RJ Barrett drew all the attention and the headlines, and justifiably so. The Knicks’ first-round pick out of Duke was at one time considered the best prospect in the draft and set the ACC freshman scoring record (860 points).
But Barrett wasn’t the only one-and-done prospect the Knicks selected Thursday night. Second-round pick Ignas Brazdeikis was the best freshman in the Big Ten this season, and he has the work ethic and self-belief to match that honor.
“Ignas is an incredible kid that has a great confidence and presence about him as a young man. He’s confident on the court, he’s confident off the court, and he has been a player that has accepted coaching and wants to grow,” Texas assistant coach Luke Yaklich, who was at Michigan for Brazdeikis’ lone season, said in a phone interview. “He always challenged himself to get better from the time he got on campus as a freshman in the summer and all the way throughout the season, whether it was in film, on the court, he listened to every word coach [John Beilein] said.”
“Just fearless,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell added.
Yaklich saw it from the moment the 6-foot-8 Brazdeikis arrived in Ann Arbor, leading the Wolverines in scoring en route to winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Born in Lithuania but raised in Ontario, Canada, the 20-year-old lefty was a relentless worker, always listening and always prepared, and became the first one-and-done player under Beilein at Michigan. The Knicks thought highly enough of him that they traded up from No. 55 to No. 47 to ensure they could get him.
“His work ethic, his basketball IQ, his drive, are all going to give him a chance [to be successful],” Yaklich said. “He’ll take any and all advice he gets, and use it constructively to help the team and help himself grow in the process.”
At Michigan, Brazdeikis played power forward. But he will be a wing with the Knicks. In NBA workouts, he played on the wing.
“He’s going to naturally want to be a better ball-handler, become a better passer and work on becoming an elite-level shooter,” Yaklich said. “Those are things Coach Beilein was working on with him in our program and things he took pride in. That will be no different [with the Knicks]. The game obviously has evolved to the point where everybody has to dribble, pass, shoot and guard. Those are things he’s been asked to do.”
Brazdeikis is familiar with Barrett. They played together on the Canadian U17 team in 2016. His game took off in the summer of 2017, when he averaged 21.1 points and 7.4 rebounds on the Elite Youth Basketball League circuit. He then reclassified into the 2018 class and picked Michigan over Florida and Vanderbilt.
In his lone season with the Wolverines, Brazdeikis didn’t perform like a freshman. It began in the team’s summer trip to Spain for three exhibition games against pro teams, when he was the team’s leading scorer.
He led Michigan in scoring (14.8), was second in rebounding (5.4) and 3-point shooting (39.2 percent), and shot 46.2 percent from the field as the Wolverines finished second in the Big Ten and lost in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament to eventual runner-up Texas Tech.
“He scores in multiple ways,” Pikiell said. “More of a driver right now than anything. Attacks the rim like an NBA player and has a knack for finishing around the basket. He’s a good young player.”