The New York Knicks have a massive test ahead of them with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Fortunately for the Knicks, LeBron James will be missing the contest as a result of his scuffle with Isaiah Stewart and the Detroit Pistons. However, the Lakers still feature both Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis in the starting lineup, so the Knicks won’t be able to sleep on them.
In fact, the Knicks are dealing with a few problems of their own. Derrick Rose is questionable for the matchup, Taj Gibson is doubtful, and Mitchell Robinson is out. The Knicks just haven’t been healthy at center this season, but the problems run even deeper than that.
The new signings of Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier have not panned out so far and the two have been abysmal in terms of raw plus-minus for the young season. Walker is sitting at minus-106 while Fournier is minus-40.
On top of all that, RJ Barrett, somebody who looked like they were making a huge leap this season, is going through a massive shooting slump. At this point, it’s close to making history in all the wrong ways.
Barrett Struggling Hard
GettyRJ Barrett during a March 29 game against the Miami Heat.
RJ Barrett is currently shooting 38.8 percent from the field so far this season, by far the worst of his career. If you take a look at the three-point percentage, things look even more grim at 30.5 percent.
As pointed out by The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Barrett has shot 40 percent or wrose while taking more than eight shots in 10 straight games, tying him for the seventh-longest streak in history.
Interestingly enough, there are two active players who have longer streaks and one of them is Barrett’s teammate Kemba Walker while the other is Trevor Ariza. Obviously, this is a part of NBA history that you don’t want your name anywhere by, but that’s the way the dominoes have fallen for Barrett.
In the case of Walker and even Ariza, both players have turned out just fine so there’s little reason to think Barrett won’t eventually break out of this slump. The Knicks have a brutal stretch of games coming up that include the Lakers, Suns and Hawks in the next three, so they will be hoping their scorer breaks out of his slump soon.
Will He Turn it Around?
GettyRJ Barrett of the New York Knicks.
Barrett shot over 40 percent from three just last season, and unless that was just a fluke, there’s no reason to suspect he won’t break out of this slump at some point.
The whole team has been struggling and if the Knicks drop the game against the Lakers, they’ll find themselves sitting at .500, which is a far cry from where they wanted to be at this point.
After making the playoffs last season, the Knicks, at least on paper, looked like they made big upgrades across the board. However, things haven’t exactly panned out just yet, especially with their marquee signings.
A big part of the Knicks’ long term plans revolves around the development of the younger players, so they will be counting on Barrett sooner or later.
READ NEXT: Knicks’ Leon Rose Already Facing Media Fire Amid Rough Opening
No comments:
Post a Comment