The New York Knicks have been on the downturn as of late. They've dropped their last three games and have lost 11 of their last 17 overall. RJ Barrett's struggles have been part of the reason why.
The third-year Knicks swingman has been ice-cold shooting the ball from long-range. In the past 13 games, he's gone 13-for-58 from the three-point line which is a brutal 22.4% clip.
He's yet to eclipse the 20-point plateau in that span, with his best scoring effort being a 17-point game against the Orlando Magic when he went 0-for-7 from three.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was asked about RJ Barrett's shooting struggles. While he made not of the fact that the Duke product has been sick, he had a subtle message for his young star – get back in the gym.
“To me, you get rhythm when you work,” said the Knicks coach. “Last year he got going when he starting coming in every night to shoot. There's no notion that ‘okay, I'll do it sometimes. No, you've got to do it all the time. When you did it, you ended up shooting 40% from three. So get back in the gym. Get back to grooving your shot. Shoot a lot of threes and you’ll start making more.”
RJ Barrett was indeed a lethal shooter from deep last season, clocking in at 40.1% from three. But that number has dropped to a career-worst 31.0% shooting from deep and 39.6% from the field thus far.
The Knicks have a host of other problems that have led to their inconsistent play, but a shooting resurgence from RJ Barrett could go a long way in helping them get back on the winning track.
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