‘Right situation’ has unlocked potential of ex-Knicks
TORONTO — The start of RJ Barrett’s “full circle” back to his hometown, as Masai Ujiri explained, was about a decade ago.
Barrett was probably a middle schooler at that point, hitting his teenage years. His father, Rowan, a prominent figure in Canadian basketball, escorted young RJ into the tunnel at the Raptors arena to meet an emerging top NBA executive for advice. Repeatedly.
“Every single time he brought him to a game, he’d bring him to me. Every single time,” Ujiri, the Raptors team president, said. “He’d say, ‘Here’s my son, he loves basketball, please say something to him.’ Every single time.”
Ujiri provided that anecdote as a segue into his motivation for acquiring Barrett: the hope of unlocking the 23-year-old’s higher level with a relocation back home. Ujiri suggested the Knicks, the team that used its highest draft pick since Patrick Ewing to choose the small forward, may not have been “the right” fit.
“What do I think of him and can there be growth? Absolutely. He’s 23 years old and I think sometimes these players are put in those situations,” Ujiri said. “And sometimes in the beginning of their careers they’re not in the right situation, to be honest. We’re hoping with him, that was the case. So that he can be better here.”
Perhaps Ujiri was on to something. The very early returns are strong for both Barrett and Immanuel Quickley ahead of their MSG reunion Saturday. That was anticipated with Quickley, whose role was elevated from reserve to starter with more minutes after he left the shadow of Jalen Brunson.
As Erik Spoelstra said before the Heat lost to the Raptors on Wednesday, “This probably has been invigorating for him. We’re dealing with a dangerous player who is ignitable.”
(Quickley then ignited for 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.)
But Barrett’s rise in efficiency was less predictable. In New York, he shot just 42 percent over four-plus seasons and 34 percent from beyond the arc — arguably the biggest pockmark of his tenure. With Toronto, he’s up to 55 percent from the field and 40 percent on treys. It’s only 10 games, and Barrett, as he demonstrated with the Knicks, runs hot and cold.
But he believes his “cash” shooting is more than a fluke.
“It’s a different team so you get different looks in another system,” Barrett told The Post. “So I just think I’ve been doing a great job capitalizing.”
There is more ball movement in Toronto (29.6 assists per game this season compared to the Knicks’ 24), although Barrett didn’t specify the system difference. The important context is that the Raptors are losing (five of six ahead of the MSG game) while the Knicks are dominating since acquiring OG Anunoby. That was also part of the deal. The Raptors jump-started a rebuild and seem content with playing through mistakes/leaky defense as they transition from the Pascal Siakam era to the Scottie Barnes era.
The draft lottery is an acceptable outcome, whether or not they acknowledge it. It’ll never be like that under Tom Thibodeau.
“Obviously RJ has already been establishing himself so I’d say the biggest opportunity is for Quick. An opportunity for him to grow, to see where it goes,” Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. told The Post. “Good, bad, ugly, however it’s going to be. They’re rolling with him. He has every opportunity to go out there and play hard and whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to be.”
Regardless of the expectations, the new Raptors are heading to New York believing in a victory. Barrett said he’ll probably guard Anunoby, who is making an outsized impact on the Knicks’ defense.
There’s a lot of familiarity on both sides.
“I know them. They know me, too,” Barrett said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Quickley, now the starting point guard, figures to go head-to-head with Brunson. It’s a rematch of many gym sessions — especially during Knicks training just a few months ago in Charleston, S.C.
“I ain’t going to lie, we didn’t practice that much [during the season],” Quickley said. “Training camp was like that though — I would guard him in practice so it was like that.”
Despite being shipped across the border by the team that drafted them, Quickley and Barrett expressed neither animosity toward the Knicks nor added motivation for Saturday’s game.
On the latter, they’ve always been good avoiding headlines in interviews. On the former, it’s tough to be mad after being sent to a better situation.
“They’ve been playing well,” Barrett said. “I think the trade worked out for both sides.”