We should have seen this coming. We should have known that Zion Williamson’s knees would disintegrate before his first regular-season game. We should have begun preparations to have R.J. Barrett be the NBA’s most hyped rookie several weeks, if not months, ago. Now we’re playing catch-up. Narratives need to be rewritten. Merchandise needs to be redistributed. Someone get some Russian social-media manipulators on the case and have them manipulate social media to have a significantly more pronounced pro-Barrett slant.
And all those national television games that were prematurely given to the Pelicans? I don’t know how the rules work with all that stuff, but some or all of those will need to be converted into Knicks games, pronto. No one’s tuning into see Lonzo Ball and his talentless band of Lakers rejects. People will tune in to see super-stud Barrett and the Knicks’ five power forward rotation, though.
I’m recalling that Barrett received some flak for his lackluster Summer League performances. Those people who were sending the flak in his direction need to apologize. RIGHT NOW. Maybe these weren’t the most aesthetic 21 points that the world has ever seen, but I don’t see all the haters going out on the world’s biggest stage (AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas) and getting buckets.
For real though, some of these shots seemed kind of tough. Good on Barrett for finishing a bunch of them, but making crazy contorted layups isn’t a recipe for long-term NBA success. Were the haters I was talking about hating on him for not having a reliable jumper? Because maybe they’re right.