What is RJ Barrett?
Anyone who says they know is trying to sell you something.
Because everything about New York is so big, cynicism is instinctive – maybe even healthy. Skepticism narrows our vision, helping to prevent sensory overload. Like blinders for horses. But every healthy defense mechanism is just a moment’s notice from going flip-mode into self-sabotage. Blinders, by definition, keep us from seeing the whole picture.
I’d like to avoid numbers as much as possible in this piece. I’m not interested in putting RJ Barrett’s statistics on trial as much as I am exonerating him from a certain, specific strain of impatience. There is a set of numbers that I think is instructive when discussing Barrett’s career in New York. They’re not remotely advanced, but they are telling.
Barrett, 22, was second on the Knicks in minutes this season, as he has been every year since entering the league. Look at this year’s non-play-in playoff teams, the top six in each conference. How many feature players 22 or younger we can expect to see playing as large a role as RJ? Or meaningful postseason minutes, period?
Four teams don’t have anyone fitting that profile: Milwaukee, Boston, Phoenix and Brooklyn. New York has two starters who do: Barrett and Quentin Grimes. Their opponent also does, between Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro. Santi Aldama and David Roddy are reserves who bring depth to Memphis. Christian Braun has been a nice player for Denver and will probably be a part of their bench unit. Ditto Bones Hyland with the L.A. Clippers and Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody in Golden State. Lastly but not leastly, there’s Keegan Murray in Sacramento and Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia.
Most of the players listed above aren’t starters. Mobley and Maxey ranked third on their teams in minutes per game this season; Murray was fourth on the Kings. It is clear as crystal that in a league where 30 billionaire organizations scour the globe ruthlessly for any and all talent, for anyone who can get them one more bucket or one more win than the other guy, it is a truth universally acknowledged that success does not appear to translate as “give heavy minutes to players barely old enough to drink legally.”
And yet, RJ persists.
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