Rj Barrett’s Struggles Continue to Haunt Himself, Knicks

Nov 22

RJ Barrett’s struggles continue to haunt him, as in his last 10 games, he’s shooting an abysmal 31% from the field and an even worse 21% from behind the arc. Even worse, in the last 6 games, RJ Barrett is a combined 21/74 from the field, and shooting 5/26 from 3-point land. If there’s no calculator in front of you, that’s 28% from the field and 19% from 3.

It’s not that RJ will not be able to turn it around, but rather that the sample size of his poor shooting continues to grow, seemingly getting worse with basically every single game.

Also, his defense in the 10 game span has been less than average (excluding last nights game against the Chicago Bulls where RJ’s on-ball defense was actually quite good), where it seems that he is disconnected from the game and is off in space somewhere. For instance, the game against the Hornets where Head Coach Tom Thibodeau had to tell Barrett to “wake the **** up” because his defensive effort was so lackluster.

Besides the fact he’s been struggling to get over screens and not be in the right spot on defense, all of the shots he usually takes and makes are not falling, especially the catch and shoot 3’s. However, there are moments where he still has tunnel vision and will go at three guys at the rim and throw up a bad left-handed layup.

Barrett’s noticeable flaws were not the biggest concern early in the season because of his continued nice shooting from 3 and his defensive resembling that of a potential all-defensive player. However, if he has neither of those things going for him, it can be a real struggle for him to be a positive impact on the floor.

Tomorrow, the Knicks take on the Lakers, who had an exciting game against the Pistons last night.