Toeing the Line

Today we examine three Knicks, and in doing so, contemplate the difference between a good and a bad shot.

Good morning! Tonight the Knicks have their final warm up before the real games begin. They certainly still have more kinks to work out, but on the whole, things are looking pretty good, as we’ll get into below.

🏙 Game Night 🏙

Who: Washington Wizards

Where: MSG

When: 7:30 pm

Who’s Out: …

TV: MSG Network

What to Watch For: How much will Tom Thibodeau treat this like the real thing, especially after Wednesday night? These same two teams ended the preseason with a matchup last year, and in that game, Thibs did not take his foot off the gas, playing Julius Randle and RJ Barrett 35 and 34 minutes, respectively. Derrick Rose played 29 minutes! The man’s insanity knows no bounds at times¹. Will tonight be a repeat of the same, or does he feel confident in where the starters are at to ease up, even if just a bit?

☕️ Morning After Thoughts ☀️

A three pack of observations from last night…

RJ Barrett’s Balancing Act

We start with the newly inked $100 million man, and the subtle signs he continues to provide that a leap is on the way…

Through three preseason games, RJ has looked good. Very good, you might say, even considering the substandard competition. He’s averaging 20 points in 25.5 minutes on 48.8 percent shooting overall, 47.1 percent from deep, and perhaps most exciting of all, has made 10 of 11 freebies. All signs are pointing in the right direction.

On the first play above, Barrett does something we need to see more of this season, and that’s drive and kick. As I watched this play develop, I couldn’t help but wonder if RJ has gotten a bit of a reputation around the league as someone who will either take the shot at the rim or attempt a lob to Mitch anytime he drives. You can see Hield sag way off Fournier the moment Barrett steps his foot into the paint.

Now this is preseason and it’s not like Hield has a rep as the most attentive defender, but given how many drive and kick opportunities RJ missed last season, it’s fair to wonder if perimeter defenders will continue leaving their assignments earlier than normal until Barrett starts to flip that reputation.

Another big part of all this is, of course, his ability to convert more frequently at the rim once he gets there. Thankfully, that’s been perhaps the best looking part of his game thus far:

This finish, off a nice, fast give & go from Randle (more on him in a bit), is not easy. Myles Turner remains a force at the rim. Barrett took on the challenge and came away victorious.

He needs to take and make these sorts of shots if he’s going to establish himself as a player to be feared despite not (yet) presenting as an off-the-dribble threat behind the arc. The tough part will be toeing the line between forcing it and making the smart pass. On this play, he had Fournier in the corner, and we’ve seen him go baseline a few times before whipping a pass to the weak side. Was this a smart shot? A force? Somewhere in between?

And what about this one, from early on in the 3rd quarter:

Watching this reminded me of the nasty Jimmy Butler short middies that have come to define his game. Butler takes more shots from this distance than just about any wing in the league and makes just enough of them (44 percent according to Cleaning the Glass) to keep defenses honest.

RJ doesn’t takes as many as Jimmy, but they still account for a healthy amount of his shot diet. The difference is that he only made 30 percent of shots from the short midrange last season, which makes it a shot defenses will welcome. It’s RJ’s job to change that.

While the best players do have to be cognizant of making the right play and finding the open man, at the end of the day, stars are stars because they make difficult shots. Barrett’s growth will not only be defined by how he grows in both of these areas, but by how often he picks one path over the other, and how often those choices are proven correct.