What are your expectations for RJ's second season?

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I think I'm higher on RJ than a lot of Knick fans, mainly because I don't think there's a good understanding of what 19 year old guards/wings typically do as rookies, it's typically an ugly season with flashes here and there of what they can become. There are outliers like LeBron, KD and Luka, but those guys are the exception and not the rule. With as much time as he's had off, I'm expecting a much more refined shot and better freethrow shooting, if he's better from the line it allows him to play more aggressive. I think RJ will have a 19-22ppg, 6rpg, 4apg type of season, the shooting efficiency will be the big question, he did finish the season shooting 46% from the field and 33% from three after the ASB.

Progression isn't linear, but if RJ is the type of prospect I think he is, he should have a similar jump as these guys had, and I'm expecting slightly more just because of how much time has passed and also because of the slight of not making a rookie team.

Bradley Beal


Devin Booker


Brandon Ingram


Jaylen Brown


Jayson Tatum


Jamal Murray




If RJ doesn't make a significant leap in scoring or efficiency I will be very disappointed in him, he will never have this much time off as a healthy player to work on his craft.

What do you all expect?

[jvsimonetti0514]

I'm with you, I thought he had a fine rookie year and it was pretty ridiculous that he didn't make the all rookie second team. 16/5/4 on 44/33/71 is what I'm expecting from him this year. If you look at his numbers when the calendar turned 2020, they were much better and it fit my eye test that he made a lot of improvements as the year went on. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up similar numbers as he did after the all star break. The kid is too hardworking to not get better with this much time off. I'm pretty sure he lives in Florida which has been pretty much open since the end of April so I'm expecting he got a lot of gym in down there.

[iLLmatic860]

I see him averaging 18-20 ppg on 45% fg

[Mr Rabbit]

I’m a fan and trust enough in his work ethic that I think we’ll see progress this year, but the spacing issues that were clear as day last year haven’t gone anywhere. We desperately needed shooters to spread the floor and give RJ room to operate. Didn’t do nearly enough in that regard to expect a massive leap from RJ imo

[Jeff Van Gully]

my sole expectation is improved shooting splits. that would open up so much of his game as well.

i know we love threes, but there's also nothing wrong with going derozan until you can do better. take the shots you can make.

[Jeff Van Gully]

I see him averaging 18-20 ppg on 45% fg

you think he'll get that many shots? interesting.

[3toheadmelo]

18.8 PPG 6.2 RPG 3.3 APG

[blueNorange]

i expect him to go to the line at least 7-8 times per game because he can make a living off the free throw line if he wanted to.

he averaged 4.5 attempts last year and 5.4 per 36 so it's not too crazy of a task.

[knickabocker88]

Depends on how much of the time he spends with Randle and Payton.

[knickabocker88]

Truth is he doesn't have a fluid jump shot / decent mechanics.

The only way he gets better is if he's allowed to have 3-20 shooting games and he's allowed a green light.

You cant work the kinks out in the gym, need to do it in a NBA game.

This org won't let him

[Dantares]

I want to see 20ppg. He is very young but I believe he can do it.

[Fat]

To be frozen out by Payton and Randle

[E-Balla]

17/5/3 on a 52 TS%. I see him finishing at the rim better and getting more FTs. Outside of that I don't think he'll make a huge leap forward.

[xNewYorkMadex]

Better efficiency, especially at the FT line. Just awful percentages at the line for a guard last yr.

Get up to at least 70% from the line. Hoping to see better playmaking ability as well, that would be huge.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

17/5/3 on a 52 TS%. I see him finishing at the rim better and getting more FTs. Outside of that I don't think he'll make a huge leap forward.

See, normally I'd expect smaller progression, but there will be 9 months between his last game and the upcoming season, so at the very least he's had a lot of time to do skill work. If you simply gave him a slightly better jumper and better freethrow percentage he'd be a 20ppg scorer.


I think the rookies are going to surprise people all around the league just because of how much more skill work they will have done, conditioning will be an issue but I expect there to be some big jumps from first and second year players by the mid point of the season that nobody was expecting.

The bubble gave a preview of that with some young guys just stepping up beyond what we saw just a few months earlier. If he doesn't progress that much there is a problem.

[rajajackal]

20/3/league avg FT%

if he falls somewhere in between last season and that, i'm less happy but still happy. need to see free throw shooting improvement more than anything, since he's very good at getting to the line (and not in any annoying, flimsy way either)

[Sark]

16/6/4 on .42%/.32%/.65%

The main thing is that he is no longer a net negative player, like he was last year.

Some of the jumps people are expecting just aren't probable. Really only franchise players make big jumps, and I don't think he's that. He's more of a second option type of player.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

16/6/4 on .42%/.32%/.65%

The main thing is that he is no longer a net negative player, like he was last year.

Some of the jumps people are expecting just aren't probable. Really only franchise players make big jumps, and I don't think he's that. He's more of a second option type of player.

He averaged 17.2ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.1apg on 45.2% and 32.6% from three post all-star break (11 games), he was doing what you expect from high quality wings, which is to close out the season strong.


I just can't see the progression being that small with that much time off, initially the start of the season may be rough, but look at what Michael Porter, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson and Gary Trent did in the bubble. These guys were much better after 4 months off, RJ has been off for 9 months.

[Jeff Van Gully]

18.8 PPG 6.2 RPG 3.3 APG

Something like this. I do expect him to average over 4 apg.

[TruthBeTold]

I just want to see improve shooting and better scoring efficiency in his NBA sophomore year.

I'm going to stay away from sophomore expected stats to avoid season disappointment.

I view RJ's rookie season as decent/average.

Let's see if he can improve his shooting in year 2 and start taking that next step.