When you look back on where the league was with RJ Barrett this time last year, the transformation has been startling
The boost in the Knicks‘ 20-year-old slasher’s raw stats that came from his rookie to sophomore year is something to be expected, but just the way looks on the floor. The man has busted his hump to get to where he is, and he’s playing the best basketball of his life.
The biggest question mark last season was this: “Can RJ become a reliable 3-point shooter.”
In a league where non-shooters are hardly in the cards for winning basketball teams, especially when it comes to permitter players, Barrett’s development into a star seemed to depend heavily on his ability to make open threes. That’s been the biggest achievement of his second season in the league. This year, Barrett has shot 107 of 268 from downtown on a 39% clip, as well as 41% from the corners.
The jumper was questionable coming into the league, but there was always hope that it could improve. That’s one thing scouts have always known about R.J. Barrett; his relentless work ethic.
"“His biggest strength is his will to win. You can tell when he’s playing that he really hates losing. From all reports, his work ethic is also apparently fantastic. The best example of his “will to win” is his FIBA play where he led Canada to a gold medal (including a big win against the US team,)” – Sportsnet New York"
He has worked to improve. This isn’t just a sophomore player getting more touches or better acclimating to the NBA game, this is the result of thousands of hours of work, and that speaks to Barrett’s character. He’s one of those guys that whatever the ceiling of his potential is, we’re going to see it. He’ll make sure we do.
Now that Barrett’s biggest flaw is behind him, the question remains “what’s next?” Barrett’s excellence has been widely celebrated, and rightly so, but he’s far from a finished product or a complete player. So what’s next on the horizon? What more can RJ Barrett add to his game? And what can we hope to see him improve in the coming months?
Knicks: The areas where RJ Barrett can refine his scoring
It’s interesting, RJ’s greatest strength in scoring the ball coming into the league was his ability to slash to the rim, and while his creation and strength are still elite, he has work to do as far as completing his drives.
While Barrett’s efficiency has vastly improved this year, he’s still a tick below league average in field goal percentage at 45%. Now, ironically he’s risen above league average from downtown. His 39% from three compares favorably to the average 37%, but it’s his moves inside the arc that are now the softer option when it comes to scoring the ball.
From 0-3 feet from the rim Barrett’s scoring is really quite good. He takes about a third of his shots from right at the cup and is shooting a strong 62% from there. Where things get dicey is when he extends his finishing range. In the 3-10 foot range, Barrett shoots only 32% from the field which makes his floater and in-between game pretty much moot. The same can be said for his mid-range pull-ups where he’s still far below efficient at 34%.
Granted efficiency is bound to droop the further a player is from the basket, but not this much this fast. One might look at the stats and the way basketball is trending and think, “Good! I don’t want RJ Barrett taking those mid-range shots. The most efficient attempts are layups and threes, why even bother?” And while layups and threes are Barrett’s bread and butter, if New York is grooming him for stardom then those in-between areas of the floor become vital to his scoring generation.
His particular slashing style of stop and go, power, and trickery over blinding speed also leans heavily on the threat of pulling up from mid. If Barrett can improve his scoring from the mid-range, it will unlock his ability to get in close and improve his shots at the rim as well.
Knicks: RJ Barrett’s ball-handling development will be key
Barrett has a unique creative style centered around using his strength to bully smaller guards and using push-crossed and hesitations to get bigger wings off balance. This has been effective for him, but he still has a long way to go on the road to becoming a strong iso-scorer.
Barrett is averaging around one isolation possession a game right now. In which he’s shooting 43% and generating around 0.8 points per. While the sample size is small, he’s actually on par with the likes of James Harden and Bam Adebayo in terms of efficiency.
The difference is the quantity. Barrett’s isolation game right now is totally selective, meaning he only uses it against favorable matchups. It’s not like James Harden who sometimes gets to embarrass some poor center on a switch and sometimes has to figure out how to get by Kawhi.
The key to Barrett becoming a more effective iso scorer is getting lower in his dribble stance. He has a strong array of moves and good instincts for how to attack and get by defenders, but with a high dribble and an upright stance, Barrett isn’t getting the burst he could be in straight on attacks or the dynamic shifts he could be pulling side-to-side.
It’s how creators like Harden and Kyrie can accelerate so quickly in the half-court. Watch those guys run on fast breaks. They’re not that fast end-to-end, but foot speed and acceleration are two entirely different things. If Barrett can get his dribble lower, it’ll make him faster and trickier and turn him from a selective iso scorer to a reliable option with the game on the line.
Knicks: Is there more room for RJ Barrett to be a facilitator?
Listed as a shooting guard, Barrett has always leaned into the camp of a wing rather than combo guard. While that’s nothing to be ashamed of, it does say something about the faith the coaching staff has in his ability to reliably playmate for others.
When it comes to Barrett’s playmaking skills, it’s less a question of how and more a question of how much. As a wing, he’s had some flashes of truly great passing vision. He can lead the break, throw skip passes to cutters, and we’ve all seen his perfectly timed lob passes on the daily highlight reels.
With the passing talent he has as a 6’6 athletic wing, why wouldn’t coach Thibodeau want to experiment with more point-Barrett action? RJ Barrett is currently at a 23% usage rate, which is actually down from his rookie season. This could be due to that his newfound shooting ability now allows him to play as a spacer off the ball, but it still puts him 94th in the league alongside guys like Rudy Gay and Hassan Whiteside.
With Randle thriving as a point-forward, and a new wave of guard talent on the roster with Rose and Quickly, Barrett might not get the playmaking touches he deserves right away. This is more of a long-term goal for him. But again, when it comes to playmaking, it’s not a question of how, only how much.
"“This summer the big focus is going to be being able to shoot off the bounce front the 3-point line, and then in years to come we’ll work on the side-steps and step backs that you see some of my other guys, y’know, LaVine, and Tatum, and Beal, and those guys do.”"
RJ’s 3-point efficiency has climbed to an elite level, but that is partially due to the relative ease of his 3-point attempts. Barrett is still only really taking open spot up, or lightly contested 3-point jumpers, and while that space helps his fellow Knicks score, it doesn’t do as much for his own development when it comes to creating his own offense.
Right now defenders have to stay honest on Barrett when the ball is out of his hands, but they’re still going under screens and allowing him to be a shooter in on-ball situations. If Barrett can become a threat to step-back or pull-up with the ball in his hands, it forces defenders to guard him more tightly which will unlock his slashing game even more.
If you told me last year that Knicks’ RJ Barrett was going to be working on step-back and pull-up threes come 2022, I probably would have laughed in your face.
For all of Barrett’s skills and natural gifts, it’s his work ethic that has been and will continue to be, his greatest strength as an NBA player. It has to be. It’s what’s taken him from a guy who didn’t make an all-rookie team to someone who’s now closing the gap between himself and the two guys who were drafted ahead of him.
Remember back to draft night in 2019. RJ Barrett’s father Rowan Barrett was asked what he wanted every Knicks fan to know about his son, and with RJ crying on his shoulder, the first words out of Rowan’s mouth were this:
"“My son is going to give everything he has on the court. He’s a competitor, he plays to win. All the time. Every time. He’s gonna work in the offseason, he’s gonna get bigger, he’s gonna get stronger, he’s gonna get more skilled, and we’re just scratching the surface of who he’s gonna be”"
Amen.