Everything Scottie Barnes

[The Great One]

Scottie plays nothing like Draymond. Lue gonna Lue.

[Jclaw]

Small thing in last night’s game that speaks to Scottie’s maturity at such a young age. In the Laker game that was mostly a laugher, lebron does what he does heaving the ball at Scottie and Scottie just walks away. Last night he gets hacked repeatedly going up for a rebound in crunch time of a close game and that’s when he shows frustration with the refs.

[slaw]

The problem is that as long as FVV is here,
he will be the main orchestrator of the offense, not Scottie.

Pascal orchestrates the offence not FVV. Hell, Barnes is already close to initiating the offence as much as Fred.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Pascal orchestrates the offence not FVV. Hell, Barnes is already close to initiating the offence as much as Fred.

I still do not understand the sentiment that FVV is ball hogging still. Literally, Scottie and pascal have been initiating offence at an increasing rate compared to the beginning of the year. It has happened gradually rather than abruptly which is probably a better way to do it from a coaching and relationship management standpoint. Going one game and then the next saying hey fred sit down scottie you are the captain now...





it just doesn't work well doing it that way. it is better to make incremental changes during the season and little by little Scottie gains more and pascal gains more ... accelerated by injuries.


OG in my opinion should NOT be a primary option either because he can't iso... at least not with the current state of his handle. It is better but not good enough to ... 'shake-and-bake' defenders.


Do I think Fred was bad at the ball hogging to start the season and pounding the air out of the ball? Yes, however, I have also seen them use him off-ball more. I have seen Barnes become more aggressive with his offence and also Barnes has overtime been given more responsibilities. This will continue. I think a lot of people just want to see more from Scottie. I will just keep harping that we should be patient. That isn't a flip-flop. That is me just saying that FVV may have his flaws but I do think the coaching staff has recognized them and has tried to massage in changes to mitigate the weaknesses.


I think the next step in this team/cores evolution is for Barnes to get a consistent jumper. He was taking 4-6 threes earlier in the season that one month that he hit 40%. Since then his percentage has dipped down to 31.6% on the season. I will state this here as well. My friend who is a Scottie Barnes Fanatic said Barnes shoots the ball better than Siakam. He does not currently do that not from the outside. Pascal is shooting 35.8% on the season, which is right where I pegged him to shoot in order for him to be effective. I said that he needed to shoot at least a league-average 33-34% at a minimum and that he didn't need to shoot the ball at a 40% clip.


When Barnes can consistently shoot the ball well from behind the arc it will open up the floor, his game, and the raptors options. At that point he will be the undisputed king of the team because of his ability. It will also limit the potential overlap that people see between him and other players.

The other thing is his decision-making in the half-court does need work. In transition as a passer and playmaker, while I don't have numbers to back this up, I would argue that he is top 5 in the league today for players under 25. I would even say he is potentially top 10 in the league today. At the same time, Barnes struggles in the half-court.

Another thing he could become a better screener. I would love to see him and Fred work the pick and roll. Potentially also having him as the ball handler because I think his height allows him to potentially hit rollers more easily.


All these things will happen but he needs a solid off-season. I said when we drafted him that his shot would take two years to get to the point where its not only good but deemed as good by opposing players. I think the playoffs will do him good and he will come back next year a completely changed player.

[Puffer]

...I still do not understand the sentiment that FVV is ball hogging still. Literally, Scottie and pascal have been initiating offense at an increasing rate compared to the beginning of the year. It has happened gradually rather than abruptly which is probably a better way to do it from a coaching and relationship management standpoint.

Lost in some of this discussion is Scottie's conditioning. As he has grown used to the NBA game and taken a larger share of the offensive and defensive loads his energy expenditure has also increased significantly. While I haven't seen him reach the extremes we have seen from Boucher, he has clearly been gassed numerous times since the all-star break. If he were to initiate more, as well as up his effort on offense, I don't know if he could effectively play the extra minutes efficiently. Personally, I agree with you that things are moving at just about a team optimum rate. Maybe not perfect for Scottie's development, but close. And if he makes fewer mistakes because he has more energy and is less gassed, the team has a better chance to go further into the playoffs. THAT will have a huge positive impact on his devlopment by helping him understand, at a high level, what he has to improve this coming off-season.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Lost in some of this discussion is Scottie's conditioning. As he has grown used to the NBA game and taken a larger share of the offensive and defensive loads his energy expenditure has also increased significantly. While I haven't seen him reach the extremes we have seen from Boucher, he has clearly been gassed numerous times since the all-star break. If he were to initiate more, as well as up his effort on offense, I don't know if he could effectively play the extra minutes efficiently. Personally, I agree with you that things are moving at just about a team optimum rate. Maybe not perfect for Scottie's development, but close. And if he makes fewer mistakes because he has more energy and is less gassed, the team has a better chance to go further into the playoffs. THAT will have a huge positive impact on his devlopment by helping him understand, at a high level, what he has to improve this coming off-season.

Good points. I did mention that much earlier in the season but I think you are correct the narrative of the minutes' toll has been lost. As for Scottie's development yeah. That is the thing it is one thing to prep for the NBA season especially the first one. It is another thing to actually go through it. He is doing well. I am super excited to see him at the start of next year. Even him seeing the playoffs early also shows him how to pace himself during the year because it isn't just 82 games. 82 games is just the beginning the real challenge comes in the playoffs where every game is like that Miami triple-over-time game.

[G__Deane]

Maybe the rook can help OG with his handles? We saw glimpses (a couple of games) where OG looked capable when others were sitting out and he was asked to carry a more significant load earlier in the season. Then again, he may also remain so injury prone that we never get an extended best OG....

[golden]

Haven't seen this quote anywhere else. Maybe a fake account?

[TrueTorontoFan]

Maybe the rook can help OG with his handles? We saw glimpses (a couple of games) where OG looked capable when others were sitting out and he was asked to carry a more significant load earlier in the season. Then again, he may also remain so injury prone that we never get an extended best OG....

barnes will actually be working with OG's handle guy this summer. The thing is OG has improved his handle but he started off as an athlete who was not very fluid with his motions, to begin with. If you go back and look at both the box scores and game tape OG was doing ALRIGHT as a first option. He is a play finisher, he is an amazing defensive presence. I would say he can and should still keep improving offensively but he may never be as fluid. I mean I look at Barnes handle improvement since the beginning of the season until now... and its already better than OG's. That said OG's handle improved significantly since last year. The difference is he can pull off some of the moves but he isn't able to really "dance" like a zach lavine.

It takes a lot of time and effort and reps to improve on it and some don't get it. OG was looking good in preseason but the defences are way different in preseason.

[A.I]

barnes will actually be working with OG's handle guy this summer. The thing is OG has improved his handle but he started off as an athlete who was not very fluid with his motions, to begin with. If you go back and look at both the box scores and game tape OG was doing ALRIGHT as a first option. He is a play finisher, he is an amazing defensive presence. I would say he can and should still keep improving offensively but he may never be as fluid. I mean I look at Barnes handle improvement since the beginning of the season until now... and its already better than OG's. That said OG's handle improved significantly since last year. The difference is he can pull off some of the moves but he isn't able to really "dance" like a zach lavine.

It takes a lot of time and effort and reps to improve on it and some don't get it. OG was looking good in preseason but the defences are way different in preseason.

OG has gotten much better from his previous years, but he does still look clunky and robotic, that will probably never go away, as long as it works I suppose. He has been working on shot creating which isn't a bad thing to have, but he should still be a primary 3&D guy throughout his career.

I think its kind of expected for Barnes to already have better handles, he came into the league with playmaking being one of his strengths, would be awkward if he didn't have handles.

[Kagemusha]

Scottie isn't a shifty guy.
He's more of a Magic in terms of handles.
Magic dribbles the ball close to his body unlike Scottie though and that's something he should do as well.
Good thing Kawhi is still injured, or he'd have a heck of a night stealing the ball from Scottie.

[TrueTorontoFan]

OG has gotten much better from his previous years, but he does still look clunky and robotic, that will probably never go away, as long as it works I suppose. He has been working on shot creating which isn't a bad thing to have, but he should still be a primary 3&D guy throughout his career.

I think its kind of expected for Barnes to already have better handles, he came into the league with playmaking being one of his strengths, would be awkward if he didn't have handles.

Yeah he was definitely handling the ball better than OG. I think what I mean is... Barnes has improved his handle since the beginning of the year and its very noticeable.

[chris]

Haven't seen this quote anywhere else. Maybe a fake account?

it's absolutely fake. scottie pissed him off so much he skipped the presser.

[DanH]

it's absolutely fake. scottie pissed him off so much he skipped the presser.

Which is probably a louder declaration of support for his ROY candidacy than the fake quote would be.

[Kagemusha]

Scottie special.
Giannis and Kawhi were not this good in their first season.
This kid is almost Magic-like as a rookie!

Special special talent.