PG: Franchise Player Scottie Barnes

[Brinbe]

Yep, our offense just has to be respectable/league average which it definitely can be once Pascal returns and as the season goes on/chemistry improves.

Defense will be where we make our bones and we're already top 5 there. Adding Yuta and Siakam will only solidify that further.

Scottie already providing this much output early really bodes well for his longterm ceiling imo. Stars often show out like this early. And to think we're not even really running much for him. This is all in stuff in the flow of the game. Absolutely no way you push him to the bench when Pascal returns.

[Boogie!]

Fred was pissed at Precious for that play when he tried to go coast to coast and just put up an ugly shot trying to go one against three. Fred was visibly frustrated then was talking to Precious after the play.

Fred was saying that's my job to go coast to coast and force up shots in traffic.

Or shoot the transition 3 which he excels at but I’ll let y’all have the negative commentary.

Fred’s really the new lowry with all this unwarranted criticism. Y’all hated lowry before the championship.

The more you call Him the he Lowry the more he gets hated. If fans were more realistic and less delusional about who he is he wouldn’t be so polarizing IMO…

Lowry is the greatest pg we’ve ever had. Fvv is a good 3 and d player. Stop trying to compare him to Lowry…

[WeTheNorth123]

Read on Twitter

Guy is just built different. Siakam has been known to miss critical free throws when he is under pressure. Hopefully he comes back better and stronger

Homeboy played for one of the best college team

3 US gold medals

McDonalds All American

and he is 20.

This is protegee. This is what its like to have true talent on your team. Guys like Siakam and Fred & OG didnt come from those environments.

[WeTheNorth123]

Barnes is an Alpha.....this is the 2nd time he just grabs the ball from the teammate, goes up the court and scores on the other team.

Both times he grabbed it from guys who have ignored him on offense (Boucher and OG). Love it.

For whatever reason the team seems reluctant to pass to him right now.

Your last sentence is so true.....it's like, stop trying to prevent this guy from becoming a star, it's inevitable.

Everyone is trying to be the guy! There's no Leonard, there's no lowry....everyone wants to be that guy and they see that Barnes is that guy.

[pingpongrac]

This talk of Scottie being ignored by his teammates and frozen out of the offence is almost entirely incorrect. Barnes is averaging 14.0 FGA (3rd) in 34.9 MPG (3rd) with a 21.3 USG% (3rd) and 63.7 touches/game (2nd). He is playing significant minutes as a rookie -- mostly with our current best players also on the floor with him -- and he is near the top of our team in almost every statistic. He is being given the ultimate freedom by the coaching staff and his teammates are confident in giving him the ball in basically every scenario.

I don't know what games you guys are watching sometimes lol.

[TheRaptor!]

I just slapped myself 2 times for jeering the Raptors selection of Scottie Barnes with the 4th overall pick in the NBA draft.

SMH

I think in fairness to everyone, there was a lot that they could see in private workouts that this board and even a lot of draft pundits couldn’t see. He’s clearly put in some work since last year in college. His shot looks so much smoother and his handle is definitely better than it was a year ago.

There is no "in fairness"

Fans of the Toronto Raptors should not criticize calculated moves our front office makes. Why? Because they don't see the full picture.

Let this be a lesson until the day Masai leaves.

[TheRaptor!]

Honestly with Barnes emergence (assuming he keeps this up for the year), the Raptors have an interesting dilemma to make eventually.

Eventually one of of FVV, Siakam, GTJ and yes even OG might have to go in a trade at some point to land a young star.

FVV is the odd man out here as most likely the Raptors would want to trade but then there's OG, OG might be the piece needed to land another star as he'll be the most coveted piece around the league.

I'm not sure FVV or Siakam has the value per contract OG has.

Would OG and GTJ for Shai be a good trade

As much as I like OG, i hope everyone realizes he plays the same position as Barnes

[Sandman88]

This talk of Scottie being ignored by his teammates and frozen out of the offence is almost entirely incorrect. Barnes is averaging 14.0 FGA (3rd) in 34.9 MPG (3rd) with a 21.3 USG% (3rd) and 63.7 touches/game (2nd). He is playing significant minutes as a rookie -- mostly with our current best players also on the floor with him -- and he is near the top of our team in almost every statistic. He is being given the ultimate freedom by the coaching staff and his teammates are confident in giving him the ball in basically every scenario.

I don't know what games you guys are watching sometimes lol.

He needs to be 1st in those categories

[Scott Hall]

This talk of Scottie being ignored by his teammates and frozen out of the offence is almost entirely incorrect. Barnes is averaging 14.0 FGA (3rd) in 34.9 MPG (3rd) with a 21.3 USG% (3rd) and 63.7 touches/game (2nd). He is playing significant minutes as a rookie -- mostly with our current best players also on the floor with him -- and he is near the top of our team in almost every statistic. He is being given the ultimate freedom by the coaching staff and his teammates are confident in giving him the ball in basically every scenario.

I don't know what games you guys are watching sometimes lol.

There's definitely been some half's and quarters where it's happened over the 7 games and Nurse wants
him to take more shots so I imagine we'll see more Iso's and plays run for him in the not to distant future
also won't be long where he's getting a steady diet of double teams even when Siakam comes back.

[TheRaptor!]

I hate to be the one to say this.

If Scottie is future then OG has to go.

They play the same position, and unless Scottie gets to Kawhi level offensively, we are gonna need a more dynamic scorer than OG to compete for a Championship

[pingpongrac]

This talk of Scottie being ignored by his teammates and frozen out of the offence is almost entirely incorrect. Barnes is averaging 14.0 FGA (3rd) in 34.9 MPG (3rd) with a 21.3 USG% (3rd) and 63.7 touches/game (2nd). He is playing significant minutes as a rookie -- mostly with our current best players also on the floor with him -- and he is near the top of our team in almost every statistic. He is being given the ultimate freedom by the coaching staff and his teammates are confident in giving him the ball in basically every scenario.

I don't know what games you guys are watching sometimes lol.

He needs to be 1st in those categories

He is playing on a significantly better team than Suggs and Green, but he's nearly matching their numbers in FGA/USG% while his numbers are much higher than Mobley and Giddey (who are also playing for teams that have no playoff aspirations). He really doesn't need to be doing anything additional. He is doing more than any other rookie. 36 minutes of two-way play is already a very large ask for a rookie.

[Mattatron]

There's no room for Siakam once he returns. Scottie already above him. Masai should watch out for some trades and better get some few assets back. Siakam already redundant.

[stanch sabonis]

I hate to be the one to say this.

If Scottie is future then OG has to go.

They play the same position, and unless Scottie gets to Kawhi level offensively, we are gonna need a more dynamic scorer than OG to compete for a Championship

OG's contract for what he provides is really good. Also there is literally no such team where a player like OG isn't needed. He's a large combo foward that can play smallball 5 whose best attributes are distance shooting and defense. It would be ridiculous to want to move him unless you're offered a price you cannot refuse but the idea of actively trying to move him because you drafted another promising forward is ludicrous to me.

[wegotthabeet]

I hate to be the one to say this.

If Scottie is future then OG has to go.

They play the same position, and unless Scottie gets to Kawhi level offensively, we are gonna need a more dynamic scorer than OG to compete for a Championship

Kawhi was putting up 8 PPG at 20 years old. Took him 5 seasons to average 20 and become a first option. Give it some time, he'll be a number 1 option soon enough.

There's no room for Siakam once he returns. Scottie already above him. Masai should watch out for some trades and better get some few assets back. Siakam already redundant.

-
Anunoby - 3rd option
Barnes - 1st option
Siakam - 2nd option
-

That's an ideal lineup on the wings in today's NBA. No need to trade any of them, they make up the core moving forward. Upgrade the 1 & 5 when the opportunity presents itself and this team is set. Banton might be the future at the 1 spot too. I can't see Siakam or OG bringing back a better player via trade. Why trade either?

[manjusaka]

I hate to be the one to say this.

If Scottie is future then OG has to go.

They play the same position, and unless Scottie gets to Kawhi level offensively, we are gonna need a more dynamic scorer than OG to compete for a Championship

OG’s outside shooting ability suites really well with Barnes. Just imagine Barnes drive and kick to OG. Defensively it’s a non issue, both can cover 1-5.

Barnes will eventually become the dynamic scorer that you are looking for.

[Gold Dragon]

Those who say any of Pascal, OG or Fred need to be traded because of Scottie Barnes just lack any vision or imagination.

The team is going to be built around those 4 players and the likelihood any of them are being traded anytime soon is really low. If they are traded, it will have nothing to do with Scottie Barnes being on the roster, necessitating a trade for "positional" reasons.

It helps to pay attention to what Masai, Bobby and Nurse have been telling us about how this team is built to play positionless basketball. If there is an overlap in perceived "position" it is by design.

Banton looks like a lock to join that core and GTJ is making a huge case as well. The organization wants Precious to be part of it too but we shall see if he can make it.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Those who say any of Pascal, OG or Fred need to be traded because of Scottie Barnes just lack any vision or imagination.

The team is going to be built around those 4 players and the likelihood any of them are being traded anytime soon is really low. If they are traded, it will have nothing to do with Scottie Barnes being on the roster, necessitating a trade for "positional" reasons.

It helps to pay attention to what Masai, Bobby and Nurse have been telling us about how this team is built to play positionless basketball. If there is an overlap in perceived "position" it is by design.

Banton looks like a lock to join that core and GTJ is making a huge case as well. The organization wants Precious to be part of it too but we shall see if he can make it.

I don't really see how these guys can get in each other's way. OG already has the training to be exceptional off the ball. Same with Fred. Pascal's catch and shoot has been really inconsistent, I guess. But, this is what you actually want. Guys that are positive value players without the ball and with the ball. I don't even think 'positionless' is the correct way to view it, it's more 'multipurposed,' moving away from a core and shooter model.

[OakleyDokely]

With all these low scoring games, they just need to play the NBA on NBC theme and we'll be back in the 90s

[Zeno]

Og, Pascal are very good scoring inside when they have the matchup advantage. Barnes so far seems just great scoring inside in general. If all three are on the court together they are going to absolutely murder team provided they are patient enough to hunt mismatches. There are very few teams that have the roster construction to handle all three. They can all defend multiple positions. It is laughable that people are suggesting they don’t fit together.

[Young Moosehead]

Barnes is an Alpha.....this is the 2nd time he just grabs the ball from the teammate, goes up the court and scores on the other team.

Both times he grabbed it from guys who have ignored him on offense (Boucher and OG). Love it.

For whatever reason the team seems reluctant to pass to him right now.

Your last sentence is so true.....it's like, stop trying to prevent this guy from becoming a star, it's inevitable.

Everyone is trying to be the guy! There's no Leonard, there's no lowry....everyone wants to be that guy and they see that Barnes is that guy.

I think his easy ascension rubs some of our more established guys the wrong way. Most of our guys came up with a year of 905 duties, a year of earning a spot in the rotation and trying to earn a starter's role. The team identity is one of work, serving time, climbing the ranks, and doing things the right way. Scottie's rise through the depth chart has been meteoric. Realistically, Scottie may never play a game off the bench for the Raptors. It is conceivable that Nurse makes him our second offensive option before his rookie season is up.

Luckily, Scottie is a lovable dude. If his attitude was more like a Kawhi or Simmons type I could see this being a long term problem. Over time I think Scottie will develop closer ties and more familiarity with the team and sharing the ball will improve. It aint easy to see a young kid come up behind you and take an opportunity you had been hoping to take.