RJ Barrett is counterintuitive because, in his perfectly smooth and constantly improving game, he doesn’t really have a comp. The type of good weather, hoodie-and-jeans weekday we all take for granted, but rarely discuss, and would be utterly lost without. RJ is the like a 40-degree day, but different, the inverse of the Bell rant. I think about Idris Elba’s monologue when I think about Knicks’ third-year wing Rowan Alexander Barrett, Junior. It’s not particularly good weather, but not bad enough to really stand out, to be worthy of conversation. His argument is the 40-degree day is unexceptional in most relevant ways. Just stay the course, fought his way through it.One of the best bits from The Wire is Stringer Bell’s impassioned excoriation of the 40-degree day. “I think he’s showing his growth and maturity. And I think his confidence is coming from all the extra time that he’s putting in,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Barrett, according to the New York Post.
CLICK HERE to download the CBS Sports Mobile App and get the latest on your team today. Get the fastest scores, stats, news, LIVE videos, and more. His shooting has also improved from last year as well, as he is currently shooting 45.4% from the floor as opposed to 40.2% last year. After averaging 14.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a rookie, Barrett is posting 17.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season. The third overall pick out of Duke in the 2019 NBA Draft, Barrett is starting to emerge as the player that the Knicks thought he could be out of college. On Sunday night, Barrett knocked down a 3-pointer with just 34.9 seconds left to push the Knicks’ lead over the Toronto Raptors to four points instead of just one. Barrett knocked down a layup to tie it and force overtime and then hit a 3-pointer to take the lead in overtime with just 1:16 left. On April 9, the Knicks trailed the Memphis Grizzlies by two points with under 20 seconds to go. Since those comments became public, Barrett has been the exact player that New York wants him to be. “Because that’s who we wanted taking the shot. “Gladly RJ caught it and if he made the shot, we would’ve lived with it,” Edwards said in a postgame interview. Barrett went 8-of-17 from the floor and scored 23 points in the game, but Edwards still was eager to talk trash at Barrett following his miss. On March 31, the Knicks lost to Edwards and the Timberwolves by one point in a game where Barrett had a jump shot to win it with 1.4 seconds left, but missed the shot. I just felt like this one was an OK scenario to laugh at.” “I thought it was funny,” Barrett said recently, according to Empire Sports Media. And when asked about the shot that Edwards took at him, Barrett responded. In two recent Knicks games, Barrett has hit shots that helped the team close out big wins. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards took a shot at his playmaking ability, New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett has fired back with both his play and his words. After Minnesota Timberwolves rookie and No.