New York Knicks: 3 reasons to pursue Davis Bertans in free agency
By Chip Murphy
2. He complements the young core well
RJ Barrett needs help, and Davis Bertans can give it to him. To say the 2019-20 Knicks had problems with spacing would be a monumental understatement. If you watched a single Knicks game this season, you’d probably know that.
Barrett averaged 9.8 drives per game this season but he shot just 37.1 percent on those attempts. According to NBA Stats, Barrett shared the court with Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton for 635 of his 1,704 minutes this season.
That means Barrett played just over 37.0 percent of his minutes with two of the league’s worst 3-point shooters. Randle shot 27.7 percent on 3.6 attempts per game from downtown, and Payton was a tragic 20.3 percent on 1.5 attempts a night.
Barrett needs someone to open up space so he can attack the rim. There are several players available to do that, but Bertans is a top-level option. But RJ Barrett isn’t the only young player who could use a floor-spacing power forward.
Mitchell Robinson does all of his offensive work around the rim. He’s been in the 100th percentile in the percentage of shots at the rim in each of his seasons, per Cleaning the Glass. Robinson’s most common NBA comparison is Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
The Jazz have been able to maximize Gobert’s rim-running talents by pairing him with stretch fours like Jae Crowder and Bojan Bogdanovic. Signing Bertans would be an equally savvy move to help Mitch.