RJ Barrett Shot Mechanics

[johanliebert]

If RJ is your 4th best player, you are ok. He just needs to accept a reduced role with fewer shots.

4th best player on the raptors???? Lol yall say anything hoping your predictions of him being a bust occur.

[brownbobcat]

If RJ is your 4th best player, you are ok. He just needs to accept a reduced role with fewer shots.

The current version of RJ is the SG equivalent of Poelt. He's fine, but not a difference maker - any team where he gets to take more than 10-12 shots/game won't be great. There better be star power elsewhere if you have hopes of contention.

He's still incredibly young and has the rep of being a hard worker, so there's some hope of a DeRozan-like career arc if he works on the jumper/handle and becoming more specialized.

[hyper316]

I didn't want this to get buried in the RJ Barrett thread as I'm genuinely always surprised that NBA players of a high caliber can have such poor shot mechanics.

I was sitting back watching the highlights on youtube, and this made shot by Barrett got me to sit up in my chair and go back/watch it in slow motion on .25 and pause step by step. I wanted to see why his shooting numbers have always been relatively poor and break down some of the issues I see in his mechanics.

For a team such as us that is starved for good shooters, we're still going to have spacing issues for the most part - this was less of an issue last night, but I think the problem will still rear its head in many future games until we shore up shooting completely (and that issue likely won't be fixed this year):

In the first image you can already see how far away and low his starting point is. It's well ahead out infront of his eyes instead of cocked closer/higher, that release point will make it hard to have an arc release because he's too far out infront of his head. It becomes more of a push shot rather than a naturally good/cocked high release. His toes also point away from the basket more to the right side while his upper body is pointing toward the basket (not a huge deal because he's still fairly square overall).



In the second image, the ball is practically touching his forehead in a horizontal line - it's way too close and way too low. When you cock back, the ball should be slightly higher than your head by this point. He's essentially blocking his own vision to the basket in both the first and second screenshots.



In the third image, while his body is completely vertical now - which is good, look at his left and right hands, they're almost touching at the top. When I shoot my left hand naturally drops down off the ball and it's almost completely guided by my right hand after release. His right hand should be dropped down below the elevation of his left hand, but they're touching at the apex.



This is pronounced in the last image where you can see his right hand is still completely up after release, and his left wrist is going completely west. His follow through should be toward the basket, and instead his wrist is pointing the complete opposite way to the left (again this isn't an image pixelation thing, I watched this shot at full speed several times and you see his wrist just jut out left).



His shooting form definitely seems fixable as he's fine vertically and fairly square, but I hope they notice some of these problems in his release and tell him to change his starting point as I can see him shooting a lot of line drive shots all season long unless it's addressed.

I watched him shoot a few practice shots as well the other day and saw him miss a couple and saw the same mechanical issues in that video from different angles.

(sorry about image sizes as the sites I used are resizing them!)

Great job pointing it out step by step, I also critiqued his shooting form by just looking at the video of Barrett shooting shots in OVO building. Barrett was making the shots, but that's without defender. Barrett's shot starts off left side and so low, it makes it hard for him to get his shot off in game

I don't like he starts his shot way off to the left, but that's not the biggest problem as he probably learned it from Steve Nash (Rj's godfather) who also shoots off center to his right. The bad part is how low he starts his shot, almost Ron Harper jr territory

This is fixable, seeing how quickly Barnes transformed his shot post rico runs in August to start of season, hoping darko and Noah will do wonders for RJ

[Dalek]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

If we fix his shot, we'll already have a nice little trio going forward.

[hyper316]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

[Chandan]

Noah: I can fix him

[Westside Gunn]

Dave Hopla is considered one of the best shooting coaches in the league.

And I'm not sure if he is still with the Knicks, but if he couldn't fix RJ, no one will lol

[BetterCallSaul]

I don't think we should rebuild his mechanics at this point in his career. He should just keep shooting and practicing with it until he can make enough repeatable shots with it. Some things can not be successfully rebuilt this late in life and I'm sure he's already gone through so many mental issues trusting his shot.
Even with an ugly, broken shot some guys can eventually find consistency in certain spots, especially when you hit ages 25+ and have more reps under your belt.

It's like how we could never get OG to be able to dribble with finger tip coordination/control after all these years. At a certain point people, even at this elite level, have certain blind spots in their coordination.

[brownbobcat]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

lol, I remember when this guy went on Inside the NBA and got clowned on for not being able to shoot when the conditions changed slightly.

[hyper316]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

lol, I remember when this guy went on Inside the NBA and got clowned on for not being able to shoot when the conditions changed slightly.

Haha ya, pretty sure that guy was used to shooting in a high school gym not NBA 3pt line. The ceiling height was a distraction, but it's not like he shoots rainbows on his shot anyways

[brownbobcat]

Haha ya, pretty sure that guy was used to shooting in a high school gym not NBA 3pt line. The ceiling height was a distraction, but it's not like he shoots rainbows on his shot anyways

And he's a trainer? I hope some of those kids ask for a refund.

[tanuki1031]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

lol, I remember when this guy went on Inside the NBA and got clowned on for not being able to shoot when the conditions changed slightly.

Dude got murked by Jet and Chuck

Watch on YouTube

Back to RJ, Knicks poster noted in another thread that RJ needlessly put more muscle on his shoulders over the years and it drastically messed up his basic movement fluidity.

[hyper316]

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

lol, I remember when this guy went on Inside the NBA and got clowned on for not being able to shoot when the conditions changed slightly.

Dude got murked by Jet and Chuck

Watch on YouTube

Back to RJ, Knicks poster noted in another thread that RJ needlessly put more muscle on his shoulders over the years and it drastically messed up his basic movement fluidity.

Kawhi has huge shoulders too, but Kawhi's shooting form is so nice and repeatable it's called robotic. Kawhi shooting form in the middle and at forehead. Natural from triple threat and quick release

[GreatWhiteStiff]

If RJ is your 4th best player, you are ok. He just needs to accept a reduced role with fewer shots.

Why? What is he good at?

[Phish Tank]

His shot mechanics are messed up because it fluctuates game by game, week by week. He can't keep those mechanics consistent.

His "shooting coach" is Drew Hanlen. Clearly, those training sessions haven't really worked because Hanlen's other clients seem to have a pretty good jumper. RJ doesn't because he can't keep his form consistent. It's a lack of practice and repetition.

His form and mechanics will change if he wants them to change. He'll become consistent if he wants to do it. It's not a Knicks problem because many of the current Knicks are snipers from 3. It's on RJ to fix his shot. There were questions about his work ethic before, especially when he went on these deep slumps. You don't see him put up a ton of shots in practice and we definitely didn't hear him practicing in the practice facility between games.

[links135]

Shooting 80% ft in game with no defender is different from in game 3pt shot with defender contesting

Look at the guy with Guiness book record for shooting, obviously his shot mechanics wouldn't work in game because how low he starts his shot, not disputing it's a good repeatable shot form, just won't work in game

Watch on YouTube

lol, I remember when this guy went on Inside the NBA and got clowned on for not being able to shoot when the conditions changed slightly.

Dude got murked by Jet and Chuck

Watch on YouTube

Back to RJ, Knicks poster noted in another thread that RJ needlessly put more muscle on his shoulders over the years and it drastically messed up his basic movement fluidity.

It's one thing to shoot in an empty gym, another when professional trash talkers are right up in your grill. Kind of like how Dwight Howard was like an 85% FT shooter in practice. They grilled him so hard it's hilarious.

Anyways while yes Barretts form isn't the best, his catch and shoot 3s are actually pretty solid, same as wide open, just not pulling up or anything but wide open. If he's just shooting C&S wide open 3s that's fine. He's also been good from the corner which we need to replace OG.

We should also remember NY is the 2nd lowest assist team in the league while we're the 2nd highest, a little adjustment and it might work out well for him.

His midrange has been total ass though.

[Boogie!]

Shot mechanics are not pretty but him being over 80% at the line is good progress to me. His numbers to me will climb because he works hard. Thibs cutting his minutes probably hurt his confidence somewhat.

I think my main concern for Barrett is being too deterministic. You can see him make a decision and he has a hard time reversing course or seeing options especially when driving. Ever since I watched him even prior to the NBA I want him to slow down a bit.

He has to stop driving through two defenders or at least see that and kick out to shooters

A couple things I noticed about rj is that he is legitimately a big dude. Like a lot of players are listed at 6'6 but they look smaller for some reason... he looks to be all of that 6'6 plus he's long... he really has that poor man's derozan game, he has good footwork, coordination snd strength going to the basket but sometimes can't finish. Also his decision making leaves s lot to be desired, again reminiscent of early derozan. But he does have decent ball skills... that first play of the game where he got into the paint and found a wide open quickley is something he can do more of. But he seems to have that tunnel vision that when he's looking to attack the basket he sees nothing else.

But he's young and I still see potential in him. Maybe they could run isos for hkm on post up mismatches where he can just play Bully ball.

[bluerap23]

If RJ is your 4th best player, you are ok. He just needs to accept a reduced role with fewer shots.

Why? What is he good at?

Basketball

[Chalky_White]

let's give jama some time with him and see what happens.

Ya give him a few weeks with Jama this summer and the skys the limit. If he can fix Scottie's jumper then RJ's should be piece of cake.