Are We Ther Yet wrote:moocow007 wrote:Are We Ther Yet wrote:We couldn't pick him 1 or 2 so....yeah.
lol meant a redo, but yeah as much as we're all really excited about how RJ looks, no way anyone picks anyone other than Zion 1st and can't see the Knicks in particular picking Barrett over Morant in a redo though I think it would be close(r) than at any point in the past.
I mean...he's not going number one in anyone's board. Ja and him are solid picks at 2. I'm a huge fan of RJ because...he made me eat crow. I didn't see why he was such a great pick at first. I was really harsh on him after 2 games.
Then he showed flashes and proved me way wrong. I live his head down mentality. He's built for this. He's young. He's improving. What's not to like?
Best draft pick in the lottery since Ewing?
Yeah agreed. I said this leading up to the draft when folks were debating him and the likes of Jarret Culver, De'Andre Hunter and Darius Garland, etc (which I said back then was ludicrous)...the one thing that Barrett has that these other guys don't have is that alpha mentality. He's shown that every step of the way. Even at Duke when he was with Zion. He didn't cowtail. He didn't accept a supporting role (most everyone else would have). He stood his ground and showed the same type of alpha dog that he's showing now (even with Randle clearly the top player). That type of "Mamba" like mentality (why he's called "Maple Mamba") can't be taught. So while, no, Barrett, wasn't the most athletic guy nor a great shooter nor someone that was going to blow people away, he had that "it" factor that says that can weather the NBA and not give in. You want guys like that on a team if you want to be competitive and win. Even if he doesn't become a superstar or a perennial All-Star he's going to go out there and maximize whatever he's got and fight to get himself to that type of level...not because he feels he has to be but because that's what he is. And we're seeing that first hand. There's that saying "it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the fight in the dog". So no, he's not the biggest, fastest, most athletic, explosive, guy out there but he'll give you everything he's got for sure...and give that he's still no slouch in the size, told me it was a no brainer to take him. What he's doing now is what I kinda expected him to do. I think he still has work to do and he's actually a better distributor than we've seen (said that before the draft that his passing is underrated) so I think that will be another thing we'll see him improve on as the seasons go on.