Official RJ Barrett Thread

[YogurtProducer]

I think the skeptics can relax now. The RJ from last year's stint with the Raptors is still here and in fact maybe even better.

Those assist numbers did not exist in NY. He is a different player here.

Averaging 28/5/8 in 31mpg on 63TS% this season.

Honestly crazy. Who would hav thought.

[XTC]

I think the skeptics can relax now. The RJ from last year's stint with the Raptors is still here and in fact maybe even better.

Those assist numbers did not exist in NY. He is a different player here.

Averaging 28/5/8 in 31mpg on 63TS% this season.

Honestly crazy. Who would hav thought.

My predictions was 24+ PPG with a TS of 60%

But even I didn't expect this level of playmaking. It's not even the assist totals, it's the type of passes he's making, they're super skillfull and they're easy to catch.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

That might be our future PG there.

[LoveMyRaps]

Can only use his left, not athletic enough to get the rim due to both the lack of size and burst, not strong enough to bully wings in the post although he always tries, bad shooter from every zone on the court including freethrows. Same problems we saw with Canadian national team.

Dude stinks. He was a salary dump for the Knicks no doubt about that. I hope he realizes he'll never be a featured guy here and falls in line behind Scottie and Quickley.

What a horrendous take.

What's funny is that this poster continues to double down on his RJ hate to this day. Some people just can't accept when they're wrong.

[Got Nuffin]

Can only use his left, not athletic enough to get the rim due to both the lack of size and burst, not strong enough to bully wings in the post although he always tries, bad shooter from every zone on the court including freethrows. Same problems we saw with Canadian national team.

Dude stinks. He was a salary dump for the Knicks no doubt about that. I hope he realizes he'll never be a featured guy here and falls in line behind Scottie and Quickley.

What a horrendous take.

What's funny is that this poster continues to double down on his RJ hate to this day. Some people just can't accept when they're wrong.

Even if he slips from here, RJ Barrett is a legitimately good player who can get his shot off in most circumstances and seems to have overcome his previous inefficiency.

He's more than worth his contract, and what we gave up in trade.

The haterade really needs to stop.

[LoveMyRaps]

That might be our future PG there.

Quickley
Barrett
Flagg
Barnes
Poeltl

6th man - Dick

We'd make the playoffs next season with that squad.

[PoundTown]

That might be our future PG there.

Quickley
Barrett
Flagg
Barnes
Poeltl

6th man - Dick

We'd make the playoffs next season with that squad.[/quote

Gradey could win 6MOTY. But that team would be fun. Flagg would help us so much on defensive end.

[Kingsway_fan]

Playing like an allstar. That OG trade was a steal... highway robbery.

[Thaddy]

Stats are good but I'm looking for better on/off impact. His defense needs to be more impactful and focused, especially on ball. He has to move faster and cover more ground with his help.

Gradey and his game compliment each other well

[NinjaBro]

Playing like an allatar. That OG trade was a steal... highway robbery.

Better than the Kawhi trade

"We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffin before it's too late!" - PhilBlackson

[ATLTimekeeper]

Currently 3rd in rim attempts behind Giannis and AD.

[tsherkin]

Using TS% in a single game sample size to justify that is also just a bad take. If he hit that last 3 and his TS was 55% was is suddenly a good game? He had 0 free throws that night to but we all know he was fouled at least once.

Wasn't just TS%, 2/6 from 3, 0 FTs drawn, 21 shots and 5 fouls in 28 minutes. There were a bunch of issues with that. Was it the worst game in league history? No. Was it a bad game? Yeah, it was rough. Was that expected? Sure, it's normal to have a rough one when you come back from an absence. Has he now played two much better games and effectively erased the performance? Also yes.

IMHO, people are getting too amped about the first hint of critical commentary or perceived negativity. It wasn't a good game, but there were reasons for it. The performance was understandable, and he didn't keep it up, so it's all good. He's not going to keep shooting over 60% from 3, but that's fine, he's still actually been shooting well inside the arc, too. The season is long, and we'll see what it brings. He was pretty slick with us for over 30 games last year and it seems he's finding his rhythm again.

[CPT]

It's great that RJ is still performing at this level. It answers some questions that many of us had based on his stint with the team last season. It's even better that he's still scoring efficiently and showing an ability to handle increased playmaking responsibilities.

However, is it hating to still have questions about what his role will be on a good team? It's not his fault he hasn't been able to play with Scottie and IQ so far (which may or may not be the makings of a "good team"), but will he keep up this kind of production when he does? If he doesn't, will his contributions have a positive impact on winning?

It's not like he's a pure empty calories guy chucking and putting up 25 points on 25 shots, but at the same time, his winning percentage with the Raptors has to be around 30-35%.

Is he actually a superstar who is going to put up an efficient 28 ppg, and the haters just need to adjust to that?

Or is he still going to end up the 3rd/4th best player on the team? If that's what happens, is that a good thing? Can he be effective in that role? Is he better off being a 6th man?

Is it hating to ask those questions?

If the answer to those questions is we don't know and we kind of don't need to know yet, I guess that's fine, but sometimes it seems like people think we shouldn't even be asking.

[YogurtProducer]

Using TS% in a single game sample size to justify that is also just a bad take. If he hit that last 3 and his TS was 55% was is suddenly a good game? He had 0 free throws that night to but we all know he was fouled at least once.

Wasn't just TS%, 2/6 from 3, 0 FTs drawn, 21 shots and 5 fouls in 28 minutes. There were a bunch of issues with that. Was it the worst game in league history? No. Was it a bad game? Yeah, it was rough. Was that expected? Sure, it's normal to have a rough one when you come back from an absence. Has he now played two much better games and effectively erased the performance? Also yes.

IMHO, people are getting too amped about the first hint of critical commentary or perceived negativity. It wasn't a good game, but there were reasons for it. The performance was understandable, and he didn't keep it up, so it's all good. He's not going to keep shooting over 60% from 3, but that's fine, he's still actually been shooting well inside the arc, too. The season is long, and we'll see what it brings. He was pretty slick with us for over 30 games last year and it seems he's finding his rhythm again.

Yeah, you guys should watch the games and not box score hunt. The guy was 7/16 in regulation and had a tough go once Scottie left.

His first game back was pretty damn good. 20/5/3 in 28 minutes is not something that should ever be labeled as “rough”.

Again, if he hits that last 3 suddenly there isn’t this “he played rough” discourse because now he has 23 points on 20 shots and wins the game. It’s just so stupid to try and look that deep into the #’s in a 1 game sample and make any conclusions. His efficiency was hurt by the fact he didn’t get to the line which he definitely should have just for some reason he didn’t get any calls.

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FGA&GameID=0022400107&PlayerID=1629628&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game

You can watch for yourself how many times he gets contact at the rim and doesn’t get a single whistle. Again, doesn’t mean he played “bad”.

Process > results. You can score 40 and play now bad and score 20 and play good. RJ played the same in pretty much every game but variance leads to slightly different results

[tsherkin]

Yeah, you guys should watch the games and not box score hunt. The guy was 7/16 in regulation and had a tough go once Scottie left.

Assumptions don't help anyone.

His first game back was pretty damn good. 20/5/3 in 28 minutes is not something that should ever be labeled as “rough”.

Quoting raw production as an indicator of game quality isn't something we should be doing in 2024...

You can watch for yourself how many times he gets contact at the rim and doesn’t get a single whistle. Again, doesn’t mean he played “bad”.

That happens every game to lots of players. There are missed and borderline calls for everyone. Like I said, there were promising signs about how he played and all that, but the amount of pushback on the idea that the guy had a rough game is odd to me. It's not an indictment of him. It happens to everyone, and it's understandable given his absence. But the gnashing of teeth over a simple critical remark is interesting.

Also, again, 5 fouls in 28 minutes, as another contributing element to the description, which you've not addressed.

Anyway, we aren't going to agree, so we can just move on to the next one.

He certainly had a good performance against LA.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It's great that RJ is still performing at this level. It answers some questions that many of us had based on his stint with the team last season. It's even better that he's still scoring efficiently and showing an ability to handle increased playmaking responsibilities.

However, is it hating to still have questions about what his role will be on a good team? It's not his fault he hasn't been able to play with Scottie and IQ so far (which may or may not be the makings of a "good team"), but will he keep up this kind of production when he does? If he doesn't, will his contributions have a positive impact on winning?

It's not like he's a pure empty calories guy chucking and putting up 25 points on 25 shots, but at the same time, his winning percentage with the Raptors has to be around 30-35%.

Is he actually a superstar who is going to put up an efficient 28 ppg, and the haters just need to adjust to that?

Or is he still going to end up the 3rd/4th best player on the team? If that's what happens, is that a good thing? Can he be effective in that role? Is he better off being a 6th man?

Is it hating to ask those questions?

If the answer to those questions is we don't know and we kind of don't need to know yet, I guess that's fine, but sometimes it seems like people think we shouldn't even be asking.

People aren't asking, though. They're telling

It's hating when the dialogue is more intensely focussed on certain players over others. Every player on a losing team should have that question "what does this player do on a winning team?" It's relevant for everyone. RJ just gave us 30/10 over the last two games off an injury. That accomplishment alone should elicit excitement. If Scottie or IQ put up those numbers the reactions would be much different.

[Badonkadonk]

Not enough sheepish apologies to RJ in this thread.

[bluerap23]

It's great that RJ is still performing at this level. It answers some questions that many of us had based on his stint with the team last season. It's even better that he's still scoring efficiently and showing an ability to handle increased playmaking responsibilities.

However, is it hating to still have questions about what his role will be on a good team? It's not his fault he hasn't been able to play with Scottie and IQ so far (which may or may not be the makings of a "good team"), but will he keep up this kind of production when he does? If he doesn't, will his contributions have a positive impact on winning?

It's not like he's a pure empty calories guy chucking and putting up 25 points on 25 shots, but at the same time, his winning percentage with the Raptors has to be around 30-35%.

Is he actually a superstar who is going to put up an efficient 28 ppg, and the haters just need to adjust to that?

Or is he still going to end up the 3rd/4th best player on the team? If that's what happens, is that a good thing? Can he be effective in that role? Is he better off being a 6th man?

Is it hating to ask those questions?

If the answer to those questions is we don't know and we kind of don't need to know yet, I guess that's fine, but sometimes it seems like people think we shouldn't even be asking.

His efficiency would make him a great add to any winning team. His defence will never be great, but there are a ton of players in the league that don't play d. In this era it is easier to get away with. Imagine if he was on the Nuggets, for example. They would be catapulted to contenders again.

[tsherkin]

It's great that RJ is still performing at this level. It answers some questions that many of us had based on his stint with the team last season. It's even better that he's still scoring efficiently and showing an ability to handle increased playmaking responsibilities.

However, is it hating to still have questions about what his role will be on a good team? It's not his fault he hasn't been able to play with Scottie and IQ so far (which may or may not be the makings of a "good team"), but will he keep up this kind of production when he does? If he doesn't, will his contributions have a positive impact on winning?

It's not like he's a pure empty calories guy chucking and putting up 25 points on 25 shots, but at the same time, his winning percentage with the Raptors has to be around 30-35%.

Is he actually a superstar who is going to put up an efficient 28 ppg, and the haters just need to adjust to that?

Or is he still going to end up the 3rd/4th best player on the team? If that's what happens, is that a good thing? Can he be effective in that role? Is he better off being a 6th man?

Is it hating to ask those questions?

If the answer to those questions is we don't know and we kind of don't need to know yet, I guess that's fine, but sometimes it seems like people think we shouldn't even be asking.

Our winning percentage with RJ is based on less than a half-season sample which has been plagued with injuries, roster changes, etc. And RJ isn't a superstar, we know this. It wouldn't be fair to judge him the same way as one would judge a true focal player.

Like, it should be very clear that he didn't just suddenly become amazing because he became a Raptor. He isn't a superstar. He isn't going to shoot 80% in the RA all year, though he'll also stop sucking on all those short bunnies he's missing on like a third of his shots too.

But I think it's 3 games in and it's really, really hard to get a bead on what's happening with him still. He hasn't even played the equivalent of a half-season with us, and his efficacy has been so dramatically divergent from the other 4.5 seasons of his career that there has to be a fairly significant amount of hesitation and skepticism surrounding his play with us as a result. It looks like he suits our system pretty well. And it's possible that he'll keep looking pretty good, particularly if Dick can relieve some pressure and eventually when Quickley gets back, etc, etc.

But the tl;dr here is that I wouldn't land our team W/L on his shoulders as if he's a franchise player.

[youngRAPZ]

Yeah, you guys should watch the games and not box score hunt. The guy was 7/16 in regulation and had a tough go once Scottie left.

Assumptions don't help anyone.

His first game back was pretty damn good. 20/5/3 in 28 minutes is not something that should ever be labeled as “rough”.

Quoting raw production as an indicator of game quality isn't something we should be doing in 2024...

You can watch for yourself how many times he gets contact at the rim and doesn’t get a single whistle. Again, doesn’t mean he played “bad”.

That happens every game to lots of players. There are missed and borderline calls for everyone. Like I said, there were promising signs about how he played and all that, but the amount of pushback on the idea that the guy had a rough game is odd to me. It's not an indictment of him. It happens to everyone, and it's understandable given his absence. But the gnashing of teeth over a simple critical remark is interesting.

Also, again, 5 fouls in 28 minutes, as another contributing element to the description, which you've not addressed.

Anyway, we aren't going to agree, so we can just move on to the next one.

He certainly had a good performance against LA.

You still going on about his first game lol I guess you’re not allowed to have conditioning problems in your first game back which goes to overtime. Man came out on fire and dwindled off later in the game. Calling his performance “rough” is laughable considering ill take that “rough” game over a lot of people’s “good” games.