The New York Knicks are working to get the most out of third overall pick RJ Barrett, and the 19-year old is showing promise. The former Duke Blue Devil dropped 19 points against the Pelicans on Friday night, 17 of which came in the first half. The Knicks couldn’t score the win losing 116-117.
One concern that was out there about Barrett was the volume of his shooting and his shooting percentage. Against the Hawks on Wednesday, Barrett shot 4-14 from the field and 0-3 from three.
But Friday night, The 6 foot 7 guard made it a mission to get to the basket for the easy buckets and scored 75 percent of his attempts. The rook also chipped in 3 assists and 6 rebounds in his 35 minutes on the floor.
RJ was hoping to play against his Duke teammate Zion Williamson, but the #1 overall pick didn’t make the trip to Madison Square Garden due to a knee injury suffered in the preseason. Reports say that Zion is expected to miss the beginning of the regular season as well due to the injury.
The last time Barrett and Zion met was in Summer League play when Zion first suffered a knee injury and only played a few minutes before being shut down for the remainder of the Summer League.
This game ends preseason for the Knicks. They’ll be off the floor until October 23rd when they open up the regular season against the San Antonio Spurs on the road.
Mitch says ✖ RJ says ? pic.twitter.com/L94jwNaGKO
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) October 19, 2019
