He's such a hard working and coachable kid.
That being said you cant assume: His shooting will improve
I think you can assume: his handle, passing, footwork, post moves and BBIQ will improve (if only marginally)

So what does a 25 year old RJ look like with improvements on his handle, passing, post moves and BBIQ (knowing the league, chemistry w/ other players etc)???

That player looks pretty good to me. What I like about his 2nd year is we are clearly seeing the things he needs to improve on to help us WIN, not just post good numbers.

fishmike wrote:assuming he stays healthy I have to wonder what RJ looks like at 24-25 years old.

He's such a hard working and coachable kid.
That being said you cant assume: His shooting will improve
I think you can assume: his handle, passing, footwork, post moves and BBIQ will improve (if only marginally)

So what does a 25 year old RJ look like with improvements on his handle, passing, post moves and BBIQ (knowing the league, chemistry w/ other players etc)???

That player looks pretty good to me. What I like about his 2nd year is we are clearly seeing the things he needs to improve on to help us WIN, not just post good numbers.

I think he looks a lot like DeRozan at 24-25, but a newer version that shoots more threes.

I think it's great that a guy with no outside shot and poor touch around the basket has shown tremendous progress in both of those areas. He's basically gone through stretches where he's been an elite finisher and elite 3pt shooter (the latter he's been doing for the past 25 games or so without a change in volume of attempts).

As the author pointed out, these were "swing skills". His one elite skill coming out of his college was his slashing (particularly to his left). His development in finishing near the basket and shooting would be the biggest determiners of his upside, more so than his ball handling/playmaking and defense.

So yeah, if RJ is REALLY a 40% shooter from 3... we have the makings of one dangerous player.

martin wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/d_reif/status/1369363606089981963

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https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1370391232900435974

technomaster wrote:I mean you've gotta love the shooting progress, right?

Overall numbers after 38 games this season:
.447 FG%
.352 3p%
.731 FT%
(all trending up, except for perhaps FT%)

Rookie year:
.402 FG%
.320 3p%
.614 FT%

Some interesting tidbits: (PER 36)
He's actually dipped in a bunch of areas: He's taking fewer FTA's and 3PTA's than last season. His rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks are down as well.

The improvements: TOs are down (2.6 to 2.1); scoring is up (17.0 up to 18.2).

He's made major improvements across the board. The shooting numbers are awesome. As a second year player, 45% from the field, 35% from 3pt, and 73% from free throw is huge. I fully believe he and Randle are 2 players to build around. Possibly Quickley too.

Nalod wrote:Barrett just seemingly looking fundamentally sound to the degree there is no flair. He does not have a natural grace or natural athletic appearance because it NOT effortless. His movements are choreographed. By contrast Quick looks like he is spazzing!
Both are doing great BTW.

Barrett's pull-up jumper really opens up the rest of his game. He's still not a great finisher, but he has no problem getting to the basket, so the next step in his development will be ability to draw fouls more frequently.

Nalod wrote:Barrett just seemingly looking fundamentally sound to the degree there is no flair. He does not have a natural grace or natural athletic appearance because it NOT effortless. His movements are choreographed.

Things like that did not stop Kawhi from winning a championship. I am not saying RJ will be as good as Kawhi, but just saying.

ESOMKnicks wrote:

Nalod wrote:Barrett just seemingly looking fundamentally sound to the degree there is no flair. He does not have a natural grace or natural athletic appearance because it NOT effortless. His movements are choreographed.

Things like that did not stop Kawhi from winning a championship. I am not saying RJ will be as good as Kawhi, but just saying.

Thats not a knock on him BTW. Its an observation. This kid reminds me of Oscar Robertson. Strong and Fundamentally sound and I have great hopes for him at age 20! I’m saying he is underrated because of the optics he throws off. I think his future is very bright.

Knixkik wrote:

fishmike wrote:assuming he stays healthy I have to wonder what RJ looks like at 24-25 years old.

He's such a hard working and coachable kid.
That being said you cant assume: His shooting will improve
I think you can assume: his handle, passing, footwork, post moves and BBIQ will improve (if only marginally)

So what does a 25 year old RJ look like with improvements on his handle, passing, post moves and BBIQ (knowing the league, chemistry w/ other players etc)???

That player looks pretty good to me. What I like about his 2nd year is we are clearly seeing the things he needs to improve on to help us WIN, not just post good numbers.

I think he looks a lot like DeRozan at 24-25, but a newer version that shoots more threes.

Derozan was more athletic but yeah similar style impact I believe

TheGame wrote:

technomaster wrote:I mean you've gotta love the shooting progress, right?

Overall numbers after 38 games this season:
.447 FG%
.352 3p%
.731 FT%
(all trending up, except for perhaps FT%)

Rookie year:
.402 FG%
.320 3p%
.614 FT%

Some interesting tidbits: (PER 36)
He's actually dipped in a bunch of areas: He's taking fewer FTA's and 3PTA's than last season. His rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks are down as well.

The improvements: TOs are down (2.6 to 2.1); scoring is up (17.0 up to 18.2).

He learned to take smart threes. I notice that he rarely shoots threes off the dribble. The vast majority of his 3pt attempts are catch and shoot. When he had the slump early in the year, he was taking alot of off the dribble 3pts. He learned that he still is not good at that shot, so he is limiting himself to catch and shoot threes, which has greatly helped his efficiency.

Good stuff. I was wondering what had changed; something with shot or shot type

If I had to use one word to describe Barrett's game these days, it would be "versatile". RJ is showing he can do more on offense, than play bully ball.