Knicks - Pelicans PG: RJ CAME TO PLAY

[Juco24]

I was thinking.. come deadline and buyout market.. who do you guys think will be available? Pacers look like they are imploding and have some good players that will cost you some picks and players.

A guy I think is worth a look is Terrance Ross if IQ and AB continue to play like crap.

[Juco24]

Bedtime thought:

Obi is becoming something entirely different and maybe is going to be a special player

His defense is maturing very rapidly. He’s making reads and is already a shot block threat. He had one stretch tonight where he was everywhere for a few minutes and very disruptive

And the guy is a legit passer. The more he plays the more he flashes the ability to make plays

This guy needs more minutes. Give him some of Randle’s minutes. Obi is going to be a piece for us

Totally agree!!

There was a sequence where Obi stole it and dribbled up looking somewhat awkward... I just knew he was going to fumble but he found RJ in the corner for 3. I couldn't help but think about how sad is it that some posters/haters aren't enjoying this. But I would love to see RJ play with Obi more.

[Juco24]

The thing about RJ that I noticed in the preseason was his passing. His shooting was a bit off and he wasn't getting the same number of shots (due to the presence of Fournier and Walker). But he was making lots of plays for his teammates.

His PnR stats from the playoffs were excellent, he had solid regular season numbers in the play as well, we just never run it for him. There's always been flashes, he's just a good passer because he's willing to make the pass if it leads to the next pass, nobody else on the team does that, he doesn't need to get the assist to move the ball.

the pass to Taj for the dunk might have been the best play of the entire night.

When you have it cooking to still make the right basketball play tells me a lot about a player.

Before anyone goes crazy and says I'm comparing them...im not.

But he runs the P&R in a similar style like Luka does. Not skill wise but the way he slow plays the P&R and contorts his body and uses his strength to fend off the trailing defender. He runs it at his own pace and is successful.

I honestly watched that play about 5 times because it was beautiful basketball. RJ baited the Pels big into coming after him. It was like RJ knew that the Pels wanted to stop him so he did the okie doke. Lol

[Tron Carter]

Would Zion be encouraged to get in shape for real if he was in NY?

Randle is literally Zion on a diet idk why the **** you guys wanna trade for his lard ass Thibs would literally send him into cardiac arrest in practice.

[APE]

The RJ Barrett show! Well done.

[HerSports85]

I’m surprised that Kenny doesn’t have Randle looking better in the post.

[YouthMovement]

Bedtime thought:

Obi is becoming something entirely different and maybe is going to be a special player

His defense is maturing very rapidly. He’s making reads and is already a shot block threat. He had one stretch tonight where he was everywhere for a few minutes and very disruptive

And the guy is a legit passer. The more he plays the more he flashes the ability to make plays

This guy needs more minutes. Give him some of Randle’s minutes. Obi is going to be a piece for us

He has made several blocks that we marveled about Robinson making, blocking an outside shot while being behind another knick player. Seems to be just another kid putting in the work ethic to improve and he has, and he is a good rebounder. Another guy easy to root for, truly homegrown.

saw something that said he’s blocked a 3 point shot in 3 straight games

[waya]

Read on Twitter

3&D MY ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanlen can go ahead and talk his sh*t, dude has been transparent about he and RJ's off-season training and said this past off-season they would be focusing on his pull-up 3's and shooting off the dribble. Its early, but definitely seems to have paid off.

[Juco24]

I’m surprised that Kenny doesn’t have Randle looking better in the post.

I was thinking about this last night... we've become such a 3 point shooting team that we're not throwing in the post. Randle will back his man down but he seldom establishes himself in the post. Maybe it's the Kemba (pnr) effect or maybe how it is now in the modern NBA

[3toheadmelo]

IQ has been the biggest disappointment this season

[Juco24]

IQ has been the biggest disappointment this season

Brother... believe it or not, but that's an understatement. He looks nothing like that rookie who was hitting shots from all over the place. Quite frankly, as I've stated... I'm not sure he has a place on this team. I'd like to see what Grimes can do and then there's Rokas getting better over seas. Not to mention Deuce. He just isn't a PG and I've never seen a player trap himself as much as IQ by dribbling into a spot with nowhere to go and picking up his dribble. He's been downright HORRIBLE.

[robillionaire]

IQ has been the biggest disappointment this season

I still want to say it’s a small sample size and his shot will start falling soon but I’m also concerned the new foul rules might have impacted his game, I’ll give him a few more games before I get too concerned

[thebuzzardman]

So, continuing to watch the entire game.

RJ had 19 points with 8:10 left in the game and the Knicks were at 94 points.

So, in what became a tight game, RJ scored 16/29 Knick points over the final 8 minutes.
I saw most of the 2nd half last night so I know RJ assists on at least one of the other baskets of the 13 points left over.

On a side note, Mitch is shooting 88% from the field for the season.

[thebuzzardman]

IQ has been the biggest disappointment this season

I still want to say it’s a small sample size and his shot will start falling soon but I’m also concerned the new foul rules might have impacted his game, I’ll give him a few more games before I get too concerned

A few things, maybe.

I think IQ focused more on dribble drives and trying to play point and is adjusting to this style somewhat, may have him overthinking a bit.
The league has scouted him so he's being left wide open a lot less often.

He's 6 games into his 2nd season. For all that he doesn't look that great, he's not uniformly awful. I have to remind myself of some of the scrubs the Knicks have put on the floor over the last 20 years, starting and particularly bench, and even not good IQ is still better than quite a few of those guys.
He'll be alright.

[Spree2Houston]

With Mitch slowly rounding into shape and Noel returning from injury, our rebounding numbers will improve. Right now we’re 14th in the league in rebounding. It’s an area we can definitely approve upon.

[Deeeez Knicks]

So guyz - remember the other night when RJ put up such an egg in the Orlando game? He was putting up all these little floaters that were juuuust off and he ended up flipping the **** out and going back to the locker room when it wasn't falling.

That was his test run of the new skills. We weren't supposed to lose that one but think of it as a battle/war sort of thing. He was doing some stuff in-game that he hadn't really done before. To my eyes, he was getting those shots off in balance and with good space but just missing. The shots would eventually fall. And here we are. Really, it started in the Bulls game and tonight was the expansion pack.

We soon will reach the stage where defenses game plan for these new skills and he'll have to figure out how to mix it up and still be effective.

Good observation. You could def see some signs of changes and even though they were not falling he got great looks. I'm sure no matter how much work you put in there is still an adjustment to doing it in real nba games...getting reps to build confidence

[BKlutch]

Zion looking like he’s been living with his grandma

And his grandma is a gravy chef.

His dietician is actually his mom

I'm also pretty sure his personal trainer is his stepfather

Which seems not ideal, imo.

The last guy who was trained and managed by his family is now doing for Dallas what he did to us. Buh bye!

[F N 11]

I’m beginning to be concerned about IQ and Obi.. they’ve regressed..

Obi????? Nah he’s improved especially defensively!!!!!

IQ I agree with!!!!!

Sound the alarms for IQ!!!!!

I’ve said it since summer league!!!!!!

I have been saying he lost his shot. He needs to focus on scoring and not trying to be a PG. It’s messing with his rhythm.

Obi is fine, Thibs doesn’t treat him fairly and overplays Randle even when he’s not hustling and playing defense.

[BKlutch]

Would Zion be encouraged to get in shape for real if he was in NY?

I think he'd eat every kind of pizza to include Sbarro's

Sbarro's, too? Now that's just disgusting.

[thebuzzardman]

Would Zion be encouraged to get in shape for real if he was in NY?

I think he'd eat every kind of pizza to include Sbarro's

Sbarro's, too? Now that's just disgusting.

Zion don't care. Put cheese on bread and it's going inside him.