RJ Barrett is cutting through defenses
Lots of things have been said, and deservedly so, of RJ Barrett’s sprint toward the mountain top of elite secondary scoring. 22/6/4 on 61% TS while with the Raptors isn’t anything to turn your nose up at, and especially when he did it on virtually as many touches per game as Kelly Olynyk. Doing a lot with a little. Let’s figure out how he’s able to make that work.
Especially since we’ve figured out he can drive in both directions.
Barrett was the Raptors best driver – better than both Scottie Barnes & Pascal Siakam – and he was also their best scorer out of isolation. He did the tough stuff, and he did it well. However, the Raptors have a coach in Darko Rajakovic and a star player in Barnes, who both love ball movement, player movement, and a bunch of the more forward thinking basketball ideals. The team doesn’t try to create exclusively with ball pounding, drive and kick wizardry like the Knicks do – more or less. In this new environment, Barrett has unlocked one of his most admirable qualities – his willingness to do work off the ball.
“One thing you have to give credit to RJ for, he’s an extremely smart offensive player. We can play a full quarter, I’m not gonna run one play for him and he just finds a way.” said coach Darko Rajakovic. “He gets himself in the game with a cut, with rebounds, with running, he’s an extremely gifted offensive player, he just knows how to play and how to get to the right spots.”
When I think of Barrett’s best games, I think of a truffle pig hunting ceaselessly for truffles. Only the truffles aren’t truffles, they’re the rim. On the Raptors, Barrett has taken his work ethic, his comfortability with contact, his willingness to plunge into the teeth of the defense like a 1986 fullback hitting the A gap, and he’s become an excellent cutter.
Below, you’ll see Barrett constantly in a hunched position and scanning for opportunities in a possession, and multiple times in a single possession. He shades his drivers with 45 cuts, he explodes out of the blade cut that has been scripted for him by both the Knicks & the Raptors; he creeps the baseline, lurks in the dunker spot (which more and more guards are being asked to do in the NBA to invert some spacing and provide funky looks), he’ll screen and seal, and he’ll throw his body at the rim after all of it.
There’s a stark change in the numbers — his cut frequency almost doubled with the Raptors, he made three times as many shots off cuts in just 6 more games, and he was far more efficient on them — but his body language is that of someone who is eagerly looking for any sliver of space to dive into. The Raptors want that, the Raptors love that, and Barrett delivers.
“You have to count yourself lucky when players give themselves to a system like it seems RJ has. There’s no substitute for shot-making and RJ has just been flat out better at finding the cup as a Raptor, but when I watch now there’s a definitive change in how often he’s trying to make plays and change the defense with his off-ball motion. The Knicks are good, they do their own thing, but that’s the only team RJ got to play for, so to see these positive changes when he’s with the Raptors, it makes me wonder how much more could change positively.”
Eastern Conference Scout
A lot of what made Barrett pop when he came to Toronto was transition basketball. He’s pushed hard, and often. He’s gotten to play to his strengths, too. However, he still shot nearly 53-percent on halfcourt possessions as a Raptor, and over 58-percent inside the arc. So much of that is fueled by the extra work he’s putting in as a cutter. It’s efficient, it’s no frills, it fits anywhere.
For those of you who drive the ball and do it with conviction — which I understand is much of mine and RR’s readership — a well timed cut is a lifeline for your creation. Too often now, people think help comes in the way of spacing out. Vacate the premises, let him cook, all that jazz. The real help is the teammate who phases through the defense, into the teeth of it, and into the trenches with you. Between Barnes & Barrett, the Raptors are ready for the gritty stuff.
As he laughed his way through it, Immanuel Quickley told me: “RJ… likes to score the basketball, and if RJ can cut to score he’s gonna do it. That’s the only reason he cuts.” as Quickley told me this, Barrett was peering over my shoulder while whispering threats to his point guard. Quickley continued: “If I get stuck he’s gonna find a way to get open and get a clean shot off, so it actually helps us a lot.”
In the Raptors heavy motion offense, there’s no reason to believe this is the high water mark of what Barrett can do as a cutter. More than likely, we’ve just saw the beginning. It’s imperative that the Raptors & Barrett take every opportunity to get him running towards the rim, and I think they will.
Have a blessed day.
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