Knicks 129, Hornets 107: A Tale of Two No. 3 Picks

LaMelo Ball and RJ Barrett faced off on a Sunday afternoon, and showed what a difference a situation can make for two players drafted in the same spot a year apart.

What can we learn from the Knicks’ 129-107 drubbing of the woebegone Charlotte Hornets? As most of us guessed heading into the season, this Hornets club is straight-up dookie. The Knicks are very much not dookie, and have demonstrated it during their recent home stand. 

Charlotte has an ascendant young center in Mark Williams — Breen and Clyde couldn’t stop harping on the 15 offensive rebounds Williams grabbed in his previous game — but the kid was no match for Mitchell Robinson down low. Even vaunted Knick-killer Gordon Hayward had an off afternoon: 3-9 for six points. 

So let us focus on a pair of young bucks who just happen to share a common draft slot, one year apart. The Knicks selected RJ Barrett No. 3 overall in 2019, and the Hornets chose LaMelo Ball No. 3 overall in 2020. Both were immediately hailed as potential saviors for a pair of franchises in desperate straits. In many ways, the career paths of Barrett and Ball have mirrored one another, with Barrett struggling to live up to the draft hype while Ball made the All-Star Game as a 20-year-old. 

I couldn’t help but think often of RJ and LaMelo during this game. Both led their team in scoring: 32 points on 13-20 shooting for LaMelo, 24 points on 9-16 shooting for RJ. Ball also had seven rebounds and six assists. He certainly filled up the stat sheet. 

When comparing two players, it’s always important to consider their fit within the framework of the team. Their franchises have taken divergent paths. The Knicks are absolutely loaded with talent, and showed us as much on Sunday. Julius Randle (23 points) and Jalen Brunson (20 points) finished right behind RJ. The Hornets rely on Ball a hell of a lot more than the Knicks rely on Barrett. But does that make Ball the more valuable player? The better player? 

Until this year, I would have said yes. Obviously. But this, my friends, is not your daddy’s RJ Barrett. The statistics pointed to RJ as the superior player heading into game by virtue of his stronger shooting splits (Ball was shooting a paltry 39.9% from the field). And even on a day when Ball put up the stronger stat line, it was clear that Barrett just had a certain je ne sais quoi working, as he has all season. Perhaps it was the defense, which has been strong all season. Perhaps it was the on/off numbers: a game-high plus-26 for the Knicks’ current net rating god. 

I don’t think LaMelo is a losing player. He dragged a thin Hornets roster to the play-in game two years ago. But he seemed to be having an awful lot of fun on a team that was getting its ass kicked, preening after a made three while down 20 points. I’d wager that his growth as a player would look very different if he had been drafted No. 2 overall by the Warriors. But we aren’t here to deal in what-ifs. Knicks fans are barraged with enough draft night what-ifs to drive a person mad. LaMelo is a Hornet; RJ is a Knick. And this season, RJ fits like a glove. His steely determination, which was actually a hindrance earlier in his career when he was too focused on getting to the rim at all costs, has blossomed into the kind of attitude you expect to see in a legit NBA star. He and Mitch have a preposterous +23.8 net rating in 146 minutes. He and Immanuel Quickley have taken the reins of the second unit and turned it into a monster. The Knicks are 5-2 in games he’s played, 0-2 in games he missed, and that doesn’t feel the least bit like a coincidence. 

Now that the Hornets have been dispatched, RJ and the Knicks face a much, much bigger challenge: the Celtics, in Boston, on the second night of a back-to-back. They lost to the Celtics on Opening Night, with RJ struggling a bit in the first half as he stubbornly took the ball to Kristaps Porzingis at the rim. That was only a few weeks ago, but this seems like a different RJ, and a different Knicks club. Game on!