New York Knicks: Should the fans expect a playoff berth?

The Knicks need RJ Barrett to be more consistent on offense

I can speak for a lot of Knick fans when I say every game is a mystery when it comes to RJ Barrett’s effectiveness. One night RJ Barrett drops 28 on the Golden State Warriors and has Steph Curry looking up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. The very next night, he’ll put up just three points in 19 minutes of play and have ultimately zero impact on the game whatsoever.

I understand that Barrett is still very young and of course has areas of his game that need time to grow, but RJ’s gameplay is what will probably determine how good of a team New York really is. We can’t compare Barrett to guys like Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina who were drafted as risky, high-upside players to begin with. The expectations were that the former Duke Blue Devil product would make an immediate impact from game one and be the centerpiece of the Knicks’ rebuild. The orange and blue need him to provide constant scoring while making his teammates better on a nightly basis. Meanwhile, we still talk about how RJ is just “a jump shot away” from being the superstar we need him to be. Will he step up and be great or are we still going to be asking questions going into 2022. Hopefully, these questions are answered before it’s time for the Knicks to suit up in the post-season.

There are a lot of ‘what ifs’ when it comes to how this season is going to unfold for the New York Knicks. After the final buzzer sounds in game 72, we are truly going to know the current identity of this team. Until then, I couldn’t tell you what is going to happen.