Official RJ Barrett Thread

[ConSarnit]

I know people are throwing different comparisons around, mainly DeMar, but to me RJ is very much like Tobias Harris in his role. Plays a strong starting role on good teams, contributes 18-20 ppg, is an ideal 3rd or 4th option, knows who he is and what his game is, and will carve out a long career as a guy in the tier below All-Stars. Both have been/will be debated as over paid or not, but ultimately are important pieces to have on the floor.

Not really, Tobias has always been a very good shooter for all parts of the floor with excellent form while Barrett is more of a power forward type player who is an okay shooter with bad form.

He's talking about role, not skillset. You could live with RJ as your 2 if he doesn't try to do too much, although I agree that a jumper is going to be the make-or-break element for a guy adjusting to playing more off-ball.

RJ is less effective the further down the pecking order you move him, at least as a starter. The less he's on the ball the less value he has as a player. Having a non-shooting wing is one of the worst 3rd-4th option types you can have. I'd wager none of the top 10 teams in the league have a player of RJ's profile as their 3rd-4th option. I'd bet they all have defensive bigs or shooting wings in those slots.

[brownbobcat]

Not really, Tobias has always been a very good shooter for all parts of the floor with excellent form while Barrett is more of a power forward type player who is an okay shooter with bad form.

He's talking about role, not skillset. You could live with RJ as your 2 if he doesn't try to do too much, although I agree that a jumper is going to be the make-or-break element for a guy adjusting to playing more off-ball.

RJ is less effective the further down the pecking order you move him, at least as a starter. The less he's on the ball the less value he has as a player. Having a non-shooting wing is one of the worst 3rd-4th option types you can have. I'd wager none of the top 10 teams in the league have a player of RJ's profile as their 3rd-4th option. I'd bet they all have defensive bigs or shooting wings in those slots.

I don't disagree, but hopefully RJ can turn things around if he sticks to a smaller role. I mean, he's not very effective as a primary option either.

[everdiso]

At least Darko has instantly recognized that RJ shouldn't be a part of the closing lineup.

The Raps know what RJ is.

Darko was playing offense/defense and match ups. Dennis was doing well against this memphis defense, I don't think this is something Darko will revert to every game. As annoying as RJ was in the 2nd half, his defense was solid throughout

Well kinda. He did bring RJ back in for defense on the last couple possessions but most of the ladt 5min was schroder.

Which is fine - RJ over Schroder is a better defensive unit when Quickley is out there defendkng the PG spot already.

[everdiso]

RJ a -5.8bpm in 2gms as a rap so far. And that's with him shooting better than he usually does. He ain't good.

[WaltFrazier]

I'm not expecting him to look different than he looked at New York this season.

It will be interesting to see if he can change and develop throughout the offseason though.

Olympics this offseason

[everdiso]

Not really, Tobias has always been a very good shooter for all parts of the floor with excellent form while Barrett is more of a power forward type player who is an okay shooter with bad form.

He's talking about role, not skillset. You could live with RJ as your 2 if he doesn't try to do too much, although I agree that a jumper is going to be the make-or-break element for a guy adjusting to playing more off-ball.

RJ is less effective the further down the pecking order you move him, at least as a starter. The less he's on the ball the less value he has as a player. Having a non-shooting wing is one of the worst 3rd-4th option types you can have. I'd wager none of the top 10 teams in the league have a player of RJ's profile as their 3rd-4th option. I'd bet they all have defensive bigs or shooting wings in those slots.

Yeah best fit for him is as a 6th man getting lots of touches on a 2nd unit.

[raincityraptors]

The hope and dream with RJ at this point is that he can be a perfect long term 6th man. Using his drives, energy and defense to provide a change of pace.

RJ can feast on other teams bench rotations.

[TheAlchemist23]

RJ a -5.8bpm in 2gms as a rap so far. And that's with him shooting better than he usually does. He ain't good.

No steals or blocks hurting his DBPM and on the other end his turnovers from his out of control drives are hurting his OBPM.

[everdiso]

At least Darko has instantly recognized that RJ shouldn't be a part of the closing lineup.

The Raps know what RJ is.

They were scoring on the raps at will to close the game. Its more of a love affair with Dennis IMO.

Dennis isn't very good, but RJ isn't any better.

[raptorforlife88]

At least Darko has instantly recognized that RJ shouldn't be a part of the closing lineup.

The Raps know what RJ is.

They were scoring on the raps at will to close the game. Its more of a love affair with Dennis IMO.

Dennis isn't very good, but RJ isn't any better.

Dennis is definitely better than RJ this year pretty easily on the numbers. Dennis is very good as a backup PG/6th man off the bench.

Gives the Raptors flexibility to decide their closing lineup depending on whose doing well outside Quickley/Barnes/Siakam. You have some combo of Poeltl/Trent/RJ/Schroder.

[hyper316]

RJ's contract being toxic is subjective

What's a 4-year average annual value contract he is worth right now? Then we can talk about how much overpaid he is

[SpezNc]

RJ's contract being toxic is subjective

What's a 4-year average annual value contract he is worth right now? Then we can talk about how much overpaid he is

I think maybe a player for his actual production could be ideally for the full MLE. Add maybe 20%-25% to factored he is only 23 old, contract during his prime years ans still room to growth.

He is overpaid and that is fact but it’s not crazy toxic level.

His contract could look the worse in a year or 2 but then he will quickly become expiring.

The organization willingly took RJ’s contract to get Quickley. Meaning they are fine with RJ being overpaid. If RJ improve and the gap reduced, then the organization win even more.

The point will be to evaluate how is contract looks like in a year compare to today.

Imho, the more he distance himself positively from a MLE players, the more this trade will look good for Toronto assuming Quickley pan out. So far, looks like it.

[WWSRD]

I get what everyone is saying but my experience watching him in these 1st two games is that he’s a versatile/aggressive scorer(handle/shoot/drive/postup) who you have to guard or he will score; or at least attempt to.
He’s not efficient and is a ball hog but he puts pressure on a defence constantly. And that’s valuable.

He’s not a wallflower and I like that.

He just needs to get better at his craft and pick his spots better. Can he do that, don’t know.

But eye test wise, I see why he was picked 3rd overall and is a nice reclamation project given his ceiling.

[Boogie!]

I swear it irks me to have people consistently **** on Barrett who is young with potential but then watch half the board go bananas over guys with less skills just because they're young. I'm not dven calling Barrett a star or anything, but from what I've seen he's not Stanley Johnson or previous **** achiuwa. The guy can play basketball I'm not sure why people feel the need to write him off. It's weird it's like people just wanna hate him for some reason.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

I swear it irks me to have people consistently **** on Barrett who is young with potential but then watch half the board go bananas over guys with less skills just because they're young. I'm not dven calling Barrett a star or anything, but from what I've seen he's not Stanley Johnson or previous **** achiuwa. The guy can play basketball I'm not sure why people feel the need to write him off. It's weird it's like people just wanna hate him for some reason.

Most of these people use American sports media to formulate their opinions and then use the vorps and the gorps as Zach Lowe would say to justify them.

[Reeko]

I swear it irks me to have people consistently **** on Barrett who is young with potential but then watch half the board go bananas over guys with less skills just because they're young. I'm not dven calling Barrett a star or anything, but from what I've seen he's not Stanley Johnson or previous **** achiuwa. The guy can play basketball I'm not sure why people feel the need to write him off. It's weird it's like people just wanna hate him for some reason.

Advanced stats don't seem to love him. And as much as I like diving into the advanced metrics, when people post stuff like he has a BPM of -5.8 and just throw all context out the window it just boggles the mind. It's so clear that the tools and mindset to be a really good NBA player are there, he's just rough around the edges with some of his decision making. I don't really care about his mistakes though because he provides a level of intensity out there that this team has been sorely lacking for about 3 years now. In my opinion, from what I've seen he's a net positive when he's out there. He reminds me a lot of a young DeMar in the sense that although DeMar was not good for his first 4 seasons, I still felt better about the team when he was on the court. There is nothing apathetic about RJ's play, when he's on the court his will to win is damn near palpable and some times that gets him into trouble, but I can live with that. I'll take him over Lavine any day, advanced metrics be damned.

[Raps in 4]

RJ a -5.8bpm in 2gms as a rap so far. And that's with him shooting better than he usually does. He ain't good.

Irrelevant sample size. He's a -0.9 EPM player on the season which is "playable". Obviously he isn't a good player, and nobody would argue that, but he's a massive improvement over Precious and Flynn in the rotation (-2.9 and -4.2, respectively).

[HumbleRen]

RJ a -5.8bpm in 2gms as a rap so far. And that's with him shooting better than he usually does. He ain't good.

Irrelevant sample size. He's a -0.9 EPM player on the season which is "playable". Obviously he isn't a good player, and nobody would argue that, but he's a massive improvement over Precious and Flynn in the rotation (-2.9 and -4.2, respectively).

He’s a neutral to slightly positive player. Significant upgrade over anything we had on the bench over the past 4 years.

His contract is still a bummer though.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

I swear it irks me to have people consistently **** on Barrett who is young with potential but then watch half the board go bananas over guys with less skills just because they're young. I'm not dven calling Barrett a star or anything, but from what I've seen he's not Stanley Johnson or previous **** achiuwa. The guy can play basketball I'm not sure why people feel the need to write him off. It's weird it's like people just wanna hate him for some reason.

Advanced stats don't seem to love him. And as much as I like diving into the advanced metrics, when people post stuff like he has a BPM of -5.8 and just throw all context out the window it just boggles the mind. It's so clear that the tools and mindset to be a really good NBA player are there, he's just rough around the edges with some of his decision making. I don't really care about his mistakes though because he provides a level of intensity out there that this team has been sorely lacking for about 3 years now. In my opinion, from what I've seen he's a net positive when he's out there. He reminds me a lot of a young DeMar in the sense that although DeMar was not good for his first 4 seasons, I still felt better about the team when he was on the court. There is nothing apathetic about RJ's play, when he's on the court his will to win is damn near palpable and some times that gets him into trouble, but I can live with that. I'll take him over Lavine any day, advanced metrics be damned.

If the expectation is an all star player then Barrett will always be a disappointment. But if you think of him as a good depth piece a la Harrison Barnes then he's just fine.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

RJ a -5.8bpm in 2gms as a rap so far. And that's with him shooting better than he usually does. He ain't good.

Irrelevant sample size. He's a -0.9 EPM player on the season which is "playable". Obviously he isn't a good player, and nobody would argue that, but he's a massive improvement over Precious and Flynn in the rotation (-2.9 and -4.2, respectively).

He’s a neutral to slightly positive player. Significant upgrade over anything we had on the bench over the past 4 years.

His contract is still a bummer though.

I find it funny that his contract was considered 'neutral' around the league when he was with the knicks but downgraded to 'toxic' as soon as he was traded to the raptors.
at the end of the day, it is a tradeable contract and we wouldn't have to attack picks to get rid of it.