New York Knicks: 3 reasons RJ Barrett will thrive under Tom Thibodeau

3. The Coach K connection

Any questions that Barrett may have about Thibodeau can be answered by his former college coach, the legendary Mike Krzyzewski. RJ played his one season of college at Duke for Coach K, and Thibodeau coached under him for Team USA basketball.

After Minnesota hired Thibodeau, Krzyzewski called him “one of the greatest coaches on the planet” and said he learned a lot from his ex-assistant. That’s high praise from the winningest college basketball coach of all time.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim — also part of that staff — recently spoke to SNY’s Ian Begley about Thibodeau and Coach K watching film until four in the morning. That kind of work ethic impresses and hopefully rubs off on players.

It impressed LeBron James enough to reach out to Thibodeau about joining the Los Angeles Lakers as the top assistant before Ty Lue’s contract negotiations fell through.

Barrett’s already a very hard worker, and Thibodeau won’t have to worry about the support system behind his new young prospect. Barrett’s been preparing to play at the highest level for a long time. His father played pro ball overseas and in the Olympics for Canda. He’s now the general manager of the team.

Barrett’s godfather is Hall of Famer Steve Nash. He was the consensus No. 1 recruit in high school and went to Duke, where he knew the spotlight would be on him with every game.