With the number 3 pick in the 2019 draft the new York Knicks selected the 6’7 guard R.J Barrett. Going into the draft Barrett was seen as a shooting guard with great physical tools being 6’7 217 pounds with great scoring ability and showed flashes of greatness at duke.
While at Duke Rj Barrett put up numbers of 23 points a game 8 rebounds and 4 assists despite playing with Zion williamson. When the Knicks selected RJ there were very high expectations for him and during his rookie season he has done pretty good. He has not been great like ja, or zion but the situations are very different. In Memphis they are giving the keys to the franchise to ja while in new york they are giving more minutes to there established players in julius randle and eflird payton. At times in the season Rj will go off and look like a potential superstar while at other times it seems like he is not even on the court. This is very understandable as RJ is only a rookie and he is playing with a very ball dominant julius randle. As I said before RJs situation in New York is far different than Ja’s situation in Memphis. In Memphis the team revolves around ja and each player completes ja very well. Memphis has shooters, in jaren jackson jr and dillon brooks and also has a very good pick and roll threat in honus vallenjunius. The management in Memphis is also very good and they have a direct plan going forward.