Every hero must have a villain. Batman had Joker. The Avengers had Thanos. Zion Williamson had RJ Barrett.
Or that’s at least what the perception was.
As fans marveled as Williamson’s physical feats game in and game out, they grew frustrated with Barrett. But for all the things Barrett wasn’t this season – namely not being Zion – he was an incredibly talented wing player who showed why he’ll have a successful NBA career.
Ball-handling wings aren’t a dime a dozen, especially ones listed at 6’7″.
His measurements from the Nike Hoop Summit in 2017:
Height w/o shoes: 6’6.5″
Height w/ shoes: 6’7″
Weight: 193
Wingspan: 6’10
Standing Reach: 8’6.5
Profile
At 18 years old and as a freshman on a superteam, RJ Barrett put up eye-popping numbers that somehow flew under the radar while his teammate, Zion Williamson, shattered records.
Barrett averaged 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists this season. Dating back to 1992-93, a complete list of freshman to have averaged at least 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists is comprised of one name: RJ Barrett.
Only six players since 1992-93 have managed that stat line across the course of the season with a host of low- or mid-major names mixed in with Barrett and Anfernee Hardaway.
The problem, while sometimes fair, with Barrett is that his play was graded directly against a once-in-a-generation talent wearing the same jersey as him each game in Williamson. Barrett was graded on a higher curve and, while he isn’t Williamson by any means, he’s certainly a talented prospect.
The lasting taste in many mouths of fans was Duke’s performance against Gonzaga in the championship game of the Maui Invitational. With the game on the line late, Barrett used possession after possession to drive, head down, into the teeth of the defense before forcing up a contested shot. It highlighted arguably the biggest flaw of Barrett’s game but also highlighted arguably the biggest flaw of the composition of Duke’s roster.
On the season, Duke had just one player, Alex O’Connell, who shot over 33 percent from beyond the arc. Williamson, a 33.8 percent three-point shooter, had the second-highest percentage on the team. A lack of a well-rounded team is an inherent problem when forming superteams in the one-and-done era and not one unique to this Duke team and is something we dove deeper into in our profile on Cam Reddish.
The result, though, was often clogged lanes where Barrett was forced to shoot over or around outstretched arms, sometimes unsuccessfully. Take this screenshot from one of his multiple failed shots late against Gonzaga.
All five defenders are focused on Barrett with Williamson, statistically the best three-point shooter on the court for Duke, ready to crash the rim and not spotting up. The result was an awkward shot that missed and was the trend for Duke to end this game and throughout the season.
But in staring at Barrett’s faults, you miss why he was so good this season. Duke staged a big comeback late to eventually tie that game, a comeback that featured multiple big plays and finishes at the rim from Barrett, like this one off a steal.
Barrett navigates through defenders at full speed and explodes to the rim for a duke on a fellow first-rounder in Rui Hachimura.
On the occasions when there was something closer to proper spacing, or at least spacing like he’d see in an NBA offense, Barrett showed he can get around a defender and finish through contact.
On the season, Barrett shot 64.4 percent at the rim, a very respectable number, on 270 attempts. Only 36.2 percent of his shots were assisted at the rim, showing his penchant for getting there on his own.
Some of the other concerns offensively come with his three-point shooting, where he hit just 30.8 percent of his attempts this season. It’s a two-fold argument at the next level where, ideally, he’s in an offense where he can drive and kick and his shooting from range won’t be as necessary as it was at Duke. But regardless, the shot has to improve.
Give him NBA spacing, though, and you have a long, versatile wing player that can pass, rebound and drive and put up historic numbers for arguably the best team in basketball this season. Ignore the name or the stigma attached to it at times this year and you see a top-rated talent.
Fit With Lakers
As has been reiterated over and over in our draft profiles so far, the Lakers need shooting. That being said, if they land at number two in the lottery, it’d be hard to pass on a talent like Barrett. At the end of the day, talent should trump fit in the lottery.
Barrett would give the Lakers another ballhandler and potentially mitigate the need for a natural point guard in free agency. With Lonzo Ball’s injury concerns growing by the season, Barrett provides another ballhandler, similar to Brandon Ingram, that can dictate the offense and create on his own.
The latter aspect is something the Lakers lacked last season. Few players outside of LeBron James and Ingram could create their own shot last season and Barrett offers another release valve.
If nothing else, Barrett is simply another valuable young asset for the Lakers that the team could use to go star-chasing. He likely isn’t going to put the Lakers over the top but he’s going to continue adding depth to a talented young core.
