New York Knicks: What they should do with the third pick in the 2019 draft

The Knicks have the opportunity to take a fantastic player in RJ Barrett and can’t pass that up.

If Zion Williamson hadn’t played for Duke this past season, you likely would have heard the name RJ Barrett, much more. Barrett is a fantastic player who in most other drafts would be the top overall selection, but unfortunately for him, he happened to wind up in the same class and school as Zion.

Barrett is a phenomenal player who has the ability to get to the basket, almost with ease. He is fantastic at setting up plays and getting the ball exactly where it needs to be, at exactly the time it needs to be there.

In addition to this, RJ Barrett is one of the most athletic players in this draft which is why he will undoubtedly be the third pick this year. Because of his athleticism and strength, Barrett has the versatility to guard almost anyone regardless of size/position.

RJ Barrett has one of the highest ceilings in this draft for a wide variety of reasons. At Duke, this past season, the native of Canada averaged 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.

These are fantastic stats in and of themselves, but they’re even better when you consider the fact that he was sharing the ball with the top pick in this year’s draft, Zion Williamson, a top ten pick in this year’s draft, Cam Reddish and also future star Tre Jones.

RJB is the kind of player that doesn’t need the ball in his hands to succeed, he has the ability to set up players and help out without it.

If there was one weakness to Barrett’s game it would be his low free throw percentage. He shot a mere 66.5% from the free throw line this season and that hurt Duke in several games that came down to the wire this past season.

Barrett was widely criticized this season for his inability to shoot free throws and also his lack of a clutch gene. A couple of the games where Duke lost this season and a couple of games they won by a closer than expected margin, were in part because of Barrett not being clutch down the stretch.

These, however, are actually very nice problems to have. If there is one problem a player wants going into the NBA it is the lack of a free throw shot. The reason for this is because that deficiency can be fixed, many of the intangibles that are just part of Barrett’s game, can’t be taught which is what makes him such an incredible player.

It is for this reason that the New York Knicks would just be crazy to get rid of the third pick and the chance to take RJ Barrett. If they do end up getting a couple of marquee players such as maybe Kevin Durant and/or Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson or any of the other superstar free agents, Barrett would be a fantastic young player to stick alongside them.