Sam Vecenie of The Athletic pointed out that RJ is one of only 10 players to average 20 points, five rebounds and three assists per game in a season by the time they were 21 years old since 2000. The per-game stats that Barrett has put up early in his career are impressive in their own right and give him some elite company. In his third season with the Knickerbockers, Barrett again increased his points per game, scoring an impressive 20.0 points per game. He followed that up in his sophomore showing with a three-point bump to 17.6 points per game. As a rookie, the former 3rd overall pick averaged 14.3 points a game. Tracking the progress that RJ Barrett has made over three years is not necessarily straightforward given the many consistency issues he has had in his young career, but the box score does tell one side of the story.
So, let’s get down to business: how much has the 22-year-old Canadian developed throughout his productive three-year career and how does he project going forward? Current Development: In a market and an arena thirsting for a star, there is always going to be clamoring for the next big thing. What is realistic to expect of the former Duke Blue Devil? Can he be a star? Or even furthermore, can he be a star on a team that is contending for an NBA title? That is something the Knicks have been looking for since Patrick Ewing and only found for a brief time with Carmelo Anthony. Where the question lies is how great the Maple Mamba can be. Nobody has ever questioned if Barrett is an effective NBA player or deserving of a second contract. While many Knicks fans rejoiced over the Charlie Ward curse finally being broken by a first-round pick, others wondered if the Knicks will come to regret that. That may not impact his willingness to be in the biggest market in the country while making $30 million a year to do it, but it also may not help his relationship with the organization. Not only does this add additional stress to a career that has already been in a pressure cooker, but it also is a public exile of a player whom many hope will be the next great Knick. Or, it can loom over his career like a dark shadow for the rest of his time in Manhattan. It is yet another variable added to Barrett’s very complicated Knicks career, one that could potentially motivate him and prove a stroke of luck that the Knicks couldn’t successfully give him away if he becomes a star.
#Rj barrett stts how to
Not only is he going into the season on a fairly hefty extension that was heavily debated this offseason, but we also recently learned that Leon Rose and company spent much of the last two months trying to figure out how to trade him for Donovan Mitchell. There will likely never be more pressure on the young Canadian to perform than there will be this season. Even if he has improved, has he improved enough, or in the areas where he needs? RJ Barrett is a complicated case study because he has gotten better in each of his seasons with the Knicks, and his numbers are quite impressive at his age, but they are not without worry. The reputation that Barrett garnered before he ever donned a Knicks jersey certainly played a role in how people feel about him, but what he has done in his short three years in the NBA definitely contributed to this as well. It is hard to have a more prestigious journey than Montverde Academy and Duke, but Barrett racked up nearly every accolade imaginable, whether it was National Player of the Year in high school or competing for Team Canada in U17 international play. Even before he had played a game at Duke, he was being referred to as “ The most decorated prospect since Lebron”. His time in the spotlight certainly makes him feel like a more known commodity, but at the end of the day, Barrett just turned 22 this summer. There are plenty of variables that impact the expectations for the Maple Mamba, including the players that went in front of him in the 2019 NBA Draft. There are valid reasons for both sides Knicks fans are justified in their belief in him to develop into a star, just as there is reason to doubt him living up to the massive expectations thrust upon him as the third pick of the draft from a blue-blood university to play in the “World’s Most Famous Arena”. RJ Barrett is widely beloved among the New York Knicks fandom, but he is far more divisive in the mainstream eye. H e has made plenty of progress but still has room to grow. RJ Barrett’s development is the most important thing for the Knicks following his massive contract extension.
0 kommentar(er)
