Scottie Barnes to MEM

[oldncreaky]

He would literally start on every NBA team. No team has two better forwards and if so name them.

That poster just hates on Scottie to an irrational extent for whatever reason. It’s not a good take and hard to take them seriously.

This

Barnes is not a #1 offensive option IMO, but guys as talented as him just don't come off the bench in the playoffs, they play 40 minutes a game.

Barnes would start and play max minutes for any playoff team -- except possibly Orlando, which would have the problem of 3 similar-size guys with questionable shooting -- but even then, I'd expect a coach to try really, really hard to find a substitution pattern first that allowed all 3 to start. So too would Aaron Gordon start for any playoff team I can recall, champion, contender or otherwise. So too would Siakam, a player of similar level but significantly different strengths/weaknesses.

(Aside: yeah, I dropped the dude who always trolls by ragging on Raptors -- not worth the energy)

Barnes is very awkward at SF and a bunch of teams have better PF's. I would say that he's very unlikely to come off the bench at this point because if he's on a team where it doesn't make sense to start him for fit reasons then a trade is going to be made. Either Barnes himself will be traded or else the PF in his way will be traded if Barnes is a better timeline fit (such as the Siakam deal).

To the bolded: what? I think SF is his most natural position.

Scottie has played literally every position in his 4 years in Toronto. He can fill in a bit at PG, but the lack of shooting means it is not sustainable and makes the team too easy to scheme against, as the Raptors found out in 2023-24. Scottie is a surprisingly good fit at C, but the downside of losing his perimeter and help-side D is too high when you keep Scottie anchored in the paint. But any other position, SF/SG/PF, anytime Scottie is on the wing -- he's just fine.

[Ell Curry]

I think on a lot good teams with a quality PF who isn't a great shooter would just make Barnes play 20-25 minutes a night at center (and then 10-12 at PF). You can argue over whether a Keith Bogans Memorial type starter would actually start games, with Barnes finishing. Maybe get a bruising center to play the first 4 or 5 minutes of each half and another 4-5 minutes per half, rather than have Scottie starting, I could see that.

Barnes' defence away from the rim is overrated (doesn't get low enough and slide his feet that well, gets a little too locked into his 1 on 1 matchups,). For example, Agbaji was our best defender against 2 guards last year for example, not Scottie, and while Agbaji is pretty good on that end nowadays, he's not OG Anunoby out there) and his paint defence is probably underrated, where he's genuinely elite for a PF (hence the Raptors scoring well defensively in the 2nd half of the year even with the other very good to great defender in Davion Mitchell in Miami to close the year, and a bunch of average defenders around Scottie).

A team with a star 5 and 4, neither of whom are really plus shooters, just doesn't exist right now. There's no '86 Celtics type team out there with 2 star non-shooting bigs. Cleveland is close, but Mobley-Scottie-SF-Mitchell-Garland looks better to me than the current Allen-Mobley-SF-Mitchell-Garland option. Same for Chet-Scottie-JDub-Dort-SGA over one with Hartenstein. You can definitely construct a specific team that shouldn't start Scottie, but the 2nd apron means even if you have that kind of team, it's probably not lasting for more than 2 seasons.

[One_and_Done]

Barnes is a bench player on a contender. Most teams would prefer to start someone like Camara, at least if they're interested in winning.

[Duffman100]

Barnes is a bench player on a contender. Most teams would prefer to start someone like Camara, at least if they're interested in winning.

Good to know you've taken your Raptors trolling to a new forum.

[One_and_Done]

Barnes is a bench player on a contender. Most teams would prefer to start someone like Camara, at least if they're interested in winning.

Good to know you've taken your Raptors trolling to a new forum.

1) I've barely ever posted on the Raptors board,
2) It is not trolling to have a different view to you. I think alot of Raptors fans have the same concerns about some of their players that I do, and are even more critical of Masai's recent years than I am.