NEW YORK — There are certain goals most players have when coming into the NBA, some more realistic than others. There is winning a championship. There is being an All-Star. Maybe somebody wants to hit a buzzer-beating game winner or score 50 points in a game.
In terms of experiencing a moment, though, having your name chanted by the New York Knicks faithful during a home game at Madison Square Garden has to be right up there — at least if you play for the Knicks.
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“Oh, it’s crazy,” new Toronto Raptors swingman RJ Barrett, who earned those cheers a few times, said Saturday morning before he lost his first game against his old team 126-100. “Holy — that’s the loudest thing ever. And it fuels you and motivates you.
“It’s like a show at the Garden with all the lights and everything that goes on. I was always appreciative of that. I always loved playing in the Garden.”
He and his fellow returning teammate, Immanuel Quickley, got the love back. The game operations staff at the Garden smartly announced the former Knicks last when introducing the Raptors’ starters, and the fans responded by giving both players standing ovations. They got more cheers after a joint tribute video at the first timeout.
Appreciate all the moments RJ and Quick made at @TheGarden 🤝 pic.twitter.com/WNPaWaqZPn
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) January 21, 2024
With due respect to their time in New York, as well as OG Anunoby’s in Toronto, the revelation from the five-player trade that went down at the end of 2023 is that all three are now in the right spot. For all three players, they were just not going to get the opportunity that suited them best in their old homes.
For Anunoby, his supercharged 3-and-D skill set gets lost on a losing team, or at least loses some of its value. He had not developed offensively to be worthy of taking a significant number of possessions away from Scottie Barnes or the since-traded Pascal Siakam.
Barrett gets to become, if not the face of a franchise, one of the biggest faces in Canadian basketball, the most accomplished Canadian to ever play for the Raptors in his prime. He will be encouraged to develop his passing, in an environment where he will be allowed to fail a little. Quickley is the most obvious winner, getting to lead as Toronto’s starting point guard — and he will be paid accordingly by the Raptors over the offseason as a restricted free agent. That wasn’t happening with Jalen Brunson’s All-Star-level play.
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“I mean, look where they are,” Barrett said when asked if he was disappointed about his time with the Knicks, who picked him third overall in 2019. Barrett led the Raptors with 20 points. “When you build something, when you’re a part of something — getting back to the playoffs after a long drought, then not making it, then going back and winning a playoff series — those experiences with those people over there, coming in at 19 and then leaving at 23, they definitely helped me grow up. I’ll never forget New York.”
The hope is that it has prepared him, as well as Quickley, for bigger roles in Toronto. The Raptors’ timeline for playoff success is now a few years down the road with the trades of Anunoby and Siakam, but the former Knicks are an obvious next to Barnes in age and skills.
Whenever — if — these Raptors are ready to win, ideally the time in New York will make the Raptors’ playoff reappearance smoother.
“Going to Kentucky, probably the biggest media market in college basketball, and then going to the New York Knicks, one of the biggest media markets in sports, period — probably top five in sports — is just preparing me, I think,” Quickley said. “Thick skin, really tough: I think mentally it’s prepared me, and as an athlete, that’s probably one of the biggest things, your mental preparation.”
If Quickley and Barrett are lucky, maybe they will make the impact on winning that Anunoby is making with the Knicks. Anunoby has been a perfect fit in New York, just as the Knicks brass imagined. The Knicks are 9-2 since the deal, coming into the Raptors game with a 104.1 defensive rating, the second-best mark in the league. The Knicks have held opponents to just 98.7 points per 100 possessions when Anunoby has been on the floor, which he has been for nearly 37 minutes per night. The Knicks have outscored their opponents by 190 points in Anunoby’s 404 minutes.
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“He’s made our lives a lot easier,” Knicks centre Isaiah Hartenstein said.
Anunoby does not have the bigger role he occasionally pushed for in Toronto. His usage rate in New York is lower than it has been since his third year in the league. It is easier to accept a role like that when you are on a team that is winning and a nice payday is coming your way.
“Yeah, I feel like (I’m making a difference), even plays that don’t go on the stat sheet, little stuff, a steal here and there, a block or a contest or a closeout that forces a bad shot, little stuff that doesn’t get noticed,” Anunoby said. “I try to do all those other things.”
Anunoby wasted no time reminding his old teammates what they lost, coming across from the sideline to bother a dunk attempt from Jontay Porter. He later zoomed out to the corner to block a Barrett 3. He helped make Barnes, who was visibly upset after the trade, a non-factor in the second half.
“Strong, physical, knows how to hold his ground, good size,” Barnes said, summing up his old teammate. “It’s just not easy going at him. He’s a great defender, we’ve all known that since day one.”
On the other side, Quickley hit a 3 early and broke out his familiar skipping celebration. A few possessions later, Barrett dunked. A few minutes later, he was shuffling to the rim for a layup, as he does. A banker off a full-court pass from Barnes came next.
YEAHHH RJ 😤 pic.twitter.com/H9c282nP0M
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 21, 2024
Anunoby will not have to change a thing about how he plays with the Knicks. Quickley needs to work on blending his scoring and playmaking. He had 11 assists Saturday, one of his more pass-heavy games. The Raptors badly need Barrett to go up a level defensively to have Barnes be able to play more often on the back line, where he can cause havoc.
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Still, both players offer a lot right, for which they were cheered Saturday. Now Anunoby is left to think about his return to Toronto, scheduled for March 27.
“It’ll be a crazy feeling when I go back, for sure,” Anunoby said. “I’m looking forward to it, though.”
Notes
• Anunoby echoed Siakam, who said he didn’t envision a future outside of Toronto.
“It’s still weird not being a Raptor,” Anunoby said. “Like (Siakam), I never imagined playing for another team. I was in Toronto for seven years. I loved it there. So I never imagined playing for another team.”
• Lest he be forgotten, that was a good, in-control game from Precious Achiuwa, who played very well within his role. Hartenstein left the game in the second half, and Achiuwa finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
• Brunson skipped after putting the Knicks up 14 in the third quarter, likely a nod to his former understudy. TSN’s Kayla Grey also reported Julius Randle yelled, “I’m in his head!” after Barrett missed a free throw. Barrett went 3-for-9 from the stripe. The Knicks are mean!
• The Raptors got blasted in the second half on the defensive glass. For what it’s worth, Jakob Poeltl’s two-week evaluation for his sprained ankle should be coming up soon. They miss him. The Raptors were out-rebounded 61-31, including 15-11 on the offensive glass, and coach Darko Rajaković sounded as disappointed with the team’s disposition as he has all year.
“I just told the guys in the locker room, we have a couple of new players over here. Everybody’s kind of walking on eggshells,” Rajaković said. “They don’t know how to communicate with each other. We got to lift each other. Jontay Porter played his (21st) game … as an NBA player. Of course, he’s going to make mistakes. But are we going to go out of our comfort zones and actually pick him up and talk to him and help him out so he learns and he gets better for the next game? And the same thing goes for a lot of players over here.”
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• Raptors fans all saw this Anunoby charge coming, right?
• Gradey Dick got meaningful rotation minutes and was solid. He made some decent defensive reads and drilled his first 3 at MSG, which ain’t nothing. Alas, he was sent flying on a drive by Anunoby, and, well, that’s just going to happen. Dick finished with 11 points, including three 3s.
👌 @gradey_dick 👌 pic.twitter.com/17uZeSAS4j
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 21, 2024
(Photo of Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley driving against OG Anunoby of the Knicks: Brad Penner / USA Today)
