The NY Knicks are Much Worse without RJ Barrett’s Defense

The NY Knicks have been much worse without RJ Barrett’s defense, and it showed especially against the Nets and the Bulls last week.

The Knicks lost 119-115, and both Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan looked virtually unstoppable.

Lavine struggled in the previous Knicks-Bulls matchup, shooting 7/20 from the field and 0/5 from three, with Barrett primarily matched up with him.  The Knicks lost this game also, but that was due to a lack of offense.

The Knicks’ offense clicked after an embarrassingly bad first half that featured a heated Taj Gibson getting ejected in a call that even had Mike Breen upset with the referee.

New York battled back but fell short as they could not get stops late.  If they had RJ Barrett, there is a solid chance they would win the game.

Do The NY Knicks Need RJ Barrett to succeed defensively?

The Knicks have a defensive rating of 121.2 without RJ Barrett, according to Statmuse, which is dead last in the NBA.

The Pelicans have the worst defensive rating in the NBA with a rating of 113.6, meaning the Knicks without Barrett is a historically bad defensively.

This 121.2 defensive rating is also worse than the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks, with a defensive rating of 114.7.  The Mavs went 11-71 that season, which is almost as bad as when they traded two first-round picks for that Latvian big man who’s had 59 thousand injuries.

I recently mentioned that Barrett’s defense was one of the key reasons the Knicks would return to being one of the NBA’s elite defensive teams.

Barrett has been the defensive stopper all year long and it is clear that he is the best on-ball defender on the roster.

The Knicks were forced to put Evan Fournier on Zach LaVine without RJ. Fournier is not a poor defender, but he should never be the one guarding a player of LaVine’s caliber.

It is mentioned frequently, especially by Mike Breen, that Barrett always picks up his game in other areas when his offense is not clicking.

Since early November, Barrett’s offense has not been clicking, but he still seems to hustle on defense more than anyone.

One of the worst habits this Knicks team has gotten into is getting complacent on the defensive end. Barrett seems to be an anomaly to that.

Barrett also guarding the best player on the opposing team every night is more important to the Knicks than his offense, as they have the offensive weapons to cover for him, unlike last year.

It is also possible that guarding an almost all-star-level player every night could be fatiguing him more on the offensive end, causing this offensive struggle…but we can maybe focus on that more in another article down the road.

RJ Barrett is certainly the best on-ball defender the Knicks have.

Teams always show a defensive drop-off when they do not have their “stopper” in the lineup.

Hopefully, when Barrett returns from his non-covid illness, he will help the Knicks get back to where they need to be defensively.