The five games before this one were not pretty for R.J. Barrett:
16 points, 4-of-13 shooting
2 points, 0-of-9 shooting
9 points, 4-of-10 shooting
12 points, 4-of-11 shooting
5 points, 1-of-9 shooting
Okay, so some of those aren’t so bad (taking 13 shots to score 16 points and drawing hella fouls Harden-style is a good development for Barrett), but Barrett’s put up a couple clunkers recently that totally removed him from the ROTY of the Year talks that he had been embroiled in. Now he’s just another inefficient rookie with a big role on a bad team trying to find his way in the NBA. Which isn’t a bad thing. It’s just not something that will usually win you ROTY of the Year (unless you’re Michael Carter-Williams).
This game was an improvement, though (if you ignore the missed free throw with seven seconds left that could have made it a two-possession game). Barrett shot above 50% on threes for the third time this season, had some sick dunks, got a double-double with rebounds, and generally played well.
Most tellingly: I had started making Barrett a little construction-paper gravestone for the “Graveyard of Busts” that I keep on my desk, but I’ve shelved that project for now. Instead, I directed my creative efforts towards creating a gravestone for Cam Reddish.