RJ Barrett already has a special place in Knicks fans’ hearts. The six-foot-seven, 202-pound forward who excelled in Durham this past season has been tweeted about and discussed more than anyone else by the Knicks fan base since it was revealed that New York would select third in the draft.
Barrett is a polarizing player; a guy who attacks the rim with reckless abandon and has shown flashes of high-level playmaking, rebounding, and defense, but who also had a shooting line of .454/.308/.665 and overall played poorly on defense. There are questions about nearly every part of his game, and yet, he remains in the “elite-but-not-Zion” tier of the draft class along with Murray State’s Ja Morant (who is going to be picked second by Memphis).