NY Knicks: The pendulum seems to swing with RJ Barrett

It wouldn’t be a 21st century NY Knicks season without a little disappointment and underwhelming emotions, no?

Coming into the 2021-22 season with a ton of hope after experiencing their first postseason action in seven years, the Knickerbockers had fans and media pundits expecting big things from the ball club, especially when considering how active they were during the offseason what with their spending spree in free agency.

Unfortunately, however, through nearly two months of play, New York has proven to be a complete and utter dumpster fire, going 12-15 through their first 27 games while seeing key figures from last season regress along the way.

Throughout we have seen players providing some truly polarizing performances, ones that seem to make all the difference between a team win and loss, and perhaps the contributor who has had the biggest impact on a game’s outcome this season has been third-year wing, RJ Barrett.

Just how important is RJ Barrett to the NY Knicks’ success?

Simply put, the way in which the 21-year-old performs has had a major influence on each game’s final outcome.

In games when we see RJ logging less than 12 points on sub-42 percent shooting from the field, the NY Knicks find themselves boasting a lowly 3-5.

Meanwhile, when he’s posting 12+ on 45 percent shooting or better they are 6-1.

On the year, we see the former third overall selection putting up per-game averages of 15.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 40 percent shooting from the floor and 35 percent shooting from deep which, on the surface, are rather solid.

That said, when it comes to his performances in wins versus losses, there seems to be a stark difference in his outputs.

When the NY Knicks come away victorious, Barrett has proven to be an absolute unit, sporting stellar averages of 17.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists on 44 percent shooting from the floor and 43 percent shooting from deep whilst boasting a box plus-minus rating of +7.9.

In losing efforts, however, the wing’s a massive negative seemingly all over the court, averaging just 13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on a putrid 35 percent shooting from the floor and an even worse 25 percent shooting from deep while also registering a whopping -19.3 box plus-minus rating.

Now, with this, we’re almost positive that a boatload of you will head straight to the comments section and try to point out how “obvious” this all is, what with the fact that whenever one of a team’s star players performs lowly, the end result has a strong chance of not turning out so pretty.

That said, when looking at New York’s other go-to players such as, say, Julius Randle and Derrick Rose, the difference between their play and per-game stats in wins versus loses is nowhere near as drastic.

Statistics in wins:

• Julius Randle: 19 points, 10.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists on 41 percent shooting from the floor, and 36 percent shooting from deep
• Derrick Rose: 11 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists on 43 percent shooting from the floor, and 37.5 percent shooting from deep

Statistics in losses:

• Julius Randle: 19.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists on 44 percent shooting from the floor, and 30 percent shooting from deep
• Derrick Rose: 13.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists on 47 percent shooting from the floor, and 40 percent shooting from deep

This season, it has essentially gone like this — if one looks at the box score prior to knowing the final score and RJ Barrett had himself a poor performance, it’s more likely than not that the NY Knicks lost.

Though the entire team needs to find a way to step up and, when they do so stay consistent, this is doubly true for their young stud, for the pendulum seems to swing with No. 9.