Official Scottie All Star Barnes Thread 9

[YoungG]

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Heh, classic off-season workout tweet.

Pensare is so annoying, lol.

Looks like a routine player workout and his body looks the exact same.

I'd be more interested in some dribbling/mid-range/off the dribble iso footage like we saw with Demar circa 2013-2015...you could really see the improvement. I remember seeing this video back then and I was like "oh ****" that is some real improvement.

Watch on YouTube

Whenever I see any Raptors' player that could absolutely benefit from having a better handle, I think about the summers DeMar put in to work on having a better handle. Scottie is one of those kinds of players for me. Just being able to be more fluid on the court is invaluable for someone that isn't that consistent with his shot yet.

[tsherkin]

Whenever I see any Raptors' player that could absolutely benefit from having a better handle, I think about the summers DeMar put in to work on having a better handle. Scottie is one of those kinds of players for me. Just being able to be more fluid on the court is invaluable for someone that isn't that consistent with his shot yet.

We don't see a lot of anything but physical workout stuff from Scottie.

But he clearly DOES more than just lift. He has already shown us at least a little improvement in his handle, right? His 2025 mid-range game was set up by his ability to attack a screen and get to his spot on the left block, after all.

[Son Goku 25]

I think Barnes needs to actually trim down a bit, work on his stamina and quickness overall. Obviously his shooting and dribbling need to improve but being in shape and trimming down a bit might help him more than people realize.

[tsherkin]

I think Barnes needs to actually trim down a bit, work on his stamina and quickness overall. Obviously his shooting and dribbling need to improve but being in shape and trimming down a bit might help him more than people realize.

Honestly, I think he needs to learn how to set a screen more than anything else. Losing weight isn't going to be hugely helpful to his quickness at this point anyway, and we don't play him crazy minutes, nor ask a huge scoring load of him, so I don't think stamina is his main issue either.

[MessiahUjiri]

I think Barnes needs to actually trim down a bit, work on his stamina and quickness overall. Obviously his shooting and dribbling need to improve but being in shape and trimming down a bit might help him more than people realize.

Honestly, I think he needs to learn how to set a screen more than anything else. Losing weight isn't going to be hugely helpful to his quickness at this point anyway, and we don't play him crazy minutes, nor ask a huge scoring load of him, so I don't think stamina is his main issue either.

Yeah Scottie is more likely to succeed in Bully ball rather than a slimmed down speedy style. Hes more likely to guard the 3-5 rather than the 1-2.

He just needs to work on shooting. Everything else is good . I remember Demar taking 500 3s in an IG workout post Toronto in the offseason, that was cool.

[tsherkin]

Yeah Scottie is more likely to succeed in Bully ball rather than a slimmed down speedy style. Hes more likely to guard the 3-5 rather than the 1-2.

He just needs to work on shooting. Everything else is good . I remember Demar taking 500 3s in an IG workout post Toronto in the offseason, that was cool.

Agility isn't his thing, he isn't an outlier athlete in that way. He IS pretty large, though, and that's an exploitable trait for him if he has the mindset for it.

Demar's offseason regimen didn't really help him with us. He sucked from 3 pretty much the entire time he was here, peaking at 33.8% on 1.8 3PA/g. He certainly improved at the foul line and his shooting inside the arc, of course, which had utility, but he has literally one season north of 33.8%, which was his first year in Chicago.

I'd rather Scottie just quit shooting above the break entirely and focused more on getting to spots where he has at least a foundation. He has the size and ability to maneuver around the post. He's shown he has a decent turnaround/fade and some hook shots. If we can get him screening competently and operating in those spaces, plus hitting the corners, then we've got something to work with. And otherwise, he can grab a DRB and race out in transition, leverage his playmaking there. I think that's probably the best way to approach him, and I hope it's what we see, barring a miraculous transformation in his shooting proficiency.

[HangTime]

I think Barnes needs to actually trim down a bit, work on his stamina and quickness overall. Obviously his shooting and dribbling need to improve but being in shape and trimming down a bit might help him more than people realize.

I don't think his stamina and quickness are an issue.

I think it's energy balance between offence and defence.
The balance he had to start 2023-2024, with OG as the lead defender, allowed to him to optimize the energy balance.

When OG was traded, the energy tilted more to defence, but it was also to implement RJ and IQ on offence. First with Pascal, than without Pascal.

[Scase]

Yeah Scottie is more likely to succeed in Bully ball rather than a slimmed down speedy style. Hes more likely to guard the 3-5 rather than the 1-2.

He just needs to work on shooting. Everything else is good . I remember Demar taking 500 3s in an IG workout post Toronto in the offseason, that was cool.

Agility isn't his thing, he isn't an outlier athlete in that way. He IS pretty large, though, and that's an exploitable trait for him if he has the mindset for it.

Demar's offseason regimen didn't really help him with us. He sucked from 3 pretty much the entire time he was here, peaking at 33.8% on 1.8 3PA/g. He certainly improved at the foul line and his shooting inside the arc, of course, which had utility, but he has literally one season north of 33.8%, which was his first year in Chicago.

I'd rather Scottie just quit shooting above the break entirely and focused more on getting to spots where he has at least a foundation. He has the size and ability to maneuver around the post. He's shown he has a decent turnaround/fade and some hook shots. If we can get him screening competently and operating in those spaces, plus hitting the corners, then we've got something to work with. And otherwise, he can grab a DRB and race out in transition, leverage his playmaking there. I think that's probably the best way to approach him, and I hope it's what we see, barring a miraculous transformation in his shooting proficiency.

He's shown some solid success when he throws his weight around, he just barely ever does it. I always remember that game against the spurs where he looked like prime Shaq just bumping a dude out of the way like he wasn't even there, and just yamming it.

He needs to lean into that, and yes, set a gd screen.

[tsherkin]

He's shown some solid success when he throws his weight around, he just barely ever does it. I always remember that game against the spurs where he looked like prime Shaq just bumping a dude out of the way like he wasn't even there, and just yamming it.

He needs to lean into that, and yes, set a gd screen.

He's built powerfully, man. It's definitely an advantage.

Every time he gets downhill and gets into the paint, that build is why he ever gets anywhere, not speed, right? They bump, they cling to him, they try to slow him down, but he's able to force himself deep. He needs to embrace that, and to learn how to finish when he's there. And yes, how to set a damned screen.

But yeah, Scottie's shoulders are humongous. He can take all kinds of contact and just sort of... y'know, laugh. It's impressive.

[Scase]

He's shown some solid success when he throws his weight around, he just barely ever does it. I always remember that game against the spurs where he looked like prime Shaq just bumping a dude out of the way like he wasn't even there, and just yamming it.

He needs to lean into that, and yes, set a gd screen.

He's built powerfully, man. It's definitely an advantage.

Every time he gets downhill and gets into the paint, that build is why he ever gets anywhere, not speed, right? They bump, they cling to him, they try to slow him down, but he's able to force himself deep. He needs to embrace that, and to learn how to finish when he's there. And yes, how to set a damned screen.

But yeah, Scottie's shoulders are humongous. He can take all kinds of contact and just sort of... y'know, laugh. It's impressive.

He should be barrelling towards the rim at every opportunity, like a less athletic, more brute force Giannis. He could be putting up elite level FTAs, but for lord only knows what reason, we've got him taking ATB 3's and other pointless stuff.

It's baffling.

[tsherkin]

He should be barrelling towards the rim at every opportunity, like a less athletic, more brute force Giannis. He could be putting up elite level FTAs, but for lord only knows what reason, we've got him taking ATB 3's and other pointless stuff.

It's baffling.

He should be attacking the rim more, it's true. But he does draw fouls pretty well. I think he's still of the mindset that they're leaving him wide open, so he should shoot it. That, and one of the reasons his proportion of shots at the rim is lower is that he gets stick in the bottom half of the circle and just outside the RA a lot on his drive because he lacks the burst to get further once he does get into the paint.

But yes, if he could trade some of those ATB 3s for a few more of those drives into the mid-post and the baseline and stuff, that would be better.

[LoveMyRaps]

He's shown some solid success when he throws his weight around, he just barely ever does it. I always remember that game against the spurs where he looked like prime Shaq just bumping a dude out of the way like he wasn't even there, and just yamming it.

He needs to lean into that, and yes, set a gd screen.

He's built powerfully, man. It's definitely an advantage.

Every time he gets downhill and gets into the paint, that build is why he ever gets anywhere, not speed, right? They bump, they cling to him, they try to slow him down, but he's able to force himself deep. He needs to embrace that, and to learn how to finish when he's there. And yes, how to set a damned screen.

But yeah, Scottie's shoulders are humongous. He can take all kinds of contact and just sort of... y'know, laugh. It's impressive.

He should be barrelling towards the rim at every opportunity, like a less athletic, more brute force Giannis. He could be putting up elite level FTAs, but for lord only knows what reason, we've got him taking ATB 3's and other pointless stuff.

It's baffling.

His shot selection is a HUGE concern.

[Scase]

He should be barrelling towards the rim at every opportunity, like a less athletic, more brute force Giannis. He could be putting up elite level FTAs, but for lord only knows what reason, we've got him taking ATB 3's and other pointless stuff.

It's baffling.

He should be attacking the rim more, it's true. But he does draw fouls pretty well. I think he's still of the mindset that they're leaving him wide open, so he should shoot it. That, and one of the reasons his proportion of shots at the rim is lower is that he gets stick in the bottom half of the circle and just outside the RA a lot on his drive because he lacks the burst to get further once he does get into the paint.

But yes, if he could trade some of those ATB 3s for a few more of those drives into the mid-post and the baseline and stuff, that would be better.

Completely agree, we've seen him basically go from half court to the rim in like 3 steps, so maybe we just need more transition offence. once he gets a head of steam he's like lebron, not crazy quick but the whole freight train thing. Teach him how to step around people baiting a charge, and that's a massive boon to our offence, makes RJ much more expendable as we have the guy getting to the rim issue shored up, and Scottie has a great eye for the court meaning tons of double to pass out of.

They just need to hone in on his actual strengths, instead of trying to turn his weaknesses into passable skills. I think of all the things that have gone wrong with the team the last half decade, his development is one of the worst.

[canz55]

Darko knows all of the Scottie advantages already. They're not stupid.

Scottie was actively encouraging to launch above the break because the whole season was viewed as a development year. They weren't trying to win which explains why Bruce Brown and Kelly were frozen out of the lineup well after it was known they were good to go.

[tsherkin]

Completely agree, we've seen him basically go from half court to the rim in like 3 steps, so maybe we just need more transition offence.

We 100% need more transition offense. We were 11th in pace, which wasn't too bad, but it's efficient offense ahead of the defense. You get it whenever you can, you know? We need to push a little more, if possible. Scottie generally does, I mean he's a pretty good defensive rebounder who usually moves with some kind of purpose upcourt. We aren't gonna be Showtime, of course, but that's fine.

once he gets a head of steam he's like lebron, not crazy quick but the whole freight train thing. Teach him how to step around people baiting a charge, and that's a massive boon to our offence, makes RJ much more expendable as we have the guy getting to the rim issue shored up, and Scottie has a great eye for the court meaning tons of double to pass out of.

If Scottie can learn to get to the rim more regularly, it will be a great boon to him individually, and to his value to the team, no doubt.

They just need to hone in on his actual strengths, instead of trying to turn his weaknesses into passable skills. I think of all the things that have gone wrong with the team the last half decade, his development is one of the worst.

Yes, I agree with this. Scottie has demonstrable tools, but he doesn't lean into them. He spends too much time outside, IMHO. We try to make him what he isn't a little too much. And we have to be careful about that even with rim attempts and what-not, because he really doesn't have an aggressive scoring mentality to begin with.

[tsherkin]

Darko knows all of the Scottie advantages already. They're not stupid.

Scottie was actively encouraging to launch above the break because the whole season was viewed as a development year. They weren't trying to win which explains why Bruce Brown and Kelly were frozen out of the lineup well after it was known they were good to go.

That's part of it, no doubt.

We'll see what Scottie's usage looks like in a season where we project above .500. That's going to be a very interesting element of the season, at least for me.

[Scase]

Darko knows all of the Scottie advantages already. They're not stupid.

Scottie was actively encouraging to launch above the break because the whole season was viewed as a development year. They weren't trying to win which explains why Bruce Brown and Kelly were frozen out of the lineup well after it was known they were good to go.

Calling it "development" doesn't excuse stupidity. Would it be ok if Jak was hoisting 10 3pa/g last year? This is such an absurdly lazy excuse, doing something you suck at isn't development, it's bad development.

What's next 10 half court shots a game? It's a waste of a season is what it was, instead of focusing and improving strengths, we encouraged bad habits and had absolutely zero progress improving those weaknesses. These excuses are getting out of hand.

[Raps in 4]

Unless Scottie's high school trainer miraculously teaches him to shoot this off-season, I don't want to see Scottie chucking any more 3s next season. I do think Darko and Masai have gotten the memo and will adjust his role for next season.

The only problem is the roster construction isn't conducive to Scottie operating in the paint/mid-range since half of our roster oeprates there.

[DemHeavyHands]

Happy 1st Father’s Day, Scottie!

[canz55]

Darko knows all of the Scottie advantages already. They're not stupid.

Scottie was actively encouraging to launch above the break because the whole season was viewed as a development year. They weren't trying to win which explains why Bruce Brown and Kelly were frozen out of the lineup well after it was known they were good to go.

Calling it "development" doesn't excuse stupidity. Would it be ok if Jak was hoisting 10 3pa/g last year? This is such an absurdly lazy excuse, doing something you suck at isn't development, it's bad development.

What's next 10 half court shots a game? It's a waste of a season is what it was, instead of focusing and improving strengths, we encouraged bad habits and had absolutely zero progress improving those weaknesses. These excuses are getting out of hand.

"Stupidity" is a bit strong no? They asked him to try a lot of different things, some of it was ultimately futile but I wouldn't characterize it as stupid.