I honestly feel like the only thing keeping Knicks fans alive at this point is the fact that R.J. Barrett is looking pretty okay for a 19-year-old rookie. Everything else about the team is draining their collective life force to critical levels, but Barrett’s injection of excitement into the proceedings is just enough to save the Knicks fanbase from flatlining.
Was it expected that Barrett would be third on the Knicks in PPG per game? They made a lot of big signings in the off-season, but most of them have underperformed significantly, paving the way for Barrett to establish himself early. If players like Knox, Ellington, and Portis were showing more, Barrett wouldn’t be getting over thirty MPG per game, but they’re not, so he is. Out of everybody on the whole team, it really seems like Barrett, Marcus Morris, and Mitchell Robinson are the only ones who aren’t infecting the whole team with their disappointingness.
Maybe Barrett playing heavy minutes and leading the Knicks to a fifteen-win season is preferable to Portis and Randle leading the Knicks to a thirty-win season? Neither scenario is very watchable, but at least Barrett is a young version of unwatchable versus an old version of unwatchable. And Knicks fans can always temporarily switch to the Nets if things are too unbearable. Not every fanbase has it so nice.