RJ Barrett is leading the Toronto Raptors with his low-maintenance scoring, averaging 20 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. On Tuesday, he put up 13 points and a team-high six assists in the Raptors' 119-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
What happened?
The Raptors have started 6-5, with Barrett doing what he can to make it work. He is shooting 51.3 percent from the floor, never shooting better than 49.5 percent for a whole season.
Why it matters for RJ Barrett
Barrett's usage dipped by almost six percentage points from last year to this season, but he is still playing controlled, low-mistake, low-maintenance basketball. He has been playing alongside Brandon Ingram, who is taking the biggest share of the Raptors' offence.
What comes next?
The Raptors don't play the Oklahoma City Thunder until January 25. Barrett has been thinking about the Thunder's good perimeter defenders, but he is focused on representing his home, Toronto, very well. He wants to score 20 points regularly and make the Raptors work.
Barrett expressed skepticism that he would have been able to play well in the Raptors' pass-heavy, read-and-react system back then. But he has found a way to score 20 points regularly, and he is playing with a little bit of a different passion.
The Raptors' diagrammed offence is meant to free up Ingram, whose half-court dynamism was on full display against the Nets. Barrett is allowing the Raptors to work, and if they end up working as a concept, it won't be because Barrett makes them, but it will be because Barrett allows them to.
On the morning before playing the Nets, Barrett and the Raptors were just north of the East River, in Manhattan. Barrett had played for the New York Knicks for the first four-plus seasons of his career, but he is now playing for his home team, the Raptors.
Barrett is from Mississauga, a suburb just west of Toronto. He is playing with a little bit of a different passion, and he wants to represent his home very well. He is averaging 20 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, shooting 51.3 percent from the floor.
The Raptors have started 6-5, and Barrett is doing what he can to make it work. He put up 13 points and a team-high six assists in the Raptors' 119-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Barrett's usage dipped by almost six percentage points from last year to this season, but he is still playing controlled, low-mistake, low-maintenance basketball.