TORONTO-if you want to get a feel for the NBA’s foreign start to the season, look no further than Thursday night’s game between the Toronto Raptors and The New York Knicks.
It’s normal that this year’s final NBA game bizzarro, which you can watch on Sportsnet at 7: 30 p.m. ET, dates with a pair of teams looking more like the opposite of what they’ve been for nearly a decade now.
On the one hand, you have the normally always strong Raptors, who enter the New Year’s business caught up in a usual downward slide, starting in the 0-3 season. on the other hand, the Knicks – the real child of display of failure and sporting dysfunction during the last little moment-who commented on the 2020-21 campaign 2-2, picking up their two wins plus result, including a surprising victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
There are a lot of reasons to point the finger when discussing Toronto’s struggles, but when it comes to the relative success the Knicks have enjoyed so far, it doesn’t take much to figure out what has worked for them.
Julius Randle commented on the season’s disappointment, averaging 24.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while strikeing 55.6% from the floor and an incredible 69.2% from three-point range on just over three three-point attempts per game.
In New York’s final game, a 95-86 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Randle faced a triple-double with a 28-point line, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
It took a little time, but in his seventh year in the NBA, it seems that the potential standard Randle showed at the university could finally blossom.
That’s good story for New York, but even though Randle is the knick-knacks making headlines right now, perhaps an even more encouraging sign for them is the possibility that they don’t have to wait so long for second-year forward RJ Barrett to flourish.
The Mississauga, Ont. native is pretty good starting the season, averaging 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. His efficiency still leaves much to be desired-Barrett’s shot at just 38.7% from the field and a horrible true 18.8% from deep-but you don’t hear much plain about his departure from the Knicks right now.
“He’s been great. He played a full game, he played well without strikeing well we know the shot is coming, ” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said after New York practice in Tampa on Wednesday. “He does a lot of things for US defence, he sits well without the ball, he goes down and I think he has a lot of room to grow he has been diligent with his job.”
Barrett’s teammate Kevin Knox added, ” he’s playing really well. He gets to the basket, he does a lot better doing readings this year, finding the open man and he’s going to continue to stay aggressive this season which is what we definitely need him to do.”
Entering the league as a rookie last season, one of Barrett’s car question marks was whether he could expand his rude play to be just a scorer, as he was primarily used in high school and Duke.
During his time with the Blue Devils, in particular, it seemed that Barrett had a bad habit of tunnel vision led to the basket he wanted to take or shots he wanted to set up.
However, if you believe the reviews of his contractor and his team, it seems that Barrett has already taken a big step forward this season by reinforcing this particular weakness.
” I think having a winger who can do the things he can do with his versatility is a big asset for our team, ” Thibodeau said. “And his willingness to make plays for people, I think it starts to show and continue to cross.”
Thibodeau was named the Knicks ‘ new head coach at the end of July and quickly got to work trying to reorganize New York, commanding by the club’s offense.
Little known for his beauty or general skill, Thibodeau relieved that his team is moving the ball more this season than before.
“The actual speech since Day 1,” Knox said of Thibodeau’s emphasis on ball movement. “Just every time you get to the basket and you design the defense and you do the right reading and the right kick. If you have a layup or a dunk alle finish, but if the defense collapses, it actually prepares on making the right read and just pass and share the game. I think it’s maybe a lot of us getting a lot of hits, it’s maybe you see a lot of threads in both numbers.”
So far, that rude focus has some function for Barrett who, granted in a small sample size, is averaging just over one assist per game more than last season.
In general, the offense that Thibodeau is trying to put together seems to have the potential to help expand the Canadian’s game-an exciting prospect because, as mentioned earlier, Barrett can already bring it to defense.