The New York Knicks are off to a 3-1 start, but RJ Barrett’s struggled to find his footing on offense. It’s still very early in the season, so there’s no need to hit the panic button over the 22-year-old’s cold start yet, but the Knicks are going to need their $107 million man to step up.
There was a lot of buzz around Barrett this summer, and not just because he was eligible to sign an extension as of July 1, but because his name was wrapped up in trade rumors for Donovan Mitchell. Before Mitchell was traded to the Cavaliers, the Knicks proceeded to agree to sign Barrett to a four-year extension.
Barrett’s coming off his best season yet, and expectations are high for him in year four, especially since New York’s committed to him for the future.
In the Knicks’ first four games of the season, RJ’s shooting 27-for-73 from the field (36.9%) and an abysmal 3-for-21 (14.2%) from the three-point line. After showing an improvement in finishing at the rim in the preseason, he’s struggled to do that in the regular season. But again, New York still has 78 regular season games left to play, and Barrett’s known to struggle early in the season. There’s still more than enough time for him to turn things around.
However, that hasn’t stopped people from speculating as to why RJ’s off to a rough start. According to Steve Bulpett, a “source” attributed Barrett’s struggles to Jalen Brunson. For reference, this piece was put out before New York’s game against Charlotte on Wednesday.
Pinning RJ Barrett’s slow offense start on Jalen Brunson is laughable
Here’s what the source who’s reportedly “close to the matter” said:
"“His offense is suffering because he has to chase people around so much at the other end to make up for (Jalen) Brunson’s defensive deficiencies,” said a source. “It’ll be interesting to see how that gets handled going forward. That’s up to the coaches to decide how they want to work around that — you know, more help, switching the right way, how to bring the double-teams. But it can all change with matchups."
There was a tweet that painted the matter as something that people “around the Knicks” are concerned with, but it’s not a belief that’s coming from the actual organization. After all, why would people within the organization want to put out a report like this, especially after only a few games?
RJ struggled mightily in New York’s first game of the season. He shot 3-for-18 from the field and 0-for-6 from three while primarily guarding Ja Morant. It’s impossible to stop Morant and to be frank, Barrett didn’t defend him well. At all. But even then, RJ missed open shots.
Against Detroit, Barrett primarily guarded Jaden Ivey and against Orlando, he primarily guarded Franz Wagner. Ivey and Wagner are nowhere near Morant’s level. Again, RJ’s struggles on offense come down to him missing open shots and not being able to finish at the rim.
Spinning Barrett’s struggles and placing blame on Brunson (who hasn’t even been a liability on defense) isn’t only unfair, but it’s absurd. More importantly, it makes no sense. It comes down to RJ needing to be more efficient, which has been a weakness of his. It’s nothing new.
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