NY Knicks: No one is talking about these 3 key players
By Adam Kester
NY Knicks: Who on the Atlanta Hawks matches up well with RJ Barrett?
No one… well, the Hawks’ sole effective perimeter defender, De’Andre Hunter, has the physical tools to match RJ Barrett.
The only thing is that there has been a lot of talk around the Hawks putting Hunter on Julius Randle.
Randle has scorched the Hawks, but a lot of it has been with John Collins as his primary defender.
De’Andre Hunter has missed a lot of time this season due to injury and has only recently returned to the Hawks lineup.
If you’re playing Hunter on Randle, what are you doing with John Collins? Is he the one who has to track Bullock or Barrett on the perimeter? Since April 1st, RJ Barrett has shot 47.1% from 3.
While Bogdan Bogdanović has the length to match Barrett, he does not have the same level of strength.
The NY Knicks are going to need a big series from their 20-year-old slasher. Randle is going to be getting plenty of double teams, as he has all season, and Barrett has to more than a 3-point shooting sniper.
If RJ Barrett can get into attack mode, he’ll quickly realize that there aren’t a lot of Hawks defenders who can keep up with him. He’s not the only Knick that is going to attack the rim.