Knicks Morning News (2023.09.02)

Amin Elhassan had an interesting player comp for RJ. He brought up Harrison Barnes, and strangely enough- I am not mad at that. What he actually said was he could be a better version of Barnes. Prime Barnes was a good player. Consistent jumper, consistent defense, and took what the game gave him. If RJ can do that, coupled with the strengths he already has- we’ve got a reliable wing and a damn good player.

Thoughts?

Not gonna lie though, I’m not gonna hold my breath and wait on RJ to do that because even in Thibs’ system, the structure is not there to help RJ with the discipline it’s gonna take for him to achieve that. My personal opinion is that RJ needs to forget about his draft status and who he wants to emulate, and build & capitalize on his strengths. The thought that he has to be an all world player because he was drafted 3rd is going to sink his value. What really hurts him is the Knicks were scared to take a chance on Garland because there was so little film on him, and hindsight is always 20/20. Garland just happened to work out because Cleveland gave him the ball and his game creates space, whereas RJ is built to take advantage of space. Which he has NEVER had. I’m not mad at the pick because I still like RJ. But we REALLY need him to find the groove he found in the playoffs and stay there. We don’t need him to go for 20-plus all the time. I hope he realizes that