The Knicks Have a Massive RJ Barrett Problem

On Tuesday night, the New York Knicks pummeled the Pistons in a 140-110 victory in Detroit.

Julius Randle went crazy on his birthday dropping 36 points. Everyone gave their best efforts and contributed to a big victory that could potentially turn the Knicks season around.

Well, everyone contributed except for RJ Barrett who went out there and laid alllll of the bricks he possibly could.

RJ is not real man💔💔😭 pic.twitter.com/FgDoSvNHr1

— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) November 30, 2022

Yike.

RJ Barrett is one of the worst players in the NBA this season. Let’s look at some of his numbers thus far this year:

18.4 points
5.4 rebounds
3 assists
40% from the field
27% from 3
76% from the free throw line

Out of 202 qualified players, RJ Barrett ranks 190th in box plus/minus.

Out of 474 qualified players, RJ Barrett ranks 459th in Value Over Replace Player.

Out of 196 qualified players, RJ Barrett ranks 180th in True Shooting Percentage.

Barrett is one of the worst players on the court and it’s magnified by how often he’s out there playing despite not being good at playing.

He’s chucking up wide-open 3’s and constantly missing them instead of pulling up and taking a closer, higher percentage shot inside of the 3-point arch.

It’s infuriating to watch him continue to shotput the ball at the backboard from 3 despite having no idea how to shoot a basketball.

He’s given himself a green light as if he’s Klay Thompson but he’s shooting like Russell Westbrook and I can’t even compare the two players because Russ is a far better shooter this season.

But it’s not just RJ’s terrible perimeter shooting. Barrett tries to play hero ball by putting his head down and charging at the rim to put up a terrible layup while being contested by multiple defenders.

His drives are so predictable. He takes a step back behind the three-point line with a big dribble up to his hip before he barrels into his defender because he isn’t quick enough to beat them off the dribble and once he commits to driving, there is no plan B regardless of how frequently he gets swarmed by the defense.

There’s no midrange jumper to stagger the defender. There’s no floater when the rim protector is coming to swat his shot. It’s a bull in a china shop. It’s total tunnel vision.

His flaws are even more glaring when playing next to a guy like Quentin Grimes who never picks up his dribble, never stops moving, and always looks up while he’s penetrating the paint so that he can kick it out to an open shooter instead of doing the RJ Barrett, where you stare at the ball while you dribble and then throw up a wild hook shot over 3 defenders while Jalen Brunson and Cam Reddish sit wide open on the perimeter.

And what makes his offense look even worse is how bad he’s bad on defense. In Tuesday night’s W against the Pistons, there was a play where Kevin Knox blew past RJ Barrett at the elbow extended and finished with a layup easily. KEVIN KNOX is out here making Barrett look like a Make-A-Wish kid.

For a man who plays 34 minutes a night, Barrett’s inability to make a shot and keep defenders in front of him makes him one of the worst players in the NBA. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet but did you know RJ Barrett is one of the worst players in the NBA??

There seems to be some reluctance by Knicks fans to acknowledge that Barrett is atrocious because he’s only 22 years old or because he was selected no. 3 overall but it’s his 4th NBA season. and guys like Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley have entered the league after him and shown far more potential and overall court awareness than RJ.

The Knicks will never succeed building around both Julius Randle and RJ Barrett—two guys who look at the ball as they dribble and look at defenders as they easily skirt right past them. One of both of these players needs to be wearing a new jersey before the trade deadline.

I dare all of you to go to work this week and make life hell for all of your coworkers. I promise you won’t get away with shrugging and saying ‘hey, I’ve only worked here for 4 years. You have to be patient’. You’d be unemployed.

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