3 ways RJ Barrett succeeded in arduous battle to become face of Knicks

RJ Barrett’s uphill battle

Concerns about Barrett’s game were valid in both his rookie year and into his sophomore season. That’s exactly why his play over the last few months has been validation that he’s exploding into stardom.

To make the drastic improvements that Barrett’s made since he first stepped onto an NBA court in such a short time is truly astounding. I certainly didn’t think he was ever going to be a consistent 3-point shooter.

Even if some of his weaknesses from his first professional season haven’t necessarily turned into “strengths”, they’ve come a long way. Think about Barrett’s layup packages and dribble combos today. Those simply didn’t exist when he first got into the league.

For me, this is really the crux of the problem when it comes to the national conversation around Barrett. Many people seem to be latching onto those flaws from his rookie year as if they’re the “true” components to his game. Whenever Barrett has a good game, it’s an outlier. Or a good week. Or month. Or couple of months.

Instead of simply being an extraordinarily promising young player (who has an outrageously high profile basketball pedigree) who’s developing over time, he gets the perception of being an inherently flawed player who will forever be boxed into being “limited.”

The benefit of the doubt seems to not exist with him. There will continue to be over-analyzed conjectures about Barrett’s ascension having more to do with outside factors — I’ve already seen some brand new threads and articles clinging to specific nit-picked advanced stats that indicate Barrett’s success is a result of “usage” or “luck” or some other last line of defense argument for the naysayers.

So as the goalposts continue to move for Barrett, let’s look at the actual numbers and why he’s so primed for sustained success.