Is RJ Barrett a beast?

[prophet_of_rage]

Same ppl saying JA is not that good would sing his praise if he was on Knicks instead of RJ

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Nobody should be saying Ja isn't good. Ja is great. I just think RJ will have a better longevity ti his career.

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Do you want a player who can take you to playoffs and possibly championship or do you want someone who doesn't move the needle at all.

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In the short term I would take Ja. I know what he is versus what I think RJ can be. I think RJ final form is better but it will take awhile to get there.

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[YouthMovement]

It'll be Ja for the next five years, but Barrett will last longer. With faded athleticism RJ can play 3 and some 4 like Melo. With faded athleticism Ja can't teally play.

Is this a vote for Ja or RJ? I'll take 5 years of a top 3 point guard vs. any period of Melo. Ja projects at every level including the intangibles to be one of the top 3 PGs in the league over the next 5 years.

I dont see that in the next 5 yrs but then again I don't see that in RJ either. But after yr 5 possibly. Don't forget, Deaaron Fox looked pretty good early on too. Maybe not his 1st yr as he was younger than Ja starting out but 2nd yr Fox was nasty. Then I think last yr was yr 3 and he went slightly backwards dt a lack of a 3pt game. I still think he'll be a good player. I'm just saying it takes alot to be a top 3 PG and the competition is fierce and alot start out hot when expectations are low.

In any case I'm not denying that he will be a top 3 PG so much as I'm denying you the speed at which he'll do it. Im thinking more like when he's 27.

fox was great last year. it was his best year. didn't shoot the 3 well but 21/7/4 on 48% fg (career high)

[Orange Mamba]

bump?

Spoiler:

[Clyde_Style]

Trade him this off-season

[Saint Lazarus]

Outsider, but I don’t get the comments saying RJ didn’t have a “real” training camp or offseason. He should’ve been working his ass off from March to December before the season started...

[YouthMovement]

he's not a bust but it's funny people in here saying you can't win with a point guard like ja. you also can't win with a shooting guard who can't shoot or finish at the rim

[nyk2017]

RJ is not a bust yet, but he needs to hit some of these open shots. He does well to create space and get open shots, but has to start hitting them. I have also noticed that too often he plays very small when he near the rim. He does not jump with authority and is always trying to make a more difficult layup. That maybe a reflection of his lack of athleticism, but he needs to learn to adjust for it. And please stop staring down defenders after making a shot. Anyone shooting 39% from the field and 21% from 3 point line should not be acting tough. My hope is that he follows the same trajectory as Brandon Ingram and puts it together year 3 and 4. I remember watching Ingram the first 2 years and felt like he would miss too many open shots, but started to put it together in year 3 and 4.

[DowNY]

All his stats are up from last season. That’s progression.
Imo, his floor is Harrison Barnes if he never develops a shot. But he will improve it. He’s 20 and Thibs (& staff) obviously trusts him by playing him the most minutes and encourages him to keep shooting.
I do think we need to make him a 3rd option for now instead of a 2nd. Just because IF (big IF) we’re trying for the playoffs, then we need another consistent scorer and that’s not Burks. Maybe we wait to see what happens with Obi but yeah. Julius getting tired.

[robillionaire]

All his stats are up from last season. That’s progression.
Imo, his floor is Harrison Barnes if he never develops a shot. But he will improve it. He’s 20 and Thibs (& staff) obviously trusts him by playing him the most minutes and encourages him to keep shooting.
I do think we need to make him a 3rd option for now instead of a 2nd. Just because IF (big IF) we’re trying for the playoffs, then we need another consistent scorer and that’s not Burks. Maybe we wait to see what happens with Obi but yeah. Julius getting tired.

they aren't really up though, he's just playing more minutes.

per 36 last year
17ppg 5.9 rpg 3.0 apg
per 36 this year
16.1ppg 6.7 rpg 3.0 apg

so basically the same

however last year he shot 40.2% from the floor and 32% from 3 and this year he is shooting 38% from the floor and 21.4% from 3 so his eFG% is also down even with the improved FT shooting

the only progression is that his free throw shooting is up from 61%(abysmal) to 71%(not good) and to put it in perspective his advanced stats like BPM and win shares value over replacement player and the like are still a tragedy and even lower than kevin knox

his PER did go up from 10.7 to 11.3. Looks like it's regressing back to the mean with each passing game

I don't see much progression, he looks like the exact same player from last year, with even worse shooting because it's on a higher volume

someone change my mind

[Chanel Bomber]

I never expected RJ to make a leap and become a positive contributor until year 3 or year 4. Right now, he's a bad player who impacts the game negatively.

I always said I would be fine with his struggles if he kept playing hard (check) and showing progress.

He's improved on defense but the shot has regressed, which is a concerning development as it was hard to picture it getting worse.

Saying he's not in an ideal situation for his development doesn't mean he gets a pass for bricking wide open jumpers and missing bunnies at the rim. The opposite is true as well. These concepts are not mutually exclusive.

RJ was the prospect whose percentages I was willing to overlook because of the drive and the work ethic, in addition to the winning pedigree. But if those intangibles don't translate into tangible improvement, then we're in trouble. This past offseason doesn't seem to have been very useful in that regard.

[robillionaire]

I think RJ can still be a good player and contributor in some ways but the question we will soon have to ask ourselves is, is he worthy of a max contract player? right now I would say hell no. But we will see how his progress unfolds, still a lot of time.

[8516knicks]

I think RJ can still be a good player and contributor in some ways but the question we will soon have to ask ourselves is, is he worthy of a max contract player? right now I would say hell no. But we will see how his progress unfolds, still a lot of time.

We've played 8 games.

Among them he has games of 7/21; 4/14; 4/19;4/15; and 2/15.

Only 2 decent 10/19 and 11/15.

Unless he can approach 50% and 33% on 3's, we're going to have to part ways. Does anyone think he'd bring a top 5 pick in this year's draft? Top 10? Or is he a the Knicks Sam Darnold?

[rajajackal]

i am okay with RJ not being able to shoot well yet. i am not okay with the decisions he has been making on the court.

[DowNY]

I think RJ can still be a good player and contributor in some ways but the question we will soon have to ask ourselves is, is he worthy of a max contract player? right now I would say hell no. But we will see how his progress unfolds, still a lot of time.

We've played 8 games.

Among them he has games of 7/21; 4/14; 4/19;4/15; and 2/15.

Only 2 decent 10/19 and 11/15.

Unless he can approach 50% and 33% on 3's, we're going to have to part ways. Does anyone think he'd bring a top 5 pick in this year's draft? Top 10? Or is he a the Knicks Sam Darnold?

We played 9 games.
You left out 8/15 & 7/17 (where overall was a good game).

So again, come back in 50 games.

[Tennyten]

I think RJ’s been misused a little bit. If you utilized DeRozan that same way he’d be pretty inefficient as well. RJ IMO needs the ball in his hands to look like the player you saw at Duke.

[8516knicks]

I think RJ can still be a good player and contributor in some ways but the question we will soon have to ask ourselves is, is he worthy of a max contract player? right now I would say hell no. But we will see how his progress unfolds, still a lot of time.

We've played 8 games.

Among them he has games of 7/21; 4/14; 4/19;4/15; and 2/15.

Only 2 decent 10/19 and 11/15.

Unless he can approach 50% and 33% on 3's, we're going to have to part ways. Does anyone think he'd bring a top 5 pick in this year's draft? Top 10? Or is he a the Knicks Sam Darnold?

We played 9 games.
You left out 8/15 & 7/17 (where overall was a good game).

So again, come back in 50 games.

I left out 7/17 because it was below 50% but compared to the others passable. Missed the 8/15 - average plus.

[cgf]

Outsider, but I don’t get the comments saying RJ didn’t have a “real” training camp or offseason. He should’ve been working his ass off from March to December before the season started...

Training Camp is about building understanding with teams-mates & the coaching staff, not improving skills. Improving the collective versus improving as an individual...RJ clearly got the chance to do the latter, but not the former. And not having that time to work together is more of a problem for less experienced players who are still developing.

[cgf]

All his stats are up from last season. That’s progression.
Imo, his floor is Harrison Barnes if he never develops a shot. But he will improve it. He’s 20 and Thibs (& staff) obviously trusts him by playing him the most minutes and encourages him to keep shooting.
I do think we need to make him a 3rd option for now instead of a 2nd. Just because IF (big IF) we’re trying for the playoffs, then we need another consistent scorer and that’s not Burks. Maybe we wait to see what happens with Obi but yeah. Julius getting tired.

they aren't really up though, he's just playing more minutes.

per 36 last year
17ppg 5.9 rpg 3.0 apg
per 36 this year
16.1ppg 6.7 rpg 3.0 apg

so basically the same

however last year he shot 40.2% from the floor and 32% from 3 and this year he is shooting 38% from the floor and 21.4% from 3 so his eFG% is also down even with the improved FT shooting

the only progression is that his free throw shooting is up from 61%(abysmal) to 71%(not good) and to put it in perspective his advanced stats like BPM and win shares value over replacement player and the like are still a tragedy and even lower than kevin knox

his PER did go up from 10.7 to 11.3. Looks like it's regressing back to the mean with each passing game

I don't see much progression, he looks like the exact same player from last year, with even worse shooting because it's on a higher volume

someone change my mind

Maintaining his rates on bigger minutes is absolutely progress. It's a lot easier to average 17 pts/36 when you're playing 15 minutes than when you're playing 30, ya know?

Plus it's just too early to learn much from RJ's #s yet. What is important is whether he's having good games more often & how useful he is when he's fighting it. Where I feel like he has shown progress. Still plenty of work to do, but that consistency is trending in the right direction.

[NowWHYcee7]

He seems to have regressed since last season. He looks sluggish and I don't really like the way he moves on the court. His jumper is trash bag status. He needs to put in some major work because he has serious holes in his game for a number 3 pick. The only positive thing I can say about him is that he has imporoved his FT shooting. Not ready to call him a bust yet but I'm not excited about RJ's play so far at all.

[DowNY]

He seems to have regressed since last season. He looks sluggish and I don't really like the way he moves on the court. His jumper is trash bag status. He needs to put in some major work because he has serious holes in his game for a number 3 pick. The only positive thing I can say about him is that he has imporoved his FT shooting. Not ready to call him a bust yet but I'm not excited about RJ's play so far at all.

Maybe he looks sluggish because he averages the most minutes in the league.....context matters