RJ Barrett’s Coach Makes An Interesting Comparison

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 1: R.J. Barrett #9 of the New York Knicks prior to the start of the game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on November 1, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts.  | Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

Now that’s saying something

This is not a strict comparison but Knicks coach David Fizdale - who seems like an interesting person by the way - has compared former Blue Devil RJ Barrett to Kawhi Leonard in one interesting way:

“This kid, there’s times he’s running by me and he’s not sweating. I’m like, ‘Are you going hard?’ But he is. He’s playing really hard. There’s only one other guy that I saw that I’ve coached against that just doesn’t look like he’s breaking a sweat. That was Kawhi. Kawhi doesn’t look like he’s breathing. And RJ kind of has that same knack where he’s out there and his face doesn’t change and he’s steadily going about his business.”

That’s not to compare him entirely to Leonard but he does take this further by talking about why Barrett gets so many minutes: “A lot of it is it’s hard to take him off the floor. He does so much for us. I know it’s a lot to ask of a rookie, but he’s handling it well.”