Everything Scottie Barnes

[MixxAOR]

I'm analyzing their heights like CSI

[inthepaint]

I'm analyzing their heights like CSI

Adam Silver same height and built as Jalen Suggs.

[bertarapsfan]

Adam Silver same height and built as Jalen Suggs.

Were going to regret passing on Silver in 5 years when he really bulks up

[Hotshot]

I'm analyzing their heights like CSI

Scottie is almost the exact same height as Sengun at 6'10

[MixxAOR]

Scottie is almost the exact same height as Sengun at 6'10

His built is elite.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Who wearing the bell bottoms?

[saints91]

Jalen Green wore bell bottoms.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Jalen Green wore bell bottoms.

😂👍🏻 Ballsy!

[Puffer]

I listened to the Rapcast from Samson Folk in which he talked to Henry Ward about Ward's new team-building philosophy and was interested enough to go looking for more from Ward. I found two podcasts on the Prep2Pro podcast titled Team-Building Philosophy with Henry Ward Pary 1 and Part 2. If you are unfamiliar with him Ward says that an effective way to build a team is to focus on individual players' feel for the game and it's flow. Those high Bball IQ and quick processing guys will make the pass that leads to the correct pass and will actively cut to open up space for a teammate to make the cut that gets the pass that leads to an easy bucket. He referenced the earlier version of the Warriors from a few years ago and the Spurs from a few years earlier as being examples of the best exponents of the kind of gameplay he was talking about.

The quality of the podcast is terrible, with guys using their laptop mikes and saying "like" about every fourth word. "Like, what I mean is like, you know when like you have to like get a bucket" would be a moderate exaggeration. But not everyone is an excellent speaker and Ward was bad for umming and liking, nonetheless, an interesting topic. Ward's ultimate players would have some skills as well and a championship team would be lead by one or two of these high feel/flow guys who are high energy on both ends and can shoot. But lower-skilled guys can elevate an otherwise mediocre team into playoff status if the team is composed of enough high feel guys.

I part two of the podcast they looked at the upcoming 2021 draft. About 20 - 23 minutes in Ward identifies Scottie Barnes as his number one guy in the draft because of size, strength, energy, some skills and his high feel for the game.

When I think of the kind of guys the Raptors have been picking up/drafting over the last couple of years, I wonder if this isn't their philosophy as well. Ward figures any draft of 60 players is going to have 15 or so of these players around. And if you are looking for them, a team could accumulate 5 or 6 of them in just a few years, no matter where you are drafting if selected carefully and made smart trades. These kinds of players make their teammates better. So improvement comes not from improved skills, but from improved play. I thought it was pretty interesting.

[golden]

I listened to the Rapcast from Samson Folk in which he talked to Henry Ward about Ward's new team-building philosophy and was interested enough to go looking for more from Ward. I found two podcasts on the Prep2Pro podcast titled Team-Building Philosophy with Henry Ward Pary 1 and Part 2. If you are unfamiliar with him Ward says that an effective way to build a team is to focus on individual players' feel for the game and it's flow. Those high Bball IQ and quick processing guys will make the pass that leads to the correct pass and will actively cut to open up space for a teammate to make the cut that gets the pass that leads to an easy bucket. He referenced the earlier version of the Warriors from a few years ago and the Spurs from a few years earlier as being examples of the best exponents of the kind of gameplay he was talking about.

The quality of the podcast is terrible, with guys using their laptop mikes and saying "like" about every fourth word. "Like, what I mean is like, you know when like you have to like get a bucket" would be a moderate exaggeration. But not everyone is an excellent speaker and Ward was bad for umming and liking, nonetheless, an interesting topic. Ward's ultimate players would have some skills as well and a championship team would be lead by one or two of these high feel/flow guys who are high energy on both ends and can shoot. But lower-skilled guys can elevate an otherwise mediocre team into playoff status if the team is composed of enough high feel guys.

I part two of the podcast they looked at the upcoming 2021 draft. About 20 - 23 minutes in Ward identifies Scottie Barnes as his number one guy in the draft because of size, strength, energy, some skills and his high feel for the game.

When I think of the kind of guys the Raptors have been picking up/drafting over the last couple of years, I wonder if this isn't their philosophy as well. Ward figures any draft of 60 players is going to have 15 or so of these players around. And if you are looking for them, a team could accumulate 5 or 6 of them in just a few years, no matter where you are drafting if selected carefully and made smart trades. These kinds of players make their teammates better. So improvement comes not from improved skills, but from improved play. I thought it was pretty interesting.

In theory, you'd want to have as many high BBIQ guys on the court as possible, because... why wouldn't everybody want that? In practice, we saw that play out in the Sixers playoff series where our 2 highest BBIQ guys (Lowry and Gasol) became afraid to shoot open jump shots. Or maybe those shots weren't as open as they look on TV because Philly had great length and were closing out well on contests. The result was pass after pass until Pascal got the ball with 2 seconds left in the shot clock to take a contested 3.

5 high BBIQ players on the court is great, but there also comes a point where you need a guy to get a bucket against a set defense. If you can have a high BBIQ bucket-getter, then that's the best of both worlds. Those guys are called top 10 players.

[Puffer]

In theory, you'd want to have as many high BBIQ guys on the court as possible, because... why wouldn't everybody want that? In practice, we saw that play out in the Sixers playoff series where our 2 highest BBIQ guys (Lowry and Gasol) became afraid to shoot open jump shots. Or maybe those shots weren't as open as they look on TV because Philly had great length and were closing out well on contests. The result was pass after pass until Pascal got the ball with 2 seconds left in the shot clock to take a contested 3.

5 high BBIQ players on the court is great, but there also comes a point where you need a guy to get a bucket against a set defense. If you can have a high BBIQ bucket-getter, then that's the best of both worlds. Those guys are called top 10 players.

I remember a lot of standing around on the part of Raptors players, even in the championship year. Guys with a good feel for the game are cutting to create opportunities. Somebody cutting draws their defenders and other defenders cheat to cut off passing lanes. That creates openings. If everyone is doing it, you worry less if two of your guys aren't shooting because you are creating opportunities for others. Having 5 high BBIQ guys is meaningless if they are not acting in high BBIQ ways. That's kind of the point of the theory. If there is sufficient intelligent movement, a couple of guys are getting open every 10- 20 seconds. NBA players can generally hit open shots.

[golden]

I remember a lot of standing around on the part of Raptors players, even in the championship year. Guys with a good feel for the game are cutting to create opportunities. Somebody cutting draws their defenders and other defenders cheat to cut off passing lanes. That creates openings. If everyone is doing it, you worry less if two of your guys aren't shooting because you are creating opportunities for others. Having 5 high BBIQ guys is meaningless if they are not acting in high BBIQ ways. That's kind of the point of the theory. If there is sufficient intelligent movement, a couple of guys are getting open every 10- 20 seconds. NBA players can generally hit open shots.

You still need to be a threat to score from distance, or else the spacing becomes so tight that even high BBIQ can't overcome it. Sixers backed off both Gasol and Pascal, single coverage on Green... allowing them to clog the driving lanes and pressure Lowry and Kawhi. They basically gave both Pascal and Gasol the open 3.... literally daring them to shoot it. Pascal wasn't a credible 3-pt shooter at that stage and Gasol was still evolving as a stretch 5.

[Puffer]

You still need to be a threat to score from distance, or else the spacing becomes so tight that even high BBIQ can't overcome it. Sixers backed off both Gasol and Pascal, single coverage on Green... allowing them to clog the driving lanes and pressure Lowry and Kawhi. They basically gave both Pascal and Gasol the open 3.... literally daring them to shoot it. Pascal wasn't a credible 3-pt shooter at that stage and Gasol was still evolving as a stretch 5.

If players are heads up, watching the positioning of the defense as well as their own teammates, then cutting provides layups and dunks along with associated foul shots, corner threes and mid-range shots. I don't see any place in my post where I said "let's put five players on the floor who can't shoot." To think that the raptors players and staff are content to go through the next ten months without without working on and improving 3 point shooting seems silly. It is easier to improve a random player's 3 pt shot than it is to improve a random players 3 point shot defense. With the type of players the Raptors are accumulating, and their obvious effort to hone a switchable, positionless style of play, an improvement in their 3 pt shooting and an improvement in their 3 pt defense seems to be their goal. That combined with a Ward style philosophy of team building might ameliorate the lack of free agent star power they face. Improved play for the team combined will elevate the perceived value of each member. Increased asset value allows for additional trades down the road.

My preference is to imagine they have a master plan to improve the team as opposed to being oblivious to their lack of distance shooting and no alternative to mediocrity.

We'll see how it goes.

[S.R.]

I mean they aren't planning on an either/or (either high IQ 'flow' guys or guys with basketball skills), they're drafting & picking up guys with the IQ & feel and they're planning to develop the skills within the organization. They feel they can do that and end up with better players in 2-4 years than guys who currently have the skills. E.g. evidently this was the whole thing with Barnes vs Suggs.

They are doing it to a pretty extreme degree, and it's one thing to have a couple guys in development (Siakam/Norm/Fred), it's another thing to have half or 2/3 of your team raw and in development. Will they be as successful betting on so many of these guys? We'll see.

I'm also not sure about timelines. Having half the roster peak 3-4 years from now is going to completely miss the prime years of Siakam and Fred. I'm not sure if they should continue to bridge these two generations of players or double down on a rebuilding team with a ceiling further down the road. I expect that will be an ongoing evaluation.

[BrydenB]

Right now with is handle and pressure on the rim, he looks like a bigger Demar but also with all NBA defense. If he only even shoots 30% from three but keeps bringing everything else, that is still a great player