NY Knicks: What will the Knicks’ closing lineup look like?

NY Knicks (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NY Knicks (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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NY Knicks, RJ Barrett
NY Knicks, RJ Barrett (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Should RJ Barrett close out games on the wing for the NY Knicks?

I really could have gone in a number of ways here, but I ultimately decided that RJ Barrett would man the wing for the Knicks here.

Evan Fournier is a tremendous scorer and facilitator but he’s a bit slow of foot and can get beat easily off the bounce and on drives.

Alec Burks showed us he comes up big in 4th quarters and is also a plus defender, but he’s a bit of a streaky shooter sometimes, of the same ilk as former Knick JR Smith.

This is why I eventually settled on RJ Barrett.

RJ improved in virtually every way possible last season in comparison to his rookie year campaign and I expect nothing less for his third year in the league.

As evidenced from last night’s game, he still has his sweet stroke from deep from last year.

He ended last night’s game with 17 points, shooting 50% from the field and from deep.

RJ went 3 of 6 from 3-point range and that’s going to be crucial for the Knicks this season considering how he’ll be asked to spot up a bit more than he did last year since D-Rose and Kemba will be sharing the court with him during the 4th quarter of games.

When those guys attack the basket, they’ll need someone on the perimeter who can drain an open 3 when they kick it out, and RJ looks to be capable of doing so.

Barrett also shoots 44% from deep during the 4th quarter for his career, so he’s proven to be pretty clutch when need be.

He still needs to improve his finishing at the rim, but if this season is anything like last season, we’re likely to see those improvements as the months go by.

RJ is the team’s best wing defender, so he’ll be tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player on a nightly basis.

But if he were to falter at any point, I could see Thibs giving the other guys I mentioned earlier in this slide some chances to take this spot.