Winners and losers from Knicks preseason

Winner: RJ Barrett

The Knicks third overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft has been the biggest winner so far this preseason. That is beautiful news for the Knicks because being their third option, a lot of the Knicks success depends on Barrett's improvement. 

Over the course of Barrett's career, he has averaged 18.1 points per game but he did that shooting 42.2 percent from the field, 34.3 percent from 3, and 70.9 percent from the free throw line.

Barrett is very good at scoring at the rim, solid mid range shooter, and a below average three point shooter. All of that is fine if you can score at the rim at an elite level but the one thing that he can't be is a poor free throw shooter. 

Barrett has slowly improved his free throw shooting every year getting it up to 74 percent last season. Even with him improving, shooting 74 percent leaves a lot of points up on the board. Barrett knows that and focused this past offseason working on his free throw shooting.

His work is paying off and he has made a drastic improvement at the free throw line. In the first game he went 9-of-9 from the free throw line and in the second game he went 9-of-12 from the free throw line. He is shooting a total 86 percent from the free throw line in the postseason.

Him shooting 86 percent for a season may be a stretch but, shooting around 80 percent would be ideal. Along with shooting a high percentage, he has gotten to the free throw line a lot. This is a really good thing because it means he's attacking the basket and staying away from the three point line.

He uses his strengths and making his free throws makes him the biggest winner for the Knicks. The improvement from RJ Barrett is the most important factor if the Knicks want to be taken seriously as a contender.