RJ Barrett showing rock-steady consistency for Knicks
Knicks guard RJ Barrett looks on against the Boston Celtics during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH — RJ Barrett was restless in the summer of 2022. A young player who liked to spend spare hours in the gym, returning after practices at night and when the Knicks would land in a city, was treading carefully. Waiting on a potential contract extension and hearing his name in trade rumors, he avoided contact risks, skipping scrimmaging opportunities.
Then the trade talk fell apart and Barrett got his contract extension with the Knicks — four years and a guaranteed $107 million. And by the time the playoffs came around, he proved to be one of the Knicks’ most valuable players, raising his game as the stakes grew.
This summer, he was in his happy place again — joining Team Canada in the FIBA World Cup, in the gym and on the court. And with that he is hopeful that the peak performance that came in the playoffs last season is something he can build on.
“I feel great,” Barrett said. “I feel great, even in the preseason games. We’re getting back to learning how to play together and stuff. But with just conditioning-wise and everything, I feel really good. So I’m excited.”
While other players who participated in the World Cup have been eased into action with limited minutes in preseason, Barrett was willing to jump right in, playing in three of the four games and leading the team in minutes per game and scoring.
“Just steady,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That’s who he is. Like with any young player, the challenge is consistency. So the more you have your routine in place, I think that helps.
“The thing I love about RJ, RJ never gets too high, never gets too low. He’s the same guy every day, and that’s good. Just focus on getting better and helping the team. Everyone has to prioritize helping the team.”
In the playoffs last season, with a number of the Knicks’ key players nursing injuries, Barrett emerged as one of the team’s most consistent weapons on both ends of the court — at least until a 1-for-10 shooting night in the season-ending loss in Miami.
Barrett started with a poor shooting effort in the first game of the postseason, but between the first and last games, he averaged 21.6 points per game, shooting 47.9% overall and 35.8% from three-point range.
He was reliable on the other end, too. His defensive rating and defensive box plus-minus jumped drastically against Cleveland and Miami.
“It was the playoffs,” Barrett said, “So I think that one of the things with that is you’re scouting a team, you know the teams better when you’re playing them so many times versus playing teams once. Western Conference teams, you only play them twice. You know an opponent better. You have some time to prepare and you can game-plan. And as the games go along, you can adjust and you learn players’ tendencies even more.
“So playing somebody more times, you lock into things a little more, as well as the playoffs and the intensity, it’s a lot higher than the regular season. I think competing-wise, I was able to do that.”
With his early arrival and long tenure, it’s sometimes hard to remember that Barrett is only 23.
“We all tend to forget that,” Thibodeau said. “And that’s the thing I love about our team: We’re real young and young guys can get better, and as long as they’re willing to make that commitment, I know they’ll get better. I’m betting on that.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks converted Jacob Toppin and Charlie Brown Jr. to two-way contracts (filling all three spots with Dylan Windler already on a two-way deal) and signed back Isaiah Roby (who they waived this week) to an Exhibit 10 deal and waived him along with Brandon Goodwin, Mamadi Diakite and Duane Washington Jr. — all expected to join the Westchester Knicks. They have three roster spots remaining with decisions still awaiting Ryan Arcidiacono and DaQuan Jeffries.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
