nedleeds wrote:knicksNOTslick wrote:nedleeds wrote:The 3 terrible years don't count? Because the aggregate of those 3 years makes him one of the worst 10 shooters who shoot more than 10 shots a game in the league.
Actually even more damning is that RJ has played more minutes than anyone in his draft class. So ... we have the most evidence of any player being bad for RJ.
It's easy to look at stats and make conclusions on a player as if he wasn't the youngest in the class and acting like there's no more room for improvement.
He is still only 22.
We got the eye test / watch the games.
He's young.
Ignore the awful games.
The hat trick of R_ excuses. If he went to Villanova and was drafted by the Magic at the end of the 1st round he'd be a bench player behind Wagner and the national media wouldn't even know his name. He went to Dook and got drafted here 3rd, that's the only reason anyone even mentions his name.
The eye test tells me he's improved a lot his rookie season. He's added a lot to his toolbox since. He's improved his 3 point shooting and his free throws from year 1. He could be like a David Lee type of player who didn't really put his whole game together until the end of his rookie contract and David Lee made the All Star game. I could see RJ going on that trajectory in terms of finally figuring things out.
RJ's never gonna be like the athletic freaks drafted before him but he's durable and plays every night to a fault. That's a positive you can say about him. He may never be an All Star, we never know, it's still too early. But to say he sucks or is a bench player that would play behind a young player on a scrub team is also dumb to say when Barrett has been a starter on a playoff team. And he's starting for us now, on a team that's better than the Magic. So I don't care about your what ifs. Because we have seen him playing and contributing to winning games in the NBA.
RIP mags
