Knicks’ RJ Barrett is heating up after another slow start

A new reality show hits MSG Network next summer.

One impassioned head coach and one eager up-and-comer are locked in an apartment with no connection to the outside world. Find out what happens when people stop getting polite and start getting real.

They don’t eat food. Twice a day, they snack on the gum-piercing taste of grit. They don’t sleep; you don’t rest when you’re yet to perfect strong-side pressure defense. Reviewers may call the show derivative, but that’s only because they haven’t watched it a second time to check the film.

Such is the pitch of New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau for one of his top young players, RJ Barrett.

Barrett began this season slowly, not just missing shots but struggling to fit into the Knicks offense. Yet, throughout a start when the 22-year-old clanked more iron than he graced nylon, Thibodeau held onto a staunch belief: Barrett has progressed before, and he will do it again.

Barrett got off to a slow start last season, and the one before that, and the one before that. For weeks, Thibodeau insisted the former No. 3 overall pick would once again turn it around. In December, the coach has been proven correct. But that doesn’t mean he wants the habit to continue.

Alas, brace yourselves for the quirkiest TV you’ve seen since “Joe Millionaire.”

“He’s staying with me next summer, so he’ll be good,” Thibodeau smirked. “No summer off.”

The unfortunate reality is, a Barrett-Thibodeau buddy series may be dead before it even begins.

“We’ll be watching film all day long,” Barrett chuckled.

But there’s more: Whether Barrett spends the summer of 2023 living his best life or on Thibodeau’s couch staring at grainy video of Taj Gibson pick-and-roll coverage, this upcoming offseason won’t be like the one he just lived through.

There’s a sobering norm to becoming a professional athlete: you don’t get to play the children’s game whenever you like. Guys who feel healthy sit out so they can rejuvenate their bodies. They have training schedules over the summers that are specific to their needs. And then there’s the business side of it all.

When a player anticipates a new contract, whether through free agency or an extension, he does his best to stay in shape but also avoids situations where he could get injured — like, say, playing in an actual basketball game. Normally, that leaves guys with plenty of time to regain their rhythm for the regular season. They go to the gym but avoid pickup games until free agency. Once they sign their new deals, they have three months of ball before the regular season kicks off.

Barrett’s experience was different.

See, Barrett was eligible for a big extension starting June 30, which he ended up signing, but not until September, in part because the Knicks pursued Donovan Mitchell. And thus, Barrett trekked through the summer working out however he could. It’s just that “however he could” did not include virulent amounts of pickup basketball.

He attended camp with the Canadian national team, but he didn’t participate in many of their basketball activities. Instead, he soaked up the terminology, game plans and culture.

“It was weird not really getting to play runs like I normally do,” Barrett said. “Just going the whole time without basketball, it was a little weird.”

Barrett is hardly the first NBA player to go through this. The most extreme recent example came a couple of years ago during the height of COVID-19 with Washington Wizards sharpshooter Davis Bertans. The 2019-20 season shut down in the middle of March, Bertans skipped the NBA bubble that summer and free agency did not begin until November. He went to camp admittedly out of shape after avoiding pickup basketball for eight months and spent the whole season trying to play catch-up.

Those circumstances are far more drastic than Barrett’s. He wasn’t out of shape. No one with the Knicks is questioning his dedication. But, as he puts it:

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to play basketball, man. I was still working out, but there’s no shape like game shape. Playing the games, getting used to that again, is the best thing.”

All of a sudden, a slow start to 2022-23 begins to make sense. And with the way he’s turned it on lately, Barrett is betting that an unfortunate autumn is the only consequence of an unusual summer.

The Knicks may have lost for the first time in two and a half weeks Wednesday evening, but it wasn’t because of Barrett, whose turnaround has been a key part of the eight-game winning streak the team just reeled off. Barrett went for 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting in the defeat to the Toronto Raptors. He got into the paint, drained four 3-pointers and found shooters lining the perimeter better.

“That’s really who RJ is,” Thibodeau said. “In my three years, it’s just a steady climb all season long. It just keeps going. I think he’s found a good rhythm. I think when he’s in the open floor and he’s getting downhill, it’s good for our team. He’s impossible to guard when he’s playing like that.”

The numbers have been staggering during most of the Knicks’ run, especially considering he was one of the league’s least-efficient scorers until it began. Over his past seven games, he’s averaging 24.9 points on 52 percent 2-point shooting and 40 percent on 3-pointers.

Thibodeau uses him differently now. The Knicks going to a nine-man rotation almost three weeks ago has meant stretches where Barrett gets to run with the second unit. But even in those situations, his decision-making has changed. He’s taking 35 percent more shots in the paint. And he’s doing it in a more skilled fashion. It’s as if he’s growing more comfortable with the game.

Last season and even during the early parts of this one, so much of Barrett’s buckets came when he put his head down and barreled to the rim. He still does that; his strength is his greatest … strength. But lately, he’s showing off ways to score beyond just forcing his way to inches from the basket.

For example, take the game in Indiana from this past weekend, when Barrett went up against the Pacers’ high-flying shot blocker Myles Turner.

Barrett was more methodical. He posted up. One time, he hit a turnaround floater with his back to the basket. He used a little rip-through move to surprise an unexpecting defender and draw a foul as if he was trying out a DeMar DeRozan impersonation two days after he faced DeRozan, which may not be a coincidence since Barrett studies the All-Star’s distinct style.

He prods into the lane more and uses his brawn once he arrives. In this play, he notices Buddy Hield daring him to go right and finishes on the way down against Turner:

On this one, he notices Hield ball-watching and makes a nifty cut for an and-one finish:

He’s using a changeup and is finding space better when he plays with the starters. During the second part of last season, Barrett became the first option. Now, when he’s with Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, he’s often the third one.

The Pacers game was unquestionably his best floater performance ever. He took six of them in Indiana and made five. One was off a crafty cut, three were during drives and one was on that post-up.

This kind of touch wasn’t present earlier. Even when he went on that hot streak to conclude 2021-22, Barrett’s floater has always been a weakness. Lately, he’s found it.

“I work on it,” Barrett said. “If that’s the shot a team wants to give me, I gotta be able to knock it down.”

Brunson, the pivot extraordinaire, jokes behind the scenes that Barrett is stealing his moves. It’s not like he’s giving Barrett private lessons.

“I’ve been doing that. … I’ve been watching a lot of film, trying to work on new things,” Barrett said. But it’s a little easier to pick up tips from someone whose office is only a few lockers to your left.

“I give him a hard time, but he’s in a rhythm,” Brunson said. “He’s playing well. He’s just being able to read a defense. You see something, you try to attack it. He’s just doing great at it.”

Now, Barrett’s contract situation is resolved. He’s extended for four years and will make at least $107 million. The deal doesn’t kick in until next season, but he has security. Next summer, business interests take no precedence.

He plans to play for the Canadian national team in the FIBA Basketball World Cup, scheduled for the end of August and into September. He will spend time in Los Angeles, the offseason capital of the NBA these days, sailing through pickup runs aplenty with other pros. Barrett’s trainer hosts intense summer sessions that include other top-notch players, such as Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine and Bradley Beal.

Though there is one problem with that plan: The commute to L.A. from Thibodeau’s couch will be treacherous.

(Photo of Barrett: Joe Murphy / NBAE via Getty Images)