Masai: "Scottie isn't a shot maker right now but that will grow. You build around him for his winning mentality"

[djsunyc]

Can people at least admit that the arguments of Vanvleet and Siakam intentionally stifling his development were way overblown and wrong???

Scottie averaged 15ppg in his rookie season taking 13 shots a game while today he is averaging 20ppg taking 17 shots a game on reduced efficiency.

I remember a million threads back in 2021 of conspiracies that Fred and Siakam were trying to ruin Scottie's development and not giving him the ball enough.

hardline stances by anyone at a given time in history, will more often than not, prove to be wrong. there's no need to take them.

it's an online psychological phenomena. deep down it has to do with a lot of things - one being insecurity about being right or even just being heard. there's no repercussions because of the anonymity of it all.

not just about what you are saying, but almost everything. and that's because i don't think anybody wants to accept the fact they really don't know as much about basketball as they think. there's just too much randomness to make hardline stances.

[MiamiSPX]

I think the posters who don't even believe Scottie can be the 2nd best player on a contender anymore, need to start also calling out Masai on his continued disagreement with that assessment.

Exhitbit A:

On how long the rebuilding timeline has to be
“So yeah, if we get that second player, and one of your guys grows into being that guy, that’s how long it’s going to last. I’m not going to sit here and lie to people or tell them it’s going to last five years, because I want every shot or every chance at it. I’m going to tell you exactly what the reality is. As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes, or two and a half of them, or three of them, whatever it takes.”

Exhibit B:

On the core of this team
“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

Can't have your cake and eat it too, because I'm seeing too much doubt in Masai's assessment of Scottie, but not enough criticism of Masai's assessment from these same posters.

I am not sure what he is supposed to say? He still has the business side of things to consider and he has to sell something. 76ers still sell Embiid despite him being closer to retirement than ever being an MVP again. Charlotte still sells Ball despite him being a part-time player. I don't really put much stock into what Masai says in these environments, most of it is sales and marketing, especially when he was literally sitting in front of his highest paying customers (STH) and we are going to notch just north of 50 wins across TWO seasons lol.

[ItsDanger]

Can people at least admit that the arguments of Vanvleet and Siakam intentionally stifling his development were way overblown and wrong???

Scottie averaged 15ppg in his rookie season taking 13 shots a game while today he is averaging 20ppg taking 17 shots a game on reduced efficiency.

I remember a million threads back in 2021 of conspiracies that Fred and Siakam were trying to ruin Scottie's development and not giving him the ball enough.

hardline stances by anyone at a given time in history, will more often than not, prove to be wrong. there's no need to take them.

it's an online psychological phenomena. deep down it has to do with a lot of things - one being insecurity about being right or even just being heard. there's no repercussions because of the anonymity of it all.

not just about what you are saying, but almost everything. and that's because i don't think anybody wants to accept the fact they really don't know as much about basketball as they think. there's just too much randomness to make hardline stances.

Sports fans give their opinions on a lot of players. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. I would interpret your observation as we the consumers should just accept the product regardless. Not the first time either.

[PushDaRock]

Can people at least admit that the arguments of Vanvleet and Siakam intentionally stifling his development were way overblown and wrong???

Scottie averaged 15ppg in his rookie season taking 13 shots a game while today he is averaging 20ppg taking 17 shots a game on reduced efficiency.

I remember a million threads back in 2021 of conspiracies that Fred and Siakam were trying to ruin Scottie's development and not giving him the ball enough.

hardline stances by anyone at a given time in history, will more often than not, prove to be wrong. there's no need to take them.

it's an online psychological phenomena. deep down it has to do with a lot of things - one being insecurity about being right or even just being heard. there's no repercussions because of the anonymity of it all.

not just about what you are saying, but almost everything. and that's because i don't think anybody wants to accept the fact they really don't know as much about basketball as they think. there's just too much randomness to make hardline stances.

There's a reason people like to make outlandish/polarized statements and predictions. Even if they turn out true a small % of the time, they can pull out the receipts. If not, nobody will remember anyways.

[tsherkin]

what i try to do is just take the macro of it - he likes scottie + yak so he wants them to be a part of it for now.

That is an appropriate take for an optimist, yes. I am a pessimist, so naturally I'm reading the negative into his remarks. I like Poeltl, though, even though he doesn't have range. He moves well off-ball, defends well, hustles, rebounds well. He's almost everything you want from a big, and if we're going to start trying to win, he'll continue to be a useful piece. Most especially as we space more effectively.

proof will be in the pudding and if it's not working, he'll make moves. and his moves has been to add scorers (IQ + RJ + BI) which only lessens the scoring burden for scottie.

We'll see how it goes, for sure. Scottie has been sub 17 FGA/g, so I'm hopeful that we can get him down to like 13 or 14 FGA/g with BI onboard next year without cannibalizing from RJ, who has been doing very well slithering around alongside everyone else.

[MEDIC]

Iggy on roids is a pretty damn good winning player. If that's what he tops out to being, you take it and keep adding more. Just like how Kyle was so crucial to winning on the floor. The do it all mentality is what Masai is alluding to and Scottie has those same traits.

Agreed. Like I have said in other threads.......if Iggy & KG had a baby, that is Scottie Barnes. He is somewhere in between those two.

You can't tell.me that player isn't a winning player.

[MEDIC]

Good interview by Masai. Thanks.for sharing. I agree with most of what he said.

I agree with his comments about Scottie. What intrigued me even more was his comments on Boston. That is exactly how I view building with this group over the next 5 years. You tinker while those guys develop & find a winning mix.

[djsunyc]

Can people at least admit that the arguments of Vanvleet and Siakam intentionally stifling his development were way overblown and wrong???

Scottie averaged 15ppg in his rookie season taking 13 shots a game while today he is averaging 20ppg taking 17 shots a game on reduced efficiency.

I remember a million threads back in 2021 of conspiracies that Fred and Siakam were trying to ruin Scottie's development and not giving him the ball enough.

hardline stances by anyone at a given time in history, will more often than not, prove to be wrong. there's no need to take them.

it's an online psychological phenomena. deep down it has to do with a lot of things - one being insecurity about being right or even just being heard. there's no repercussions because of the anonymity of it all.

not just about what you are saying, but almost everything. and that's because i don't think anybody wants to accept the fact they really don't know as much about basketball as they think. there's just too much randomness to make hardline stances.

Sports fans give their opinions on a lot of players. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. I would interpret your observation as we the consumers should just accept the product regardless. Not the first time either.

not at all - it's making stances and then proceeding like it's fact.

[Landomar]

The year we won the title, Kyle Lowry averaged 14.2 points per game, and was one of our best 2 or three players. Scottie Barnes is tracking to be a Lowry type, where he does a lot of things that help you win games, without being a high volume scorer.

[Jerry Lucas]

I think the posters who don't even believe Scottie can be the 2nd best player on a contender anymore, need to start also calling out Masai on his continued disagreement with that assessment.

Exhitbit A:

On how long the rebuilding timeline has to be
“So yeah, if we get that second player, and one of your guys grows into being that guy, that’s how long it’s going to last. I’m not going to sit here and lie to people or tell them it’s going to last five years, because I want every shot or every chance at it. I’m going to tell you exactly what the reality is. As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes, or two and a half of them, or three of them, whatever it takes.”

Exhibit B:

On the core of this team
“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

Can't have your cake and eat it too, because I'm seeing too much doubt in Masai's assessment of Scottie, but not enough criticism of Masai's assessment from these same posters.

I'm not sure what exactly you want him called out on. If he says "we hope that will develop" instead of "that will develop", does that make you happier? Even those of us doubtful are hopeful that he develops his offensive game. Masai just gave him a 5 year max contract, he's not going to go picking at all his flaws in the media like we do on here.

Basically I want these posters (the ones who specifically don't even believe Scottie can be the 2nd best player on a contender anymore, unlike Masai) to start also calling out Masai for his flawed player evaluation. Because if that is what these posters believe (and disagree with Masai), then they basically must also believe that Masai isn't building this team the right way.

New CBA environment makes effective team building with more than 2 players on max contracts basically impossible. The time of Big 3s is passed. If Scottie won't be a top 2 player on a contender, then he shouldn't be one of this team's 2 max contract players.

Also to specifically address the bolded part of your reply, Masai isn't hoping he develops into a top 2 player on a contender:

As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes

He already believes he is one, without the development of his offensive game that he was specifically referring to (which would further elevate him from Masai's POV, probably to a #1).

[Reeko]

What an idiot. Guys don't develop past 23. If Scottie isn't a shot maker by now it means that he will never be a shot maker. You would think that a guy who played professionally, that has been a scout for over 20 years and an NBA executive for 15 years would have figured that out by now.

I for one, will not be drinking the Kool Aid. Most of us who are smart know that the Scottie of today is the same Scottie we will see at 25 and 27, if anything he might be worse. We drafted a bigger and stronger Patrick McCaw.

[Tha Cynic]

He said some interesting, and positive things.

But he also said this:

“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

And most of that is not what I wanted from a GM I hope to trust.

If we look at the fact that he said he’s a core piece, and then if you read more of what he said outside of that quote, what he’s telling us is that he’s one of the main guys, but he alone isn’t enough. We need more and they’re trying to accumulate talent to acquire that piece.

I think even the biggest detractors will agree that Barnes has shown enough to be a very important core piece to a very good team.

The quote more to be tells me that he’s not as confident in any of the others as someone who will be here in two years other than maybe Yak. He’ll trade anyone to get the guys he needs

[Raps in 4]

What an idiot. Guys don't develop past 23. If Scottie isn't a shot maker by now it means that he will never be a shot maker. You would think that a guy who played professionally, that has been a scout for over 20 years and an NBA executive for 15 years would have figured that out by now.

I for one, will not be drinking the Kool Aid. Most of us who are smart know that the Scottie of today is the same Scottie we will see at 25 and 27, if anything he might be worse. We drafted a bigger and stronger Patrick McCaw.

I do still hold out a bit of hope that Scottie can figure something out, but the lack of development in four years is a pretty glaring red flag.

[Tha Cynic]

Scottie is a winning player?

Even the biggest Scottie hater has to admit he impacts the game in many ways that a winning team needs. Problem is that he shouldn't be your teams best scoring option because he just doesn't have that skill yet or may never get it.

Now while Ingram would clearly be the number 1 option on the team, I don't think anyone thinks he's a number 1 option of a championship team. This is why many fans want this tank to succeed so we can land that player as we won't be drafting this high again unless things go disasterous for us. At that point, everyone in the organization will be fired.

You add a Durant to this team with Poeltl, Ingram and Barnes with depth and it suddenly becomes extremely interesting. We have the pieces to acquire that guy, soon, imo.

[ForeverTFC]

He said some interesting, and positive things.

But he also said this:

“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

And most of that is not what I wanted from a GM I hope to trust.

I hear you. The bet on Barnes has been the big question mark for me through this era.

With that said, I found this quote interesting:

As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes, or two and a half of them, or three of them

This is the first time that he's moved that number up. Its always been "we have Scottie and we need another player to emerge." This remark, along with the acquisition of BI, tells me they're cooling a bit on their Barnes dreams.

[tsherkin]

If we look at the fact that he said he’s a core piece, and then if you read more of what he said outside of that quote, what he’s telling us is that he’s one of the main guys, but he alone isn’t enough. We need more and they’re trying to accumulate talent to acquire that piece.

Yeah, I hear that. Like I said earlier, though, it doesn't really salve my concerns. I acknowledge I might be reading too deeply into the pessimist stance, but that's where I'm at.

I think even the biggest detractors will agree that Barnes has shown enough to be a very important core piece to a very good team.

Assuming we can pivot his scoring role, yes, he has valuable tools to offer on D and as a playmaker.

I hear you. The bet on Barnes has been the big question mark for me through this era.

With that said, I found this quote interesting:

As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes, or two and a half of them, or three of them

This is the first time that he's moved that number up. Its always been "we have Scottie and we need another player to emerge." This remark, along with the acquisition of BI, tells me they're cooling a bit on their Barnes dreams.

Yeah, that actually worries me, because he is framing Scottie as that kind of player. I hear you as far as acknowledging the need for more, but discussing Barnes as one of those two is so far off-base for me as to remain concerning.

[ConSarnit]

What an idiot. Guys don't develop past 23. If Scottie isn't a shot maker by now it means that he will never be a shot maker. You would think that a guy who played professionally, that has been a scout for over 20 years and an NBA executive for 15 years would have figured that out by now.

I for one, will not be drinking the Kool Aid. Most of us who are smart know that the Scottie of today is the same Scottie we will see at 25 and 27, if anything he might be worse. We drafted a bigger and stronger Patrick McCaw.

It’s been 4 years. You’d expect some improvement. Go pull up his scoring by play type. 4 straight years of below average to bad scoring from iso, post up, pnr ball handler and 3pt shooting. Below average efficiency every year. He’s made small progress at drawing fouls but it’s still not a good FTR. He’s never been able to maintain any consistent shooting. Even with his “good” midrange shooting this year he’s been 41% from midrange over his past 35 games. His 3pt shooting fell off a cliff last year after the first 2 months.

Tell us where he’s made progress as a scorer? How many years are you going to give him to make almost no progress across the board?

[Raps in 4]

Scottie is a winning player?

Even the biggest Scottie hater has to admit he impacts the game in many ways that a winning team needs. Problem is that he shouldn't be your teams best scoring option because he just doesn't have that skill yet or may never get it.

Now while Ingram would clearly be the number 1 option on the team, I don't think anyone thinks he's a number 1 option of a championship team. This is why many fans want this tank to succeed so we can land that player as we won't be drafting this high again unless things go disasterous for us. At that point, everyone in the organization will be fired.

You add a Durant to this team with Poeltl, Ingram and Barnes with depth and it suddenly becomes extremely interesting. We have the pieces to acquire that guy, soon, imo.

Durant is a Robin. He needs a Batman to win. Booker is miles better than anyone on this team, and Durant still can't do anything alongside him. Not to mention he'll be 37 next season. Durant is not Kawhi. He wasn't Kawhi in his prime, and he certainly isn't him at this stage of his career.

If you're saying we have the pieces of acquire a superstar. Sure, but how often do superstars become available? Trades for a player like Kawhi don't come around often. Could we snag a top-15 player like Booker? Maybe, but is that enough to make this team comeptitive?

[ATLTimekeeper]

Good interview by Masai. Thanks.for sharing. I agree with most of what he said.

I agree with his comments about Scottie. What intrigued me even more was his comments on Boston. That is exactly how I view building with this group over the next 5 years. You tinker while those guys develop & find a winning mix.

Okay, but Boston won consistently with those two. Toronto has won one year with Scottie, and that was in a lesser role.

For Masai to say Scottie is worth building around because he has a championship mentality, well... so did Fred and Pascal. So much so that they actually went out and proved it. Centring the team around a championship mentality isn't enough, you have to properly identify the limitations of your talent and then build around that by effectively managing your cap and assets.

You can call it tinkering, and I actually fully agree with this version of building a team, but the part that gave Boston the real motive to build around was all the winning they did. When you have losing, you have to re-evaluate everything, including your franchise player. What gives Masai the confidence that Scottie is championship calibre 1st/2nd option other than he has no other choice but to say that?

[Tha Cynic]

Even the biggest Scottie hater has to admit he impacts the game in many ways that a winning team needs. Problem is that he shouldn't be your teams best scoring option because he just doesn't have that skill yet or may never get it.

Now while Ingram would clearly be the number 1 option on the team, I don't think anyone thinks he's a number 1 option of a championship team. This is why many fans want this tank to succeed so we can land that player as we won't be drafting this high again unless things go disasterous for us. At that point, everyone in the organization will be fired.

You add a Durant to this team with Poeltl, Ingram and Barnes with depth and it suddenly becomes extremely interesting. We have the pieces to acquire that guy, soon, imo.

Durant is a Robin. Booker is miles better than anyone on this team, and Durant still can't do anything alongside him. Not to mention he'll be 37 next season.

Durant is an elite scorer and took over main option role with the Warriors when he went there lol. He’s not a Robin and on this roster his main focus is scoring. Durant over his career has had almost 3x the impact on winning than Booker has lol. In fact Barnes’ last season is closer to Booker’s peak than Booker vs Durant.

My main point here is that Masai is building a team where a top scoring guy who’s not a sieve everywhere else would fit in like a glove the same way Kawhi did with us. Masai is building a Boston like team that is stacked everywhere, plays defense and trying to have enough depth to add a superstar who will not have to do everything. Kawhi survived the season he played for us because he basically didn’t have to play defense until the Bucks series.