Unconsciously, Barrett's jersey sales have entered the league's top 15. The reason why Barrett jerseys will suddenly sell, in addition to New York has always been a big market in the NBA, but also has a lot to do with Barrett's excellent performance this season. This season, Barrett averaged 17.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, and even the three-pointers he was not very good at shot 35.6 percent from the field. As Knicks coach Thibodeau said: Barrett is playing faster and faster, he is improving every day, and he has become the leader of the team.
According to statistics, Barrett has averaged 23.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the last 10 games, shooting 46% and 42.5% from three-point range. If Barrett continues to play like this, then he really has to cash out his talent to new York fans.
Barrett in the sport of basketball, whether it is physical condition or family situation, is incomparable to ordinary people. Barrett comes from a sports family, his father is a former NBA player, and his mother is a sprinter. So from childhood to adulthood, Barrett's physical fitness is excellent. Barrett is 2.01m tall and weighs 93 kg, meeting the innate conditions to become a top striker. Barrett's college coach is the old K coach who led the American Dream Team to victory, and the basketball godfather is former NBA Most Valuable Player Steven Nash. Since the moment Barrett decided to play basketball, it was only a matter of time before he entered the NBA.
When Barrett first entered Montverde High School, he was selected for the varsity team. Against Ball, Barrett had 31 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Barrett's performances continued unabated, and in the subsequent high school league games, Barrett's team won all of them. Since then, Barrett has become a prominent figure in campus basketball. Two years later, Barrett accepted his father's advice and went to Duke University, a major basketball school in the United States.
In the first game of the Duke basketball team, Barrett exploded for 33 points. Along with Barrett, there was another guy named Zion, who also scored 28 points efficiently. They are known as the Geminis of the Duke basketball team. After that, the two played better and better, and both were called popular candidates for the title. In the 2019 NBA Draft, Zion was selected by the Pelicans with the first overall pick, and Barrett was selected by the Knicks with the third overall pick. And that year's role model was Morant, who is now fighting well.
In the first game of the rookie season, Barrett faced the Spurs with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Seeing that Barrett's debut was so good, the Knicks gave him plenty of playing time, which allowed Barrett to grow up quickly. But barrett's performance did not meet the expectations of the team management. Barrett averaged 14.3 points, 5 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the Knicks' rookie season, averaging 30.4 minutes per game. The data may seem good, but Barrett's scoring efficiency is not high. Barrett's shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage, and free throw shooting percentage are only 40.2%, 32%, and 61.4%.
Shame is often the beginning of a person's progress. During the offseason, Barrett struggled with shooting. Plus Thibodeau let Barrett play small forward instead. As dribbling time decreased, Barrett's shooting percentage also improved significantly. In his second season, Barrett averaged 17.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3 assists per game. And the shooting rate of the three shots also rose to 44.1%, 40.2% and 74.6%. Under his and Randle's leadership, the Knicks returned to the playoffs after years of missing. Although they were eventually eliminated by the Hawks, Barrett's progress has given fans hope for the future of the team.
This season, the Knicks' overall performance has been somewhat unsatisfactory, and their regular season record is only 11th in the East. But Barrett's continued improvement made him a pivotal figure in the Knicks as a whole. Barrett is the Knicks' highest plus-minus player on the field this season, and when Barrett was on the floor, the Knicks won 2.7 points per 100 rounds, and after he went off, the Knicks lost 13.9 points per 100 rounds. Barrett is cashing in on his talent and becoming an indispensable member of the team.
Barrett's figure is destined to be a good striker. Barrett's excellent movement speed + sensitive single defense, assist defense awareness, let him from the 1st position to the 4th position. Under the meticulous cultivation of Thibodeau, Barrett has become an excellent forward defensive player. Barrett played as a double defender in high school, so he could use both singles points and exquisite assists to his teammates and counter-attacks with the ball. Barrett is good at using rhythm to break through, although the choice of shooting opportunities after the breakthrough is not good, but the strong body can make him cause a lot of lethality in the penalty area.
If it were to land on the ground to play half-time, Barrett's sensitive insight would allow him and Randall to effectively block the demolition. Once there is a misplaced defense on the court, Barrett's low singles can successfully tear the opposing defense. Barrett is one of the few players with offensive diversity. If Barrett's scoring skills are stable and solid, then he can completely replace Randall as the new generation of leaders of the team.
The Knicks' arena, Madison Square Garden, is known to industry insiders as the "mecca of basketball." But they only won 2 NBA championships in the 1970s. So, New Yorkers, who regard money as water, thought of various ways to get Jonix back to the top of the NBA. In particular, after the wealthy Dolan became the owner of the Knicks in 1999, he intensified his team building. In the years that Dolan took office, the Knicks have changed a total of 15 head coaches. Star players such as Anthony and Xiaosi have also been introduced. But the team's record has been unsatisfactory, with only a 41.2 percent win rate and six playoff trips. Since you can't get superstars through trading. So they slowed down the pace of revival and focused more on cultivating new stars. Barrett is their most successful rookie in recent years, with the exception of Porzingis.
Barrett, as a young and famous player, came to the NBA and did not perform as expected from him. Look at Morant, who entered the NBA in the same year, has led the team to the third place in the West, and often plays the role of a single savior in the final moments. Although Barrett is also improving year by year, he still has a certain gap with Morant. If Barrett doesn't lead the team to the desired result in his third season in the NBA, will he be a deal chip for New York's rebuilding like Porzingis?
Everyone wants to be Jordan, but someone becomes Kobe, someone becomes James. I hope Barrett can play the expectations of the fans for him as soon as possible and become his true self.