Knicks: 3 things RJ Barrett must improve this season

Knicks: Giving RJ Barrett more pick & roll opportunities

The Knicks have an intriguing offensive set-up. So far this season, they will let RJ Barrett, and guards Elfrid Payton and Immanuel Quickley handle some ball-handling responsibilities, but Julius Randle is the team’s highest usage player. Now Derrick Rose is in the mix as well.

Randle has played exceptionally well in the point-forward role. Randle being the team’s highest usage player and RJ Barrett getting more opportunities don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

Julius Randle may be thriving, but the Knicks’ offense isn’t. They rank near the bottom of the league in nearly every offensive metric.

RJ Barrett seems comfortable operating the pick and roll. He currently ranks 2nd on the team with 6 pick-and-roll opportunities per-game, only trailing Elfrid Payton. We know that Barrett is a much bigger threat to score than Payton.

Barrett doesn’t exactly have point guard skills, but he does seem to have a good feel for operating the pick and roll. It’s a staple of any half-court offense and Barrett has a knack for correctly choosing when to attack the rim, when to whip it out to someone on the perimeter, and when to lob it up to the roller.

Having Barrett evolve into more of a playmaker will only put more strain on opposing defenses. It will take more pressure off of Randle and it will take more pressure off of the point guards, who really struggled with double teams at the top of the key against the Miami Heat.

With Barrett handling the ball, if he chooses to whip it back out to Randle, it doesn’t give teams as much time to rotate and double Randle when he gets into the post — something plenty of teams have done to try and neutralize him.

This area of Barrett’s game is largely dependent on the coaching and offensive scheme, so I hope coach Thibodeau will get Barrett more opportunities to create offense.