He showed up at the NBA draft lottery in Chicago to sit on the stage and mask his disappointment after the team missed out on a chance for a top-six draft pick.
And he dropped a line on his Instagram feed right after the lottery that made a vow: “I promise we will be better.”
If there’s one thing Scottie Barnes has done this summer it’s showing, in words and actions, that he’s taking ownership of his role with the Raptors, and team officials welcome the development.
Team insiders insist that last season’s disaster — the worst year for the franchise in a decade that included Barnes’ first significant injury, which knocked him out for the last quarter of the season — has created in Barnes a resolve to never go through anything like that again.
Those same insiders speak of a new maturity and willingness to take responsibility for the position he’s been put in as the face of the team.
It may not be a big deal, but there are those connected with the Raptors who insist there’s something different and intangible about the 22-year-old Barnes.
There better be. The Raptors unequivocally bestowed the “face of the franchise” tag on him when they let Fred VanVleet walk and traded away Pascal Siakam, and are almost assuredly going to give Barnes a contract worth about $260 million (U.S.) as soon as the first week of July.
They were betting that Barnes would grow into his position in the hierarchy, though — not assured of it. They had a smidgen of concern during Barnes’ pedestrian second season — the Raptors didn’t want to move Siakam in the summer of 2023 until they saw how Barnes was in his third season. But once he played well and grew, their concerns abated and it was Full Bore Barnes.
This summer, he’s done more than ever: more involved, more around, more of what they need him to be.
Privately they’ll say: “Watch, all he wants is to win. He’ll do whatever it takes.”
Barnes has taken the steps off the court and in the off-season. Those are big, important steps.
doug
FO tossed him a bone



































