Heading into the season I watched an interview of R.J. Barrett making it known that he was excited to have an opportunity to become our #1 wing defender while going up against opposing teams #1 scorer.

And so far R.J. BARRETT has been A+.

Philc1 wrote:Barrett might be the nba’s best 2 way player in a couple years

Now if he can actually start getting superstar calls when he drives to the basket

I agree. This game was huge for his confidence and progression.

Knixkik wrote:

Philc1 wrote:Barrett might be the nba’s best 2 way player in a couple years

Now if he can actually start getting superstar calls when he drives to the basket

I agree. This game was huge for his confidence and progression.

He’s really developing confidence in his shooting and teams can’t stop him going to his left

TheGame wrote:And to think I wondered if the Knicks should have drafted Barrett due to concerns over his defense. It was close, but I was thinking DeAndre Hunter might have been a better pick. Hunter is a good player, but we definitely got the third best player in that draft. If his shot starts to fall like it did in the Bulls game, he is on his way to being an All-Star.

It's the current coaching staff and obviously he has a high work ethic, but you can just tell he's been spending a lot of time in the GYM and film room

TheGame wrote:And to think I wondered if the Knicks should have drafted Barrett due to concerns over his defense. It was close, but I was thinking DeAndre Hunter might have been a better pick. Hunter is a good player, but we definitely got the third best player in that draft. If his shot starts to fall like it did in the Bulls game, he is on his way to being an All-Star.

And now the same idiots in the media who clowned us for not getting Zion in that draft are suddenly forced to pretend they liked RJ all along

Nalod wrote:Barret has been building and building under the radar week to week with steady progress. Like his game, not flashy instant results.

He consistently get gets better. Results are what they are. Our words or hype never spoke as much as his truth.
His third season just starting. Sure I’d have liked to take Ja over RJ. THe Zion thing? Thats a tough one. Kid might be one of the greatest offensve weapons given his handle, passing, rebounding, etc………but the obvious at draft time and lingers worse is the mass/fat and human engineering of feet, ankle, knee that propels that mass like none other. Zion small sample are impressive as hell when he is on the court. Nalod was weary of drafting him and would be in any trade for those reasons.
PHil foretold his concerns with KP which is why he might have fallen to 4th. At that point it was a no brainer to take that risk as his upside was there. WE all saw his 2nd half season. The kid was special. PHil thought is lower body was not developed enough. He was right. Knee and back issues have limited his career from early unicorn hopes. Zion, even more than KP was seen as perhaps the next transcendent thing not seem before. Both had extreme body dimensions for the talent they possessed. But those bodies are paying a price.

I streamed the Knicks-Pelicans game on the New Orleans broadcast feed. The advertisements and fan engagement were fairly rinky dink in a minor league baseball kind of way. For instance at halftime they broadcast 2 fans who had to dig through a bowl of candy with a plastic spoon in their mouths to get to and eat the Rolo candy first. The only adds I saw were Smoothy King and Ibotta and they spend an inordinate amount of filler broadcasting fans dancing on "Dance Cam" with a half-filled arena.

My observation is that there is little chance Zion will stay in New Orleans for the longer term unless that team makes significant strides into a winning franchise. Also in looking at him on the sidelines, looks like his weight might have ballooned. A prudent franchise might want to have a full time Strength & Conditioning coach as well as personal nutritionist assigned just to him. At 250-275 he's a beast. At his reported 315+ weight his knees and ankles are yelling at him to stop the insanity.

It’s still premature to make a definitive statement (as opposed to after the second summer league game) but if RJ were on another team would gasbags and “fans” be proposing trading our best players and every number one pick you can muster for him?

It’s great watching homegrown grow.