RJ Barrett

[MemphisX]

take the guy who's having one of the best freshmen seasons we've seen?

Barrett has his faults, but to act like he's not a good 2nd overall pick is crazy. Which 2nd overall pick the last few years is a better prospect than Barrett? Bagley? No. Ball? No. Ingram? No.

Give me Bagley over RJ and day of the week.

i completely disagree on that. Bagley wasn't even the best big prospect on Duke last year.

Yes he was and he is a better prospect than RJ also. Bagley can at least fill a role in the NBA if he does not hit his projected role. If RJ misses on his projected role as primary scoring option, what is his role? Defender? No. Floor Spacer? No. Secondary facilitator? No. What is his role if he misses?

[atlantabbq99]

take the guy who's having one of the best freshmen seasons we've seen?

Barrett has his faults, but to act like he's not a good 2nd overall pick is crazy. Which 2nd overall pick the last few years is a better prospect than Barrett? Bagley? No. Ball? No. Ingram? No.

Give me Bagley over RJ and day of the week.

i completely disagree on that. Bagley wasn't even the best big prospect on Duke last year.

Exactly, that is why Bagley wasn't even the first Duke player drafted in last year's draft

[orlandomanic]

Barrett is going to have the same career path as Justice Winslow. He is going to be projected as top 3 but on draft night will actually be drafted out of the top 10 just like Winslow, and then struggle as a pro with his 3pt shot and free throws.

[PerkinsFor3]

Only Winslow wasn't drafted outside of the top ten (and is shooting above league average from three).

[Hoopz Afrik]

Absolutely not. I'd be surprised if he fell lower than 3.

[nybluemeadow]

Only Winslow wasn't drafted outside of the top ten (and is shooting above league average from three).

Exactly, Winslow got drafted #4 in his draft. I remember Steven A Smith saying how great of a player he is and a future NBA All Star.

[MotownMadness]

Barrett still has great driving and scoring ability at the next level that’s going to let him produce. He needs to work on his 3 ball and his passing out while driving without going tunnel vision.

He’s going top 3

[eminence]

Only Winslow wasn't drafted outside of the top ten (and is shooting above league average from three).

Exactly, Winslow got drafted #4 in his draft. I remember Steven A Smith saying how great of a player he is and a future NBA All Star.

Winslow was the 10th pick?

[Stillwater]

RJ is better defender though so I still have him ahead of Langford.

Based on what? Athleticism? Reputation?

based on what I see. Lanford struggled against Nebraska on both sides of the ball and I really am considering moving him out of the top 10. I hate Barrett jacking 3's he can't hit and there is a lot of his game IQ that I dislike as well, but he is a better on ball defender when he puts in the effort from what I have seen anyway

[Stillwater]

NO he should and will declare. his flags are there just like most one and dones but the upside is attainable etc and most highly touted frosh like him would rather develop on their pro team then risk injury etc

[shakes0]

worst thread we'll see on the draft board all season AINEC.

Why would a consensus top 2 (maybe 3) pick come back under any circumstances?

[clyde21]

Give me Bagley over RJ and day of the week.

i completely disagree on that. Bagley wasn't even the best big prospect on Duke last year.

Yes he was and he is a better prospect than RJ also. Bagley can at least fill a role in the NBA if he does not hit his projected role. If RJ misses on his projected role as primary scoring option, what is his role? Defender? No. Floor Spacer? No. Secondary facilitator? No. What is his role if he misses?

i don't know what this means. if Bagley can't score inside at the NBA level, what role does he fill?

and we're deviating away from the original point: that the team picking 2nd overall doesn't have a good choice.

[Duke4life831]

This is a massive overreaction. I have been vocal about my question marks with RJ, but the dude is still going to go top 5 without a doubt. The dude is still averaging 23/7/4 as a freshman. You keep saying his 3pt shot is like Justise Winslow's, uhm I think every team would take that in a heartbeat. Justise has been a 38% 3pt shooter now for the last two years.

I also don't get that comparison at all. Justise was truly an elite defender, was a solid scorer but clearly lacked many scoring moves and skills. RJ is a flat out scorer who isn't a good defender.

Also him stay in school for 3 more years? Really?

[Jamaaliver]

The thread creator is a well known over-reactor who loves hot takes and controversial, over-the-top rhetoric.

RJ is more DeRozan than Justise and will undoubtedly produce at the next level.

Will that lead to winning/contention? Time will tell...


Also...Justise Winslow is actually a solid NBA player. At age 22. Years from his physical prime.

[nolang1]

RJ is better defender though so I still have him ahead of Langford.

Based on what? Athleticism? Reputation?

I don't get why reputation shouldn't matter at all. These guys didn't just suddenly materialize on a college campus in October.

[NBA Fan 1234]

RJ is better defender though so I still have him ahead of Langford.

Based on what? Athleticism? Reputation?

I don't get why reputation shouldn't matter at all. These guys didn't just suddenly materialize on a college campus in October.

It shouldn't. I'm pretty sure he's just making the point that there's no reason to think RJ is a better defender than Romeo aside from reputation or athleticism.

[nolang1]

Based on what? Athleticism? Reputation?

I don't get why reputation shouldn't matter at all. These guys didn't just suddenly materialize on a college campus in October.

It shouldn't. I'm pretty sure he's just making the point that there's no reason to think RJ is a better defender than Romeo aside from reputation or athleticism.

Size/athleticism definitely matters. Barrett is a substantially better rebounder (can easily imagine him having an even bigger edge there if he wasn't competing for boards with Zion) and playing with a much bigger offensive load. Also it has been well-documented that teams/players tend to perform better when behind and worse than ahead, so an apparent defensive lapse when one's team is up by 20+ points is not as huge of a deal to me as it would be to the people who form more of their opinion off of GIFs. Also I was saying that reputation *should* matter if two players are considered relatively close; there's a lot more than 16 college games to go off of.

[eminence]

Anywho, even if he was hypothetically being looked at as a late-lotto pick and not a top of the lottery guy, he still absolutely shouldn't come back. If you're a sure 1st rounder you shouldn't even think about it to be honest. Risk is too great.

[Duke4life831]

Okay for those saying RJ is a good defender, please point to me a game where he played good defense. I usually watch Duke games twice. First time just as a Duke die hard and the second time looking at the prospects. I usually end up saying the same thing both times I watch Duke games, "RJ is such a bad defender".

RJ gets beat off the dribble far too often, he gets lost far too often and he has some of the more lazy rotations out of the other 1st round guys. His bad defense also sticks out like a sore thumb because he is playing with 3 other freshmen that are playing really good defense. So to me it's clear as day what good and bad defense looks like when looking at the Duke freshmen.

[NBA Fan 1234]

I don't get why reputation shouldn't matter at all. These guys didn't just suddenly materialize on a college campus in October.

It shouldn't. I'm pretty sure he's just making the point that there's no reason to think RJ is a better defender than Romeo aside from reputation or athleticism.

Size/athleticism definitely matters. Barrett is a substantially better rebounder (can easily imagine him having an even bigger edge there if he wasn't competing for boards with Zion) and playing with a much bigger offensive load. Also it has been well-documented that teams/players tend to perform better when behind and worse than ahead, so an apparent defensive lapse when one's team is up by 20+ points is not as huge of a deal to me as it would be to the people who form more of their opinion off of GIFs. Also I was saying that reputation *should* matter if two players are considered relatively close; there's a lot more than 16 college games to go off of.

Reputation shouldn't matter if the reputation doesn't translate to on-court success. RJ isn't a good defender right now. It shouldn't matter at all if he was one at a lower level.

Not sure how anyone can watch both players and think RJ is the better defender (haven't seen Romeo's most recent game, but I doubt it changed that much).