trae (superstar PG)
2. Reddish and Hunter (two way wings who can become stars)
3. Huerter - Two-way wing who can be a good rotation player.
4. Bogi - Offensive dynamo when healthy
5. Capela - Defensive anchor, critical for our success.
6. JC - Heart of the squad. Took a backseat for the betterment of the team. Not sure he's what we need to get over the hump.
7. Gallo - Critical off our bench. Likely on his last year as a Hawk due to Trae/Kevin's extension if JC stays which I think is likely.
8. Okongwu - Shooting is his swing skill. Too young to rate any higher. Has the potential to join the big 3. His two-way potential as a 4/5 is massive for us long-term. As of right now, he's mainly a defensive piece who has a nice PnR finisher game with an excellent feel and shooting touch. Once he extends his range and builds consistency, he could be special for us.

Right now, Reddish is labeled critical. He's not going anywhere.
If I had a list to say who's likely to go:

1. Gallo - Last year of his real deal. He has a 5 million dollar buyout in 2022/23 which we will likely use unless JC is gone.
2. JC - He's likely staying but there is a chance he could go.
GAP
3. Bogi - Unlikely to be gone before 2023.
4. Huerter - He's a tough one, he's due to an ext this offseason. I believe Atlanta would love to get this one done ASAP, if not, he could shoot up the list. If he does, retaining Bogi becomes a priority.

[BostonCouchGM]

I don't see superstar for him but maybe Middleton? He really needs to work on shooting threes off the dribble and really focus on defense to get there imo. I think he can be a legit #3 on a championship team.