RJ Barrett’s growth in his second year in the NBA attracted Tom Thibodeau.
After scoring his second consecutive double doubles in the Knicks’ 91-84 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday afternoon, Barrett’s career maximum score rose.
Barrett averages 17 points per game, along with 7.6 boards and 3.4 assists per game.
“The he attitude of him was fantastic. He is in a really good position,” said Thibodeau. Barrett’s three-point shot took a nice nosedive: in a stretch of 10 games, he scored just six of 47 shots (12.8 percent) from behind the arc, with four of them in one match. Since then, he has reached five out of 15 (33 percent).
On Monday he went 0 of 3 from the perimeter, but Thibodeau thinks “the shooting will come”.
“It took him a lot of extra time. He has a good pace now. He has a great balance. I think the limit is the sky. I think he is learning, as most youngsters do, but he can score a lot of different ways.” Thibodeau said.