RJ Barrett is a pick n’ roll maestro for the first time in his career

It’s true, the pick n’ roll frequency in the NBA is trending down (slightly) as teams adjust to different forms of attack, but it’s still the main engine of so much of what happens in the league. Teams have concocted so many ways of defending it — sometimes with two men, sometimes with five — but the inherent advantage is quite simple: your defender is caught on a screen, is slightly behind the play, and you can mine this advantage for shots.

For the first time in RJ Barrett’s NBA career, he is a high-volume pick n’ roll player, high-efficiency pick n’ roll player. He had a couple years in New York where ‘pnr’ possessions fell into his hands repeatedly, but he was never able to convert. In fact in 2021-22 — the 3rd year for Barrett and the unofficial leap year for many star wings — Barrett’s most common play with the Knicks was as a pick n’ roll ball handler. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go very well. Barrett created less layups for his teammates, the threes he created for others didn’t drop in often, and he missed a lot of his own looks.

Now, in Toronto? Barrett’s most common play is the pick n’ roll, and with a bullet. The Raptors run a lot of triangle, they love playing off of Jakob Poeltl, but when they want some of their normative and dependable creation they turn to Barrett for a pick n’ roll – and an elite one.

The Raptors opening, scripted play against the Bulls was a ghosted ram screen from Gradey Dick that is meant to shift around the Bulls defense before Barrett & Poeltl initiate a good ol’ high ball screen. Barrett gets the edge, slow plays it with Pat Williams on his hip and slides the pocket pass to Poeltl once Nikola Vucevic plants his feet. Then we get Poeltl’s slide step — god, it is so good, it’s some of the best footwork in the league, it is so unbelievably good — and a layup. That play really encapsulates why Barrett has been so much better. Barrett’s pacing as a pick n’ roll ball handler has improved greatly, as has his playmaking overall; and the Raptors support those improvements with intentional play design, and one of the best roll men in the league.

Also, as a quick note: Poeltl deserves a lot of credit for most of the ongoing positives in the Raptors offense, but the Raptors are still a well below average pick n’ roll team on the whole. Poeltl, with his elite screening and finishing, is able to enhance Barrett’s skills – which have been quite good on their own. Barrett is the only ‘pnr’ ball handler on the Raptors who has been able to clear 1 point per possession (he’s way ahead of everyone else at 1.091).

The Raptors can run a Spain pick n’ roll with Bruno Fernando as the big and Davion Mitchell as the back screener (can you think of a worse combo?) but as long as Barrett is the ball handler he can drag multiple defenders to him and dump off to Fernando for a wide open dunk. Barrett can take a high ball screen with Jonathan Mogbo and turn it into a sly behind-the-back feed for a layup. Everyone on the Raptors is a Poeltl-merchant to some degree, but Barrett has the best, let’s say, trade agreement with Poeltl by far.

When it comes to gravity with the ball in hand, Barrett is pulling defenders everywhere. It’s part of the reason why the Raptors shoot so much better on C&S threes with Barrett making the pass – they’re better shots with more clearance against contests. Barrett has been sniping to the weak-side corner for triples yes, but there’s also the matter of the harder digs (that border on doubles) that create great chasms of space for players like Dick & Agbaji to launch from above-the-break. The Raptors are shooting 40-percent on spot up threes out of Barrett pick n’ rolls for these reasons.

As far as finding the roll man? The rollers are shooting 75-percent inside the arc when Barrett is running the pick n’ roll (and again, not just a Poeltl thing, as the big man is shooting 60-percent as the roll man overall on the season). We’ll also see how all this shakes out with Poeltl out for a little bit.

One final wrinkle that the Raptors lean into as well, and credit needs to go to Darko Rajakovic for this, is the off-ball cutting that the Raptors employ in their offense. Some of these are reactive reads like a corner crash from Chris Boucher when his man tags the roller, but there’s lots of scripted high-low actions that the Raptors like to place into the offense – and they usually use a ball screen up top (and Barrett’s threat as a ball handler) to create seal opportunities.

An insane stat: per Synergy, the Raptors have scored off as many cuts on Barrett pick n’ rolls this season, as the Knicks did in Barrett’s last 169 games. Same volume in 145 fewer games. Nuts.

So, while the Raptors environment has certainly helped elevate this skill of Barrett’s, he’s providing his own value and largely building off of his improving physicality — which overwhelms most like-sized players — a burgeoning playmaking game, and a rugged resiliency that motivates him to rarely kill his dribble, hunt for re-screens, and to keep working downhill until he creates a great look for himself or others. Who knows what this all looks like in the future when the Raptors are looking to win games, take the next step, and are tidying up some of their processes; but for now, the Barrett pick n’ roll remains a shining beacon for the Raptors offense.

Have a blessed day.

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