RJ Barrett Will Be a Star

Short one today, it's Friday and I don't really feel like typing all that much. I did promise myself that I would write something every weekday, even though it is just for me to read so why not dive into RJ Barrett. 

I am a huge fan to say the least. In his first 3 seasons with the Knicks, there were mixed opinions of RJ. I can't say I really watched many Knicks games at the time, so when he was traded to the Raptors in 2024, I expected what fans told me he would be: an inconsistent volume scorer who is a bit of a black hole on offense with his poor decision making. With the Raptors he has been anything but that. In every RJ Barrett game I was waiting for the big drop-off that was promised to me. It never came. RJ consistently provided scoring at the rim, timely cuts and surprisingly accurate catch and shoot 3s for his entire tenure with the Raptors so far.

Silly comparison, I know, but I want to look at Pascal Siakam's 2023/2024 stats with the Raptors compared to RJ Barrett's. Now, of course P was the #1 option on the team facing the opposing team's best defender every night while RJ is more of a secondary scorer. But I still think the comparison is interesting to look at: with the Raptors on the season Siakam averaged 22.2/6.3/4.9 on 60% TS% in 39 games. An efficient jack of all trades stat line. RJ Barrett with the Raptors averaged 21.8/6.4/4.1 on 61.5% TS% in 32 games. Nearly identical stats. One of these players is considered a fringe star while the other is still looked down upon by the casual fandom. 

The #1 ability a guard must have in my opinion is the ability to get downhill and get into the paint. With the Raptors, RJ took 43.1% of his shots between 0-3 feet. For reference, the average % of shots taken in that range league wide is only 24.1%. RJ Barrett shot an impressive 73.1% on these shots, slightly higher than league average 70% for the season. So RJ gets to the cup nearly twice as much as an average player while finishing even more efficiently. That downhill ability creates so much for a team. RJ Barrett will be a key player forcing opposing defenses to rotate to make up for the threat of RJ getting to the rim. What's more impressive about this is RJ's in-between game is fairly lackluster, teams know he's going to the rim and he still manages to do it extremely effectively anyway.

Where RJ Barrett struggles is in his off the dribble jump shooting. While he's turned himself into an effective, dare I say consistent, catch and shoot player, RJ still struggles when asked to create a jump shot. No real analysis here, if he can improve this even slightly and become a 3 level scorer, we have a perpetual all star on our hands. RJ is only 24 years old. By all accounts he is a real gym rat and loves to play in his home city Toronto. I have no doubt that he will be putting in the work to improve his game and I think the Raptors sneakily found a new all star. 

No articles on the weekend, sorry readers :( see you on Monday!