NY Knicks: The Meteoric Rise of RJ Barrett

RJ Barrett of the NY Knicks is having perhaps the best month of basketball of his young career, building on what has already been a particularly strong sophomore season.

Through 10 games in the month of March, Barrett is averaging 21.1ppg (on 49.1% shooting and 34.4% from three) to go along with 3.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game.

His improvement is becoming more and more noticeable with every game he plays, and it’s that improvement – specifically on the offensive end – that I want to take a deeper dive into with this article.

NY Knicks’ sophomore RJ Barrett is growing up before our eyes!

It’s not unfair to say that RJ Barrett had an unspectacular rookie season for the Knicks a year ago.

While he put up respectable figures across the board – 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.6 assists – his efficiency and poor shooting is what let him down as he shot 40% from the field, 32% from three, and just 61% from the free-throw line.

It was these figures, compounded by the fact the Knicks were objectively terrible last year, that resulted in him being left off of the All-Rookie teams in favor of Terrance Davis, Brandon Clarke, Eric Paschall, and Rui Hachimura.

It’s worth pointing out that despite an up-and-down rookie year RJ began to trend in an upwards direction with a really strong month of March, before his and the Knicks’ season was ultimately cut short after 56 games.

It was a strong end to his rookie year in which he averaged 18.7 points (on 44.8%, 33.3% from three, and 75.8% from the FT line) while also dishing out 3.3 assists per game.

Sure, it was just a 6 game sample size, but it was an early demonstration of his increasing comfort and incredible will-at-all-costs mindset at the NBA level.

After a lengthy off-season break due to the pandemic, Barrett started his sophomore season with a poor December month in which he shot an ice-cold 12.5% from deep.

That cold start coupled with the 56 game sample size from a year ago was enough for some critics to doubt Barrett’s merits as a top prospect, some even writing him off.

But maybe passing judgment on a raw but talented 20-year-old before they even play a full season of NBA basketball is a little misguided…

RJ Barrett looks to be proving that this year, and we’re going to take a look at how over the following slides:

RJ Barrett has become a reliable shooter for the NY Knicks.

Since that rough December start, RJ Barrett has simply been fantastic.

He’s shown improvement in just about every aspect of his game, most notably his 3-point shooting. His scoring efficiency is greatly improved from a year ago where he shot just 40% from the field and 61% from the charity stripe.

Here are his season statistics to date:

• 17.5 points (on 44.8% from the field, 34.4% from 3 and 73.2% from the FT line);
• 3.0 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 0.7 steals per game.

RJ has really embraced and grown into his role as the second scoring option behind All-Star Julius Randle, and the Knicks, who rank third to last in the league in scoring, desperately need his offensive contributions.

If we were to exclude his poor shooting stats from the 5 December games earlier this season we would get a further illustration of RJ’s improved scoring efficiency – 46.2% from the field, 38.5% from three, including 48.5% from the left corner – which by the way would rank 11th in the league for players that have taken at least 30 attempts from that spot per NBA stats.

Not bad at all, he’s developing a real confidence from deep and is shooting it without hesitation.

Just see below:

While Barrett doesn’t really shoot the three at a high volume – 3.4 attempts per game – it’s still an important area of his game that he has to keep working on.

As defenders begin to pay RJ more respect behind the three-point line, the opportunities inside the arc will begin to open up for him further, which is where he can really take advantage of his biggest attribute – his strength – I’ll touch on this a bit more on the next slide.

First, an example of how his improved three-point shot opens up the offense for him:

• On this play, Middleton respects RJ as a threat from deep and bites on the fake/hesitation move allowing Barrett to blow by him for the slam. Middleton is no slouch on defense and while this wasn’t his greatest effort, it still demonstrates the extent to which defenders are beginning to respect RJ’s three-ball. Neat

RJ Barrett of the NY Knicks is one of the strongest guards in the league.

So, about the strength thing – At 6’6″ and 214lbs Barrett is pound for pound one of the strongest players at his position, and it seems as though we are watching him realize this each and every game as he continues to get more comfortable at the NBA level.

His sheer size and strength as a wing create an absolute matchup nightmare for the opposition with his ability to overpower his defender and get to the basket.

But for RJ to really take full effect of his size advantage he must improve his efficiency finishing around the rim – which hasn’t been a strong point.

In his rookie season, Barrett shot 53.4% in the restricted area. To put that into context, for players who took more than 300 restricted area attempts, RJ ranked dead last, per NBA stats. This season, he’s shooting 57.7% in this area – it’s an improvement, but it’s still not great.

So he has work to do here, but he’s undoubtedly got all the tools to make this a focal point of his game and it appears as though he is making strides. As the following stat from Wednesday highlights:

Since that graphic and after playing the Wizards on Thursday night, RJ’s percentage in the restricted area has dipped somewhat to 66.7% per NBA stats – He’s also made the 8th most FG in the league from that area in March.

That’s a helluva stat and quite the improvement on his total season average. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but it’s a trend in the right direction and it might just be the best indication yet of how RJ is learning to use his strength more to his advantage.

For further proof of this developing part of his game, just look at this highlight below from Tuesday’s game vs the Wizards:

• Barrett gets going downhill in transition and uses his sheer strength to power through the foul from Beal and finish for the and 1. He also shows his ambidexterity here as he finishes with his off-hand. It’s glimpses like this that get Knicks fans exciting about his scoring potential in this league.

Here’s another highlight play from the Philadelphia game on Sunday:

• This one really demonstrates how strong he is and how it benefits him on both ends of the court. Here, he bodies Dwight who looks to gain post position against him. RJ holds his own just long enough for Noel, who recognizes Simmons isn’t a threat to shoot to drop off and disrupt the post entry pass, resulting in a turnover.
• The turnover creates an opportunity for Barrett on offense. He sizes up Mike Scott on this occasion, drives left, and powers past Scott before finishing off the glass over the outstretched arms of two defenders…More of this please Rowan.

RJ is one strong dude, and at just 20 years old he already possesses the ability to overpower his defender and get to the basket.

If he can clean up his finishing around the rim it adds an almost unstoppable dimension to his game.

Defenders will naturally adjust and continue to make his life harder in the paint, which is where he will need to continue to develop his mid-range game as a change-up.

RJ Barrett’s mid-range game can be a weapon for the NY Knicks one day.

The mid-range is an area that Barrett has struggled with, he’s shooting just 36% from here on the season, while that is a stark improvement on his dismal 27.1% from his rookie year – per NBA stats, it’s still subpar.

Players like Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown, Brandon Ingram, and Demar DeRozan live in the mid-range – each ranked in the top 20 in the league for mid-range attempts and also rank in the top 15 in FG% from this area.

An effective mid-range game is a key requirement to becoming a three-level scorer, and the threat alone of a player being able to pull-up from 10ft opens up a ton of opportunities on offense.

It’s why I’d love to see RJ adding this to his offensive arsenal. The tools are there, there’s no doubt.

I mean look at how smooth this mid-range fadeaway jumper is below. But whether he can become efficient from mid-range, well, we’ll just have to see…

RJ clearly has all the talent in the world. If he can put it all together on a consistent basis, he genuinely has the chance at becoming one of the premier three-level scorers in the league and that is a heck of an exciting prospect.

• Side Note: Not only is he getting the job done on the offensive end, but his defensive improvements have also been just as special.

In conclusion, it’s clear that Barrett’s star is on the rise as he begins to realize the potential which saw him drafted third overall by the Knicks a year ago.

With the level he has been playing basketball at this season it’s sometimes hard to believe that he’s still just 20 years old and in his second season. The sky is the limit for RJ and Knick fans will have the luxury of watching his ascent for years to come.