thelesterlee
RJ Barrett started this season looking determined to make his first All-Star team. He was the most consistent player on the Knicks. The prophecy was coming true before our very eyes.
In his first 9 games, he averaged 19.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists on 47% shooting from the field and 40% from 3. He had a career-high 35 point game against the Pelicans while Zion was snacking on a turkey leg on the sidelines.
Let’s take a look at how he’s performed in his last 7 games:
- 10.3 points
- 5.1 rebounds
- 2 assists
- 29.5% shooting
- 18.4% from 3
- -9.3 +/-
You can make the argument that Barrett is merely going through a quick shooting slump and he’ll shake out of it but All-Stars don’t have rollercoaster seasons like this. Even when Julius Randle looks terrible he still always ends up getting his 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
But you can look at Randle’s struggles and copy and paste the problem onto RJ Barrett. The Knicks are chucking 3’s more so this season than they ever have before and players are settling for some terrible looks.
40% of RJ Barrett’s shot attempts have been from the perimeter. He’s never put up more than 30% of his shots from 3 before and now out of nowhere, almost half of his shot attempts are from behind the 3-point line.
I’m not the annoying guy who thinks 3-pointers are ‘ruining’ the modern NBA but they are certainly ruining RJ Barrett.
RJ is shooting 60% at the rim (0-3 feet) and he’s taken a career-low 32.1% of his attempts from there. Get to the rim, my guy.
He’s also turned into the Knicks no.1 perimeter defender which means he’s expending a lot of energy on the defensive side of the ball.
Let’s look at how some of the best scorers were able to perform when they were guarded by Barrett:
- Jayson Tatum: 9 points 18% shooting
- Franz Wagner: 9 points 30%
- Caris LeVert: 8 points 27.3%
- Jaylen Brown: 4 points 28.6%
- DeMar DeRozan: 9 points 42%
Clamps.
Perhaps Barrett isn’t a superstar in the making. Perhaps he’s only a 3-and-D guy in the NBA. He’s Reggie Bullock except he can’t really shoot 3’s that well. He’s also 21 so who fucking knows.
