NY Knicks: Comparing RJ Barrett to 3 third-year breakout players

NY Knicks: RJ Barrett Year-3 comps — Jimmy Butler

Another article, another RJ Barrett comp to Jimmy Butler.

There’s more than one reason this comparison pops up frequently.

Barrett and Butler seem to be cut from a similar cloth but in their personality and playstyle. Let’s not forget that before we had memes of Jimmy Butler smoking cigars or gifs of him giving his signature smile, he was very much a silent assassin with a chip on his shoulder.

Butler may have a higher profile now but he still plays with that same edge. He may not get the prettiest buckets, but buckets are buckets, regardless of how they look.

Butler’s first seasons in the league were spent under the coach RJ Barrett has now, Tom Thibodeau.

Butler didn’t play a ton in his rookie year but made a jump in his sophomore season, where he averaged 26 minutes per game.

Now you could say Butler’s real “jump” came in year-4 when he averaged 20 points per game. He only averaged 13 points in his third year, but it was still a significant jump into being a prominent NBA player.

Butler’s minutes spiked to a whopping 38.7 per game in his third season. Tom Thibodeau was enamored with the intensity the young guard played with and began to lean on him. The same kind of relationship could be forming with RJ Barrett.

This is just another avenue for Barrett to exceed his expectations this upcoming season. He’s going to have big defensive responsibility. He’s durable, he plays with intensity and focus, and he may just be the guy Tom Thibodeau counts on to play heavy minutes.