In 2019, RJ shot .729 of his shots from 2p, he followed that up .708 in 2020, and he is only shooting .597 of his shots from 2p range this year. While his percentage of shots taken from 3p range has gone from .272 (2019), to .292 (2020), to .408 (2021) percent. So RJ is moving from 2p shots that he is good at toward taking more 3p shots that he is terrible at, which is why his shooting percentages are down across the board.

RJ shooting percentages around the basket (0-3 feet) are .568 in 2019, .605 in 2020, and .625 in 2021. So each year RJ has improved in his ability to finish around the basket. Yet, this year he is only taking .267 percent of his shots within 3 feet v 2020 when he took .325 percent of his shots from that distance and 2019 when he took .395 of his shots within 3 feet.

Beyond this shift in more 3s, RJ is no longer limiting himself to catch and shoot 3s. Last year, RJs 3point percentage went up primarily because he stopped shooting 3s off the dribble and limited himself to catch and shoot threes, mainly in the corners. This year, he is shooting more threes off the dribble and his corner 3 percentages have fallen off a cliff. The fewer 3s RJ takes in a game the better. He needs to limit himself solely to 3-4 wide open catch and shoot 3s. If he does this, I think his percentages will start to rise like they did last year.

The bottomline is that the Knicks have turned RJ into a jump shooter, which is something he is unable to be efficiently. RJ needs to get back to his strengths of driving and kicking to open shooters. He should pass on the 3s unless it is wide open and stick to driving the ball down the oppositions throat. If RJ does that, he will return to the mostly efficient player we saw last year. Ultimately, he will have to improve his 3 point shooting but the main thing he needs to do is get back to being efficient. Even if he is never more than a 17-18 point type scorer, if he can do it efficiently and continue to bring his defense, he will still be a solid starter.

Fans seem to forget (because this is his 3rd year) that he's still the 2nd youngest player on our entire team (@ only 21 years old).

He left after his Freshman year @ Duke and hypothetically speaking he should still be in NCAA college right now (as a Senior).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with RJ. He's just an NBA pup. And I'm 100% confident that bu the age of 23-24 he's going to develop into a two way perennial All-Star (and towards the end of last year was only a sign of things to come).

martin wrote:

NYKMentality wrote:I don't think there is anything wrong with R.J. Barrett.

Fans seem to forget (because this is his 3rd year) that he's still the 2nd youngest player on our entire team (@ only 21 years old).

He left after his Freshman year @ Duke and hypothetically speaking he should still be in NCAA college right now (as a Senior).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with RJ. He's just an NBA pup. And I'm 100% confident that bu the age of 23-24 he's going to develop into a two way perennial All-Star (and towards the end of last year was only a sign of things to come).

What you are not taking into account is that RJ has been under professional tutelage since a young child. His dad is a pro player. Nash is his god father. He has had exposure to a shooting coach since before college (I think).

These are not things that (I'd guess) 90% or more of the NBA players are exposed to at a young age, and that exposure should have set him up for MUCH further progress than he is at, even at a tender age of 21.

It's not your age necessarily, it's the years of exposure and exposure at higher levels that should set some of these guys apart.

Also, he has had a profession body at a much earlier age than most.

All of those factors are what makes me think he will not dramatically improve. He will get better incrementally for sure but I am doubtful for the big leaps.

His hard work and demeanor and personality will let him weather the storm of what is New York but I don't think it's really a determining factor given underlying talent and physical attributes.

I really think his ceiling is bench role player. I am definitely not giving him 100M. 8-10M per year is where I’m at, let him go and test the market. I’ve never seen a player get his shot blocked at the rim as much as RJ. He has zero hops. Maybe he needs to slim down to gain some athleticism.

So what is wrong? The nba rules right now favor 3 point shooting. In the 90’s RJ is a superstar

He’s a big guard, he should learn to score on smaller guards.

Nalod wrote:Imagine if we read these statement's clothed in velvet smoking jacket, draped with an proper ascot, smoking a pipe and spoken in fine British flair but with snobbery. It would be utterly preposterous!

Imagine? I'm wearing one now while taking smooth pulls of opium from a pipe and watching Ryan Arcidiacono highlights, waiting for the snow to hit.

wargames wrote:

martin wrote:

HoustonSprewell84 wrote:He needs to post up more, watching him in the raptor game actually do a turn around jumper off the back board on a smaller guard is more what he needs to do.

He’s a big guard, he should learn to score on smaller guards.

This is THE one big advantage I see that RJ has. Realistically can only finish solidly on one side of rim. But he has got to use his body to better advantage

I think he is a SG in the Derozan mold but just every early in his career and playing with bad spacing since he was with Zion in Duke.

Not as fast as Derozan but definitely stronger