The New York Knicks can make a deep run in the NBA Playoffs this year. They boast a squad with an All-Star in Julius Randle. Moreover, Jalen Brunson has also proven that he could take over games. This means that getting snubbed from last year's All-Star team could make him play with a chip on his shoulder in the upcoming NBA regular season. But, this is not a story for any of these guys. Rather, it is about a young gun finally evolving into a star-level talent to give the team a solid third or even at times a second option. RJ Barrett should be poised to break out in his fifth Knicks season.

Why will Knicks' RJ Barrett be the next big thing?

The former Duke basketball star has always been compared to Zion Williamson. He may not have reached the same level yet but his steady improvement from the past seasons proves that getting there could be nearer than expected.

His regular season runs prove that he has gotten more efficient when shooting and handling the ball. Barrett averaged one less field goal per game but his shooting clip has gotten better. He only notched a 40% field goal shooting average in the previous season. Now, he got up to 43.4% field goal shooting from all three levels of scoring. A lot of this comes from smarter shot selection on the interior. He knocked down 48.5% of his shots from two-point range. This was marginally better than his 46.6% clip from the same area.

His shooting could still improve and it starts with the three-point stripe. The Knicks guard/forward averaged a career-low 31% on shots taken from behind the arc. A huge concern would be the amount of questionable shots he takes from downtown. He tried to shoot 5.3 three-pointers per game but not a lot of them were falling.

Recognizing his strengths as a cutter and as a mid-range assassin could unlock his three-point shot efficiency better. Coaches and players draw up their schematics to contest RJ Barrett from downtown as of the moment. But if he starts shooting inside the arc more and shrinks the defense given his volume in that area, his three-pointers become less expected per game. It opens him to a world of possibilities.

RJ Barrett's all-around improvement

Scoring has become synonymous with Barrett since his Duke basketball days. But, he is obviously more than that. He still notched 19.6 points per game last season but he knows how to find open teammates and crash the boards. Maple Mamba grabbed five boards on average in the previous season. His ability to close out defensive plays is fairly elite. He got 4.2 rebounds this Knicks season just from playing defense.

He can also activate his court vision and make insanely smart passes on the floor. This helped him get 2.8 assists per game last NBA season which was a fairly decent boost for his team.

The best part of his game is always his availability. He played 73 games for the Knicks last season. If there was an antonym for load management, it should be coined after Barrett because he also started in all of those matchups while playing 33.9 minutes on average.

His improvement also carried over to the postseason. Barrett's previous NBA playoffs run saw him notch 14.4 points throughout five games. He now took the leap, just after a year's absence, to 19.3 points per game on 43.3% field goal shooting.

Being an All-Star is always the goal and Barrett could be right in that spot this NBA season if he makes the proper adjustments. This could also make them push for a title-contending NBA playoffs run.